Abstract not available.

Abstract not available.

La présente thèse vise à combler un manque de connaissances lié à la compréhension de la relation de dépendance entre les pratiques de ressources humaines (RH) et la performance des entreprises. Nous vérifierons si le fait d'organiser les pratiques de RH de façon cohérente vis-à-vis elles-mêmes (configurational perspective) et vis-à-vis la stratégie de l'entreprise (contingency perspective) produit un effet significatif sur la performance selon le cycle de vie des produits/services de l'entreprise. Contrairement à nos attentes, les résultats démontrent que les entreprises ayant des produits/services en phase de croissance possèdent des pratiques plus cohérentes comparativement aux autres entreprises, et que, plus la cohésion de leurs pratiques de RH est forte, plus leur performance organisationnelle augmente. Comme nouvelle piste de recherche, nous proposons un modèle théorique qui présente le concept de souplesse organisationnelle en tant qu'élément pouvant prédire le degré de cohésion des pratiques de GRH et influer sur la performance organisationnelle.

Different approaches to corporate responsibility can be identified throughout the business ethics and corporate responsibility literature. Stakeholder theory, one of these approaches, has emerged in recent years as the most prominent. This approach calls for a shift from the supremacy of economic interests of stockholders and attempts to derive alternatives for corporate governance that include and balance the interests of all those affected by corporate conduct. This thesis consists of a review of relevant literature to identify three major contributions stakeholder theory brings to the CR debate: (1) it implicitly introduces the organic model into the CR debate and thereby forces a fundamental change in the way corporations are conceived within ethics frameworks; (2) in recognition of the expanding ethical sphere of corporations, it extends corporate responsibility beyond economic performance, the owners of the corporation, expertise, and the law and government regulations; and (3) it provides a foundation for identifying what responsibilities corporations do have.

This research intends to inform policy discussion on the subject of Aerospace and Defence sector procurement strategies at Industry Canada (IC). Specifically, this research explores procurement strategies in terms of a real option pricing model that move toward a novel use of Industrial and Regional Benefits (IRB) policies in promoting sector-specific, innovation-driven growth. It is further hypothesized that IRB obligations can be better tailored to encourage value adding activities within prime contractors' supply chains (typically small and medium enterprises in this sector). This research focusses on the novel development of a decision support tool using a theory of option pricing for derivatives whose returns fluctuate according to a power law distribution. This tool is shown to provide guidance to assist in adequately rewarding prime contractors who invest in innovative activities while fulfilling their IRB obligations.

The present study proposes a conceptual framework for investigation of how various dimensions of proximity (i.e. geographical, cognitive, organizational) and management interventions influence knowledge transfer and innovation in technology M&A This research objective is achieved through a qualitative multiple case study, which included three M&A cases involving technology-based companies. Evidence supports the links between various dimensions of proximity and knowledge transfer, and subsequently, between knowledge transfer and innovation. The study also confirms the importance of management interventions, especially in retaining key employees to preserve and transfer knowledge. The study contributes to the literature by illuminating the relationship between various dimensions of proximity and M&A knowledge transfer, which so far has not been well researched and established by prior studies, and by providing a new perspective to view cognitive proximity. In addition, it provides directions for managerial practices to select M&A partners and to manage post-M&A knowledge transfer.

Negoplan is a domain-independent decision support system which can be customised for different application domains. Negoplan enables the representation, simulation and support of sequential, context-dependent decision-making problems that involve the interaction between two participants and their decision environment. This thesis presents extensions that increase the expressiveness of Negoplan's constructs. They enable Negoplan to represent decision-making problems that involve more than two participants. This enlarges substantially the class of Negoplan's applications. The usefulness of the extensions is demonstrated on a managerial decision-making application that involves more than two participants. This Negoplan application concerns self-training of a Business Administration student to test his managerial decision-making skills in an environment in which Negoplan represents two other autonomously behaving participants. The application also demonstrates the suitability of customised Negoplan as an automated training tool.

The purpose of the study was to determine the effectiveness of the Oman Football Association (OFA) in selected dimensions, namely, complexity, formalization, centralization, activities to ensure resources, work flow activities, and control activities, identification activities, and homeostatic activities. The study used a document analysis to gather qualitative data, and a survey to collect constituent perceptions on these dimensions. Four constituent groups were identified: administrators, official referees, national team athletes, and coaches. Their perceptions were assessed by a nine point scale ranging from $-$4 to +4. Fifty-eight participants responded to a survey questionnaire. A Kruskal Wallis non parametric test was carried out to test differences between constituent's perceptions in the five dimensions. From the overall perceptions all dimensions were perceived to be contributing to organizational effectiveness. The only significant difference was found between administrators, and referees and coaches in the control dimension. This finding supported the statement problem examined in the current study, and indicated that there is need for a valid evaluation process for programs and personnel within the organization. The constituent's comments to the open-ended questions revealed some important issues, the employee involvement in decision making, the recruitment of professional administrators, and the influence of the General Organization of Sport and Youth activities (GOSYA) in OFA's activities.

This study investigated internal participators' evaluation as an intervention to enhance organizational learning capacity. In particular, this study examined the nature and causes of observed effects. A national, not-for-profit training organization where the present study's author was employed, served as the site of the research. The research process inquiring into the effects of internal participatory evaluation on the organization employed qualitative methods. Data were collected, over approximately two years, via retrospective observations, participant observations, archival data, interviews with key informants of the evaluation process, and from a focus group held approximately six months following the completion of the project. The data were collected, analyzed, displayed and interpreted according to a conceptual framework. The design of the study utilized several features to ensure the validity of the findings such as examining data from different sources, involving an independent interviewer, and providing respondents with the opportunity to make a collective response as to the effects of the internal participatory evaluation, as well as to assess the interpretations given to the data by the author. The results of the study were then compared and discussed in the light of what is known about participatory evaluation and organizational learning. It was concluded that internal participatory evaluation can positively affect the constructs associated with organizational learning capacity including causing organizational members to unearth and questions fundamental assumptions about how the organization is operating (i.e., double-loop learning). It was further concluded that longitudinal designs that incorporate qualitative methods geared to measure complex phenomena within a particular context are needed in this domain of research. It is believed that the present study has extended our knowledge about the power of evaluation as an organizational change phenomenon and has provided a more solid basis from which to make conclusions regarding its potential for impact. Finally, in spite of the fact that the present study was exploratory in nature, recommendations were listed for evaluation practitioners interested in pursuing further study. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

Cette these procede a une analyse integree de differentes pratiques de ressources humaines afin de (a) verifier leur relation avec la performance financiere d'une organisation, (b) identifier les pratiques qui contribuent le plus a la performance financiere, (c) et si les couts d'agence sont lies aux pratiques de ressources humaines dans la prediction de la performance financiere. L'etude developpe une approche analytique innovatrice en ce sens qu'elle se base sur la theorie de l'agence pour expliquer la rentabilite des investissements dans les pratiques de dotation, de formation-developpement et de remuneration globale. Ainsi, l'approche avance l'hypothese que les investissements dans ces pratiques permettent de reduire les conflits d'interets entre le principal et son agent, donc les couts d'agence, et de fait ameliorer la performance financiere de l'organisation. L'echantillon a l'etude comporte 30 entreprises canadiennes dans le domaine de la haute technologie. Les resultats montrent que les pratiques ressources humaines sont positivement associees a la performance financiere de l'organisation et a la reduction de certains couts d'agence. Par contre, les resultats ne permettent pas de conclure que ces pratiques augmentent la performance financiere de la firme parce qu'elles reduisent les couts d'agence.