Modern software organizations produce increasingly complex and sophisticated products that build on the effort of multiple individuals and teams. This reality highlights the critical importance of collaboration and the support of its various facets, which are still central concerns for software engineering research and practice. Software organizations also aim to motivate their developers and teams and help them be productive. Knowledge work research highlights the importance of autonomy in work design for satisfaction and happiness. The now pervasive adoption of agile methods and advocacy of self-organization have made autonomy and its challenging practical application a mainstream focus for software engineering research and practice. Employee autonomy and effective collaboration are thus essential for software companies to motivate developers and help them deliver successful software products. Yet, essential as it might be for organizations to combine them, autonomy and collaboration seem conceptually and practically at odds with one another; is it possible for people or teams that are working together on something be autonomous? One can imagine teams finding it challenging to organize the development work of autonomous developers. Furthermore, on the organizational level it can be difficult to align autonomous agents towards a desirable company strategy. Finally, management may need to be revisited as a function when individuals or teams have autonomy in their work. Given the complex landscape that software teams are part of in today’s mod- ern organizations, we need to understand how they collaborate in the context of their environment. This dissertation builds on three substantial, diverse case studies based in industry, capturing various ways that several software organizations organize collaborative development work. In the first study I examined how 24 commercial software teams in di↵erent companies organize their development work through their use of GitHub. In the second study I probed how Atlassian scales the practices of its rapidly growing development teams and enacts a culture that keeps them aligned to the strategic goals. In the third study I explored the role of engineering managers at Microsoft and how they support software developers and teams to organize their own work and generate quality outcomes that meet organizational goals. The studies are primarily qualitative and I have used a variety of data collection methods including interviews, observations, documentation review, and surveys. Tension between autonomy and collaboration surfaced in the studies and it be- came the central challenge I investigate in this dissertation. By understanding the meaning of autonomy for the studied organizations, the definition and characteristics of autonomy evolved and, upon synthesis of the findings, I argue that autonomy is not incompatible with collaboration but rather that the two concepts build on each other. I articulate and propose a conceptual framework of collaboration via aligned autonomy for software companies in this dissertation. This represents a holistic view of organizations and includes four areas to consider when making autonomy the foundation of collaboration: team collaboration practices, scaling strategies, cultural values, and manager roles. The framework has implications for the study of collaborative software development by proposing to look beyond the combination of independence and coordination as the basis of collaboration. At the same time, the framework can guide commercial software teams and organizations on how to empower development teams, yet not compromise strategic vision. / Graduate

Les perspectives de collaboration sont aujourd’hui démultipliées par l’irruption des nouvelles technologies dans nos sociétés. Mais dans le domaine de la recherche, des solutions tardent encore à émerger. Par exemple, les outils spécialisés d’assistance à l’Analyse Comportementale (AC) par codage vidéo ne tirent pas parti d’un déploiement en ligne. C O LAB , qui prend la forme d’une application web, offre à divers chercheurs la possibilité de collaborer autour d’un ensemble de données d’expérimentation récoltées en appartement « intelligent ». Dans un premier temps, l’approche privilégiée est l’AC, mais la plateforme se veut évolutive et capable d’accueillir, à terme, des modules supportant un vaste champ d’expertises afin de constituer un cadre fécond pour l’interdisciplinarité. Un modèle de gouvernance inspiré du coopérativisme des plateformes est adjoint à C OL AB pour proposer une exploitation semi-commerciale dont les bénéfices sont mécaniquement réinjectés dans la recherche. L’identification du périmètre du problème et sa décomposition sont l’objet du chapitre 3, dans lequel nous proposons d’étudier les processus associés à l’AC et les expérimentations en environnement intelligent. Le chapitre 4 présente les prototypes réalisés dans une démarche exploratoire ainsi que certains résultats de mesures ergonomiques. Enfin, des spécifications partielles sont offertes dans le chapitre 5 pour projeter la solution dans une forme plus complète.

Abstract The research study discussed in this doctoral dissertation illuminates the interpretative repertoires used by teachers when describing collaborative team work. The focus of the study has been guided by an interest to investigate the ways in which teachers interpret and conceptualise their team work experiences. The topicality of the study is related to current conflicts found between the importance of professional collaboration in todays schools and the challenges of productive teacher collaboration. The theoretical framework of this study approaches teacher team work from three dimensions, namely from the viewpoint of current changes in educational policy, the working culture of teachers, and from the viewpoint of productive teacher collaboration. In this research study, teacher team work is defined as a process during which teachers work together as a team in order to plan, carry out and reflect on their classroom practise. The methodological basis of this research study is based on the social constructionist theory of discourse. This approach has been applied in order to identify what kind of discursive repertoires teachers use when describing collaboration in their team. Repertoires are seen as culturally and socially constructed discourses that specify the possibilities of relevant interpretation in a particular social organisation. The interpretation of repertoires involves the investigation of functions, contexts and dynamics of teachers verbal language. The main goal of the analysis is to clarify and model the complexities of teacher collaboration. Five interpretative repertoires defining teacher team work were identified in the empirical data of this study. These are defined as collegial, practical, group, organisational and hurry repertoires. These repertoires describe the main contents of teachers collaboration of which construction appears to be based on the dynamics between and within them. A joint feature across the repertoires seems to be in an orientation towards an interpretative conflict between restricting and progressive reasons. The different repertoires and their dynamics form an interpretative model of teacher team work through which the teachers interpretations on team work can be evaluated. The challenges of teacher collaboration appear to arise from a disintegration of teacher goals and incentives during team work. Critical incidents of teacher team work seem to be found in collaborative problem solving situations during which cultural assumptions and the meaning of reform efforts are often evaluated. Discrepancies between the teachers interpretative repertoires lead easily to narrow and restricted solutions that can be in conflict with the reform efforts linked to teacher team work. Furthermore, the discrepancies in repertoires appear to strengthen group dynamics that orient towards restricted teacher collaboration. The conflicts in repertoires appear to increase the need to emphasise alikeness, unity and stability among teachers, despite the fact that the potential of team work is usually found in distributed expertise, the construction of global views and in creative learning. This research study suggests that teacher team work is best supported by activating teachers to create joint conditions and possibilities for collaboration. On the basis of this study, positive results in teacher team work are related to teachers active role in solving emerging conflicts and to the adjustment of strong oppositions in teachers targets for collaboration. The lack of community structures in teachers profession and the tendency towards contradiction appear to support dynamics that effectively restrict teacher collaboration. The theoretical model build in this research study on teachers interpretative repertoires of team work serves a good starting point to develop and support teacher collaboration efforts in future studies.

Magister Scientiae (Physiotherapy) - MSc(Physio) / In South Africa, the Education White Paper 6 on Special Needs Education (2001) Building an inclusive education and training system stated that the special schools would be resource centres for ordinary schools that admit learners with disabilities. Occupational therapists,physiotherapists, speech and language therapists (collectively called therapists) had previously been employed in special schools, but under the new structure, would form part of the district-based support teams to provide their support to ordinary and full service schools.Therapists working in an inclusive education system would need to change the focus of their model of support from a medical model of direct support to a health-promoting model of indirect support. The aim of the current study was to determine whether therapists are changing their model of support in building inclusive and health-promoting schools and also to determine the barriers and facilitators they experience in providing their support in an inclusive education system. This study used both qualitative and quantitative methodology.The quantitative component was a non-experimental, descriptive, cross-sectional design,using one questionnaire in a survey. The questionnaire was used to determine the type of support provided to schools. In total, 97 therapists, who worked at special schools in the Western Cape, participated in the study by completing the questionnaire. The test-retest results of the questionnaire indicated that most of questions (63%) showed perfect agreement (Kappa 0.81-1.0). Quantitative data analysis was done by descriptive statistics, using SPSS.The results indicated that therapists were using the medical model of support combined with a more holistic approach using the principles of the health-promoting framework. The qualitative component involved three group interviews, which were held at three different special schools, in three different education districts, with a total of 12 therapists. The group interviews were used to determine the barriers and facilitators that either prevent or promote provision of support. Qualitative data analysis was done by using content analysis with codes and themes to determine barriers and facilitators. The barriers included the following: therapists’ uncertainty about roles; lack of networking, lack of certain competencies and training; delayed response from district; lack of policy;autocratic leadership styles; exclusion from the district-based support team; concern to support learners at special school; therapists being based at the special school; lack of human resources; insufficient time; cost of therapists’ training; education department circuit boundaries affecting communication;negative attitudes of principals and educators; and parents’ non-involvement. The facilitators included therapists’ competencies to fulfil roles; educators’ positive attitude; meetings; training to improve therapists’ skills; the co-ordinating role of the district-based support team;and the supportive role of learner support educator and the principal. This study provides evidence concerning therapists’ roles and the barriers and facilitators which therapists experience regarding their support provision in an inclusive education system.

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / Ways of enacting effective professional development (PD) and professional learning (PL) of teachers are diverse and often contested and therefore needs sustained inquiry (Schuck, Aubussona, Kearney, & Burden, 2013). The “quick fix” mentality that is endemic to most including those aimed at educational systems leads to very superficial implementation of improvement strategies, including teacher development. These strategies are usually bureaucratically mandated and superficially implemented in a top-down manner. One of the critical drawbacks of such superficial implementation of top-down improvement strategies is that it fails to appeal to teachers because of their historical experiences of such short term and intermittent improvement interventions. This study focussed on the development of a Professional Learning Community (PLC) as a possible continuous professional teacher development (CPTD) model with a promise to deliver effective CPTD. Literature in this regard indicates this model of CPTD as highly effective to support sustained teacher development. The efficacy a PLC is predicated on a collaborative and relational approach to teacher development and professional learning underpinned by a microclimate of commonality. The initiation of PLCs is a complex task. It requires a deep understanding of the processes involved in orientating teachers to processes that involve reflective dialogue and collaborative inquiry. Hence this study sought to investigate experiences of teachers in a PLC established through an alliance involving teachers, didacticians and education officials. This study found that the PLC signifier conveys significant meaning for teachers in terms of their engagement in the PLC. Moreover, teachers’ experiences of the PLC model confirmed the generally accepted features of a PLC. The importance of having a common vision, norms and standards was shown to be an important dimension of the PLC. Besides the fact that the active promotion of this shared vision by the PLC leadership and other education administrators was highlighted, teachers in general accepted the importance of being reflective practitioners. Despite this belief in the value of collaborative reflection, this study found that it does not take place as often as one would expect. This is, to some extent, due to the timetabling arrangements at most schools in the sample. Findings of this investigation provided evidence that it is possible in a PLC to effect a shift from professional development to professional learning. This is consistent with literature in this regard, for example, Benken & Brown (2010) support this argument by indicating that CPTD should be viewed as professional learning that is sustained over time. However, the issue of sustainability is an important challenge. This study revealed that teachers see sustainability as a function of three important variables, namely, recognition by school leadership and administrators, support from the organised teacher movements and subject organisations, and teacher commitment. Important affordances of a PLC identified through this study are relational agency, epistemic agency and a micro-climate of commonality. These affordances are viewed as important enablers of collaborative inquiry and reflective dialogue and underscores the community aspect of a PLC.

After almost two semesters as a graduate student at the University of Vermont, I decided that I wanted to do more in my second year of graduate school. It was through conversations with my colleagues that I determined that stepping out of my comfort zone of student affairs and looking into academic affairs would help develop me as not only a student affairs professional but as an educator as well. During the fall semester of 2016, I participated in an independent study where I served as a Teaching Assistant for a university diversity requirement course titled “The Political Economy of Race”. For this course I worked directly with a faculty member in the Department of Economics to cultivate a holistic classroom experience for the students in the course. Throughout the course of the semester, I was able to witness many different dynamics that were helpful to not only the students but to the professionals in the room as well. Upon completing the semester, I determined that I wanted to do more research and explore the benefits of collaborative partnerships between faculty and staff on college campuses; my focus for this research was to be around partnerships between professionals in student affairs and academic affairs. Although there has not been a lot of research around this particular topic in Higher Education, it is beginning to be studied as colleges and universities are expected to produce more valuable experiences for students. Through both research and experiential learning, I have found that there are benefits to collaborative partnerships between academic and student affairs in Higher Education as well as drawbacks to these partnerships. I have also made recommendations for future collaborative projects between faculty and staff as well as recommendations for future research in this area. Overall, there is value in the collaboration of student and academic affairs; however, it is the duty of Higher Education professionals to understand that value and work more collaboratively to ensure that students are served holistically.

La collaboration est de plus en plus distribuée et influencée par les technologies impliquées dans l'espace de travail. Les mondes virtuels 3D (VWs) sont des outils de collaboration riches, interactifs et prometteurs offrant une dimension visuelle plus réaliste dans la représentation de l'environnement de travail et ayant une capacité grandissante de simulation. Grâce aux avatars (représentation des utilisateurs), ils peuvent réinventer la notion de co-présence (le "being together") et de fournir des riches interactions sociales. Plusieurs chercheurs et praticiens sont particulièrement intéressés par le potentiel de ces nouveaux média pour soutenir les pratiques collaboratives. Cependant, la littérature ne fournit pas de réponses satisfaisantes et précises pour les entreprises sur l'impact de l'utilisation de ces technologies sur la performance de l'équipe. Les chercheurs ont étudié quelques facteurs spécifiques qui influent sur la collaboration. Un modèle de recherche contenant des déterminants de trois catégories différentes (technologique, individuelle et collective) influençant la performance de l'équipe n'a jamais été proposé. Cette recherche tente de combler cette lacune et regarde cet effet de plus près. D'un point de vue méthodologique, notre méthodologie est basée sur Framework de la recherche en système d'information de Hevner et ses collègues (2004) combinant la science du comportement et la science de conception. Du côté de la science du comportement, des études qualitatives et quantitatives ont été réalisées. Une étude qualitative vise à explorer la collaboration en équipe dans les mondes virtuels, nous a permis d'identifier une liste de facteurs pertinents qui seront utiles pour réussir les études empiriques. Nous avons conçu deux modèles de recherche contenant des déterminants influençant collaboration de l'équipe. Le premier vise à comparer l'impact de l'utilisation de Skype et de Second Life sur la co-présence, l'absorption cognitive virtuelle et, finalement, la performance d'équipe. La seconde étude est spécifique aux environnements virtuels 3D, elle permet d'étudier l'impact de l'utilisation des VW et la paresse sociale. Ces scénarios sont intégrés dans un jeu sérieux collaboratif. Ce dernier vise à varier différentes situations collaboratives pour apporter une expérience d'apprentissage par la pratique aux utilisateurs. Ce jeu permet d'explorer les spécificités de la collaboration en équipe dans les mondes virtuels 3D. / Collaboration is increasingly distributed and influenced by the technologies involved in the workspace. 3D Virtual worlds (VWs) are rich, highly interactive and promising collaboration tools providing a more realistic visual dimension in representing work environment and a growing capacity of simulation. Thanks to avatars (representation of their users), they may reinvent the notion of co-presence (the being together) and provide rich social interactions. Several researchers and practitioners are particularly interested in the potential of these new media to support collaborative practices. However, the literature does not provide yet satisfactory and accurate response to companies about impacts of these technologies’ use on team performance. Existent researchers studied specific factors influencing collaboration. A research model gathering determinants of three different categories (technological, individual and collective) impacting team performance has never been proposed. This research attempts to address this gap and looks at this effect more closely. From a methodological point of view, our methodology is based on the Hevner’s and colleagues (2004) IS research framework combining behavioral science and design science. From the behavioral science side, qualitative and quantitative studies have been conducted. We report on the impacts of a set of important determinants that influence team performance. This research describes inner IT dynamics distinguishing these new media. It research highlighted determinants that are fostering collaboration such knowledge sharing, knowledge application, cognitive absorption, virtual co-presence, VW technology usage, customization, and object manipulation. Others determinants are found to inhibit collaboration in 3D VWs such as social loafing and density. From a design science side, we designed a serious game focusing on the determinants mentioned above and could be useful to vary collaborative scenarios in the aim to deepen the study of collaboration in 3D VWs and enhance team performance. This game aims at bringing a learning-by-doing experience to explore the specificities of team collaboration in VWs. This research argues that successful collaboration is possible in VWs with the respect of a set of best practices.

South Africa currently faces challenges such as high levels of unemployment, inequality and poverty. The skills deficiency in South Africa is one of the biggest obstacles to finding employment and poverty reduction. According to McGrath (2012), the TVET sector needs to be strengthened in order to provide access to high quality technical vocational education for all. This dissertation investigates the potential of a TVET college as a catalytic public building to uplift its community through both secular and educational functions. Humans are makers, everything around us are either made by humans or nature. By possessing the necessary skills to shape things, we also have the skill to shape our futures. This project investigation will specifically look at skills as intangible heritage and how collaboration can empower communities in shaping their own futures in a resilient manner. / Suid-Afrika ervaar huidiglik uitdagings soos ho? vlakke van werkloosheid, ongelykheid en armoede. Die vaardighede tekort in Suid-Afrika is een van die grootste struikelblokke om werk te kry asook om armoede te bestry. Volgens McGrath (2012), moet die TVET sektor versterk word om toegang te voorsien tot ho? gehalte tegniese beroepsonderwys vir almal. Die verhandeling ondersoek die potensiaal van 'n TVET kollege, as 'n katalitiese openbare gebou, om sy gemeenskap op te hef deur beide sekul?re en opvoedkundige funksies. Mense is makers, alles rondom ons is of deur die mens of die natuur gemaak. Deur die nodige vaardighede te h? om te kan maak, het ons ook die vaardigheid om ons toekoms te vorm. Hierdie projek-ondersoek sal spesifiek kyk na vaardighede as ontasbare erfenis en hoe samewerking gemeenskappe kan bemagtig in die vorming van hul eie toekoms in 'n veerkragtige manier. / Mini Dissertation (MArch (Prof))--University of Pretoria, 2017. / Architecture / MArch (Prof) / Unrestricted

To date, most of the research on group cohesion has focused on team sports, with little known about how this body of knowledge relates to individual sports. The case of the male French whitewater slalom canoe and kayak team was chosen because of the success of the team at World Championships and Olympic Games. The purpose of the present case study was to investigate how the coaches and athletes of this highly successful team worked together in training and competition within a highly competitive environment. Data were collected through in-depth interviews with six athletes and four coaches. Three themes, each containing numerous sub-themes, emerged from the analysis: (a) the nature of collaboration within the team environment, (b) coach leadership, and (c) the fragility of collaboration. The results of the present study have advanced our understanding of what collaboration within an individual sport team may look like. For a period of time, the leadership skills of the coaches, as well as their technical coaching expertise, and the willingness of the talented and driven athletes to work together, contributed significantly to a collaborative environment for this team. Then a change in the Olympic entry rules, the departure of an influential coach, and the inevitable change in the ages and experiences of the athletes themselves all combined to erode the foundation of that productive and collaborative environment.

This thesis explores the innovation and development of the Canadian wine industry. The main objectives are to present the key development factors, innovation, and collaborations, with particular emphasis on collaborations with higher education institutes. It also empirically assesses the extent to which there are differences among the wine producing regions of British Columbia, Ontario and Quebec. The empirical analysis is based on a firm-level survey of 146 firms. The results show that the Canadian wine production is highly innovative and knowledge intensive. Despite that the wine industry in Canada has developed differently according to its regional context, the pattern of innovation is rather similar among firms.