This dissertation synthesizes previous research and develops a model for the study of strategic development, strategic congruence and management control. The model is used to analyze a longitudinal case study of the Swedish engineering company Atlas Copco. Employing contingency theory, the study confirms that long-term survival of a company requires adaption to contingencies. Three levels of strategy are examined: corporate, business and functional. Previous research suggests that consistency between these levels (strategic congruence) is necessary for a company to be competitive. The dissertation challenges this proposition by using a life-cycle perspective and analyzes strategic congruence in the different phases of a life cycle. It also studies management control from a life-cycle perspective. In this context, two types of management control are examined: formal and informal. From a longitudinal perspective, the study further discusses how these types interact during organizational life cycles. The dissertation shows that strategic development is more complex than previous studies have indicated. It is a long, complex and non-linear process, the results of which cannot always be predicted. Previous models for strategy and management control are based on simple relationships and rarely take into account the fact that companies often go through different phases of strategic development. The case study shows that strategic incongruence may occur at times during organizational life cycles. Furthermore, the use of management control varies over time. In the maturity phase, formal control is in focus, while the use of informal control has a bigger role in both the introduction and decline phases. Research on strategy and management control has intensified in recent years. Still there is a gap regarding the coordination of complex corporate structures. The present study contributes with further knowledge on how companies manage long-term strategic development. Few studies deal with more than two levels of strategy. Moreover, the present study addresses the need to understand strategic congruence from a life-cycle perspective. This is particularly relevant in practice, when management in large companies face difficult issues for which they expect business research to assist them in the decision-making process.

This dissertation synthesizes previous research and develops a model for the study of strategic development, strategic congruence and management control. The model is used to analyze a longitudinal case study of the Swedish engineering company Atlas Copco. Employing contingency theory, the study confirms that long-term survival of a company requires adaption to contingencies. Three levels of strategy are examined: corporate, business and functional. Previous research suggests that consistency between these levels (strategic congruence) is necessary for a company to be competitive. The dissertation challenges this proposition by using a life-cycle perspective and analyzes strategic congruence in the different phases of a life cycle. It also studies management control from a life-cycle perspective. In this context, two types of management control are examined: formal and informal. From a longitudinal perspective, the study further discusses how these types interact during organizational life cycles. The dissertation shows that strategic development is more complex than previous studies have indicated. It is a long, complex and non-linear process, the results of which cannot always be predicted. Previous models for strategy and management control are based on simple relationships and rarely take into account the fact that companies often go through different phases of strategic development. The case study shows that strategic incongruence may occur at times during organizational life cycles. Furthermore, the use of management control varies over time. In the maturity phase, formal control is in focus, while the use of informal control has a bigger role in both the introduction and decline phases. Research on strategy and management control has intensified in recent years. Still there is a gap regarding the coordination of complex corporate structures. The present study contributes with further knowledge on how companies manage long-term strategic development. Few studies deal with more than two levels of strategy. Moreover, the present study addresses the need to understand strategic congruence from a life-cycle perspective. This is particularly relevant in practice, when management in large companies face difficult issues for which they expect business research to assist them in the decision-making process.

Blasius et Rogawski ont formulé une conjecture qui prévoit que l'action du Frobenius sur la cohomologie d'une variété de Shimura est annulée par un certain polynôme, à coefficients dans l'algèbre de Hecke. C'est l'analogue de la célèbre relation d'Eichler-Shimura pour la courbe modulaire. Dans cette thèse, on démontre cette conjecture pour les variétés de Shimura associées aux groupes unitaires en signature (n-1,1) quand n est impair. Par ailleurs, on étudie certains aspects dans le cas particulier n=3. On montre explicitement la relation de congruence sur le lieu ordinaire. De plus, on étudie le graphe des cristaux supersinguliers et les relèvements d'isogénies en caractéristique nulle.

Blasius et Rogawski ont formulé une conjecture qui prévoit que l'action du Frobenius sur la cohomologie d'une variété de Shimura est annulée par un certain polynôme, à coefficients dans l'algèbre de Hecke. C'est l'analogue de la célèbre relation d'Eichler-Shimura pour la courbe modulaire. Dans cette thèse, on démontre cette conjecture pour les variétés de Shimura associées aux groupes unitaires en signature (n-1,1) quand n est impair. Par ailleurs, on étudie certains aspects dans le cas particulier n=3. On montre explicitement la relation de congruence sur le lieu ordinaire. De plus, on étudie le graphe des cristaux supersinguliers et les relèvements d'isogénies en caractéristique nulle.

Coordination in software development, especially in global software development, is important because a team cannot perform well unless its team members communicate and maintain awareness of each other's activities. In order to improve socio-technical coordination, which is coordination among team members who work on interdependent technical entities, it must be conceptualized and measured. One measurement of coordination is socio-technical congruence, which calculates the alignment between technical relationships and social relationships. The problem is that there are a large number of social and technical factors to consider when using socio-technical congruence to study coordination. Current limitations with socio-technical congruence include the inability to represent the size of gaps in coordination between people, the sparse understanding of the role of awareness in conjunction with other coordination mechanisms, and the lack of a technique with which to model people who are involved in certain communication patterns, but not assigned to technical tasks. To address these limitations, this dissertation describes a socio-technical congruence model to study socio-technical coordination. The model focuses on refining conceptualizations of technical and social relationships between people, on describing an improved gap technique for calculating socio-technical alignment, and on providing guidelines on how to study coordination in teams using the socio-technical congruence model. I first develop the model theoretically from related work. I then conduct two empirical investigations to address limitations of the model. The first study examines awareness in a small global team using observational studies. The second study examines important communicators and people who emerge in coordination} despite having no technical relationships by examining email archives from the same team. I conduct a third empirical investigation of a large global team to apply the model to study the relationship between socio-technical congruence and team performance using the project's repository. Finally, I revisit the model and improve it based on the empirical findings. The model refines conceptualizations of relationships, classifies emergent people who are suddenly involved with a task or a team during the project, and represents multi-variable relationships. It includes a template and an accompanying process for applying socio-technical congruence to study socio-technical coordination. This model enables researchers to study socio-technical coordination and analyze its effect on software engineering outcomes such as performance and quality. / Graduate

Empathie wird als ein multidimensionales Konstrukt verstanden, welches kognitive Aspekte wie empathische Akkuratheit (die Fähigkeit, die Emotionen einer anderen Person akkurat zu erken-nen) als auch affektive Aspekte wie Emotionskongruenz (die Fähigkeit, die Emotionen anderer zu teilen) und Mitgefühl (die Fähigkeit, ein Gefühl von Sorge für diese Person zu erleben) umfasst (z.B. Davis, 1994; Eisenberg & Fabes, 1990). Ziel der Dissertation war es zu einem umfassenden Verständnis altersbezogener Unterschiede in diesen drei Empathiefacetten beizutragen. Ausgehend von der Überlegung, dass empathische Akkuratheit wesentlich von alterssensitiven kognitiven Prozessen determiniert wird (z.B. Adolphs, 2002), während affektive Empathiefacetten vor allem altersfreundliche emotionsregulatorische Voraussetzungen haben (z.B. Eisenberg, 2000), wurde vermutet, dass empathische Akkuratheit Altersdefizite aufweist, während Gefühlskongruenz und Mitgefühl altersbezogene Zugewinne zeigen. Da Evidenz dafür vorliegt, dass altersbezogene Defizite in unterschiedlichen kognitiven und emotionalen Leistungsbereichen reduziert werden, wenn die Aufgabe eine besondere Bedeutung für Ältere hat (z.B. Hess, Rosenberg & Waters, 2001; Kunzmann & Grühn, 2005), lag ein weiteres Ziel der Studie darin, zu überprüfen, ob Altersunterschiede in der Empathie durch die Altersrelevanz der Aufgabe moderiert werden. Grund für diese Annahme liefert das Modell der selektiven Optimierung mit Kompensation (z.B. Baltes & Baltes, 1990) sowie die Selective Engagement Theorie (Hess, 2006), die übereinstimmend po-stulieren, dass Personen mit zunehmendem Alter dazu tendieren mit den ihnen zur Verfügung stehenden Ressourcen sparsam umzugehen und diese primär in Bereichen einsetzen, die sie für relevant halten. Basierend auf diesen Überlegungen wurde vermutet, dass Altersdefizite in empathischer Akkuratheit weniger wahrscheinlich sind, wenn die Aufgabe von hoher Relevanz für Ältere ist; in der Emotionskongruenz sollten sich die Altersgewinne in den für Ältere relevanten Aufgaben sogar vergrößern. Da erste Evidenz dafür vorliegt, dass Altersunterschiede im Mitgefühl nicht durch die Altersrelevanz moderiert werden, wurde vermutet, dass Ältere ein höheres Ausmaß an Mitgefühl berichten – unabhängig von der Relevanz der Aufgabe. Zur Überprüfung der Hypothesen wurden 101 jungen und 101 älteren Erwachsenen Filmausschnitte präsentiert, in denen eine junge oder eine ältere Person ein autobiografisches, für ihre Altersgruppe relevantes oder altersneutrales Erlebnis schilderte, und dabei echte Emotionen wiedererlebte. Zur Erfassung empathischer Fähigkeiten sollten die Teilnehmer mithilfe einer Emotionsadjektivliste angeben, in welchem Ausmaß die gezeigte Person sowie sie selbst jedes dieser Gefühle erlebt haben. Erwar-tungsgemäß zeigten sich für die Filme ohne besondere Altersrelevanz negative Altersunterschiede in empathischer Akkuratheit, während Gefühlskongruenz und Mitgefühl Altersgewinne aufwiesen. Wie angenommen wurden Altersdefizite in empathischer Akkuratheit durch die Altersrelevanz der Aufgabe moderiert; Ältere erzielten die gleiche Leistung wie Jüngere, wenn das geschilderte Thema von hoher Relevanz für sie war. Hingegen zeigte sich keine Moderation der Altersunterschiede für Emotionskongruenz. Wie erwartet erlebten Ältere mehr Mitgefühl als Jüngere – unabhängig von der Aufgabenrelevanz. Zusammengenommen sprechen die Befunde dafür, dass Altersunterschiede in der Empathie multidirektional und kontextabhängig verlaufen.

This study examines the relationship between personal values, perceived organisational values and organisational commiunent. The study builds on the work of Finegan (2000). It is argued that the greater the congruence between a person's personal values and the perceived organisational values of the employing organisation, the greater would be their commitment to that organization. This study examines this issue in a school context, examining the teachers' values and their perceptions of their schools' values. As part of the study a survey was administered to a sample of teachers at eight schools that represented the three main streams within the Australian education system; namely Government schools, independent Christian schools and Catholic schools. In this case, personal values and perceived organisational values were measured using Schwartz's (1991) Values Scale and their congruence was calculated using Savery's (Savery, 1993. 1983, 1981) approach. Commitment was measured using Meyer and Allen's (1990) Organisational Commitment Scale. Perceived organisational support and professional commitment were also measured through Eisenberg's (1986) and Blau's (1985b) scales. The study suggests that teachers' backgrounds have little impact on commitment. It further suggests that personal values have only a minimal effect on continuance conunitrnent, although they have a stronger relationship with affective commitment. While congruence between the two types of values do impact on affective commitment, teachers' perceptions of their organisations' values (irrespective of their own values) are stronger predictors of commitment. Personal values are also shown to affect professional commitment. Although the major focus of the study is to explore the relationship between values congruence and organisational commitment, the results suggest that the most significant predictors of affective organisational commitment are perceived organisational support and teachers' perceptions of organisational values.

Thesis (MComm (Industrial Psychology))--Stellenbosch University, 2008. / Effective leadership drives an organisation’s members to achieve a common purpose. Leaders must influence followers to work together to achieve one vision. Successful leaders understand their own values and the values of their followers, in order to guide and direct behaviour. Shared values allow organisations to work together and act as one entity. Successful leaders instil a set of commonly held core values to ensure that followers are working towards the same goals. The purpose of the study was to determine the influence of organisational leadership on leader-follower value congruence and leadership success. The aim of the study was to determine the relationship between transactional and transformational leadership, leader-follower value congruence and leadership success. Engelbrecht’s (2002) model was used as a theoretical framework. A literature study of leadership and leadership success, as well as values and value congruence in organisations was conducted. The relationship between these constructs was also analysed in the literature study. The sample comprised of employees of a large petroleum company in the Western Cape. The sample consisted of 162 leaders and subordinates. The sample comprised of two subordinates for every leader. Each of the respondents completed Bass and Avolio’s Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ) and Langley’s Values Scale (VS). Both the MLQ and VS were found reliable for the purpose of the study. The statistical analysis was conducted through correlation analyses. The results revealed that transactional and transformational leadership have a direct and positive influence on leadership success. Some support was found for the influence of transactional leadership and transformational leadership on leader-follower value congruence. The results also indicated some support for the influence of leaderfollower value congruence on leadership success. Some support was found for the proposition that leader-follower value congruence mediates the relationship between transactional leadership and leadership success. Conclusions were drawn from the results obtained and recommendations for future research are made.

Användandet av sociala medier ökar kraftigt och har under de senaste åren blivit en viktig del i människors vardag. Detta ger företag en möjlighet att använda sig av sociala medier i sin marknadsföring och är en av de mest populära strategierna just nu är när företag samarbetar med influencers i sin marknadsföring. Detta kallas influencer marketing. Dock finns det svårigheter för företag att hitta rätt influencer att samarbeta med och det finns olika faktorer som behöver värderas innan ett samarbete startar. Forskningsfrågorna som har besvarats i denna studie är vilka faktorer företag anser är viktigast samt vad konsumenterna anser är viktigt när företag samarbetar med influencers på Instagram. Räckvidd, relevans samt resonans är tre faktorer som tidigare studier visar har betydelse samt är viktiga vid influencer marketing. Studien genomfördes med en kvalitativ ansats i form av fokusgrupp med konsumenter samt intervjuer med marknadsförare som arbetar på företag inom mode- och skönhetsbranschen i Sverige. Denna information utgjorde den empiriska data som studien består av. Resultatet av studien visar att både konsumenterna och företagen inom mode- och skönhetsbranschen värderar faktorn relevans högst. Konsumenterna anser att det viktigaste är att influencern är trovärdig samt kunnig om produkten personen marknadsför, medan företagen värderade högst att influencerns image speglar företagets. Förslag till fortsatt forskning är att studera vad influencers tycker är viktigast när de väljer företag att samarbeta med. Det skulle vara intressant att veta influencernas åsikter angående detta och om även de värderar relevansen högst.

Abstract Humanizing brands is an essential domain of current branding as it enhances the visibility of a brand by connecting consumers to the brand, thus contributing to strong brand equity. The term humanize used in this dissertation is not limited to brands with anthropomorphic characters, such as the M&M’s characters. Used in this context, the term also includes the ways in which consumers attribute a brand to be “close to me,” “like me,” and a “partner.” Although the research of customer-based brand equity has been well-documented over the past twenty-five years, limited attention has been given to examining the differential effect of brand favorability in forming a self-brand connection. Even more scarce are studies on the antecedents and indicators of brand betrayal. Further, up-to-date research is mostly silent as to whether temporal focus and temporal distance influence a brand’s ability to serve as a means of reflecting the consumer’s selves. To fill up these research gaps, this dissertation reports four research articles. More than two thousand samples were collected from Finland, India, and the US to examine the conceptual frameworks. First, this dissertation contributes to the literature on self-brand connection by articulating the effect of self-presentation by brand on self-brand connection. Second, it contributes to the literature of self-congruence, seen from the temporal perspective. Third, it adds to the brand betrayal literature by examining consumer anthropomorphize tendency and actual high-arousal positive states as the antecedents. It further explains the indicators of brand betrayal, consisting of failure severity and inferred negative motive. In term of managerial implications, the findings contribute to (1) the one-on-one marketing approach to branding, (2) incorporating consumer’s selves into branding considerations, and (3) assessing brand betrayal in a negative brand relationship. / Tiivistelmä Brändien inhimillistäminen on keskeinen alue vallitsevassa brändien tutkimuksessa, sillä inhimillistämällä lisätään brändin näkyvyyttä kytkemällä kuluttajat brändiin, mikä osaltaan vahvistaa brändipääomaa. Tässä väitöskirjassa käytetty termi inhimillistäminen ei rajoitu vain brändeihin, jotka käyttävät antropomorfisia hahmoja kuten M&M:n hahmot. Tässä yhteydessä termiin sisältyy myös keinoja, joita hyödyntämällä kuluttajat tuntevat brändin olevan ”lähellä minua”, ”kuten minä” ja ”kumppani”. Vaikka asiakaslähtöisen brändipääoman tutkimusta on tehty paljon viimeisen 25 vuoden aikana, vain vähän huomiota on saanut brändien suosimisen vaikutus kuluttajan minän ja brändin välisen yhteyden muodostukseen. Vielä vähemmän tutkimusta on tehty brändien pettämisen syistä ja indikaattoreista. Lisäksi olemassa oleva tutkimus ei ota juurikaan kantaa siihen, vaikuttavatko ajallinen fokus ja ajallinen etäisyys brändin kykyyn heijastaa kuluttajien minää. Näiden tutkimusaukkojen täyttämiseksi väitöskirja esittelee neljän tutkimusartikkelin tuloksia. Käsitteellisten viitekehysten testaamista varten kerättiin yli 2 000 vastaajan aineisto kolmesta eri maasta. Ensinnäkin, tämä väitöskirja edistää kuluttajan minä-brändisuhteeseen liittyvää tutkimusta kuvaamalla brändin itse-presentaation vaikutusta minä-brändisuhteeseen. Toiseksi, tämä väitöskirja kontribuoi minä-kongruenssiin liittyvään kirjallisuuteen ajallisesta näkökulmasta tarkasteltuna. Kolmanneksi, tämä väitöskirja edistää brändien pettämiseen liittyvää kirjallisuutta tutkimalla kuluttajan taipumusta antropomorfisointiin ja toteutuneita korkean innostuneisuuden tiloja. Tutkimus myös selittää brändien pettämisen indikaattoreita, jotka koostuvat epäonnistumisen vakavuudesta ja brändin negatiivisesta motiivista. Liikkeenjohdollisina päätelminä tulokset ehdottavat (1) yhdeltä yhdelle markkinointia brändäykseen, (2) kuluttajan minän sisällyttämistä brändäyskysymyksiin, ja (3) brändin pettämisen arviointia negatiivisessa brändisuhteessa.