Program evaluation is becoming increasingly important in pediatric rehabilitation settings that adhere to FCS philosophy. This philosophy recognizes that each family is unique, that parents know their children best, and that optimal child functioning occurs within a family context. However, researchers know little about the specific evaluation activities occurring in these settings or the extent to which evaluators uphold FCS philosophy in their activities. The primary goal of this study is to examine the strengths, limitations, and consequences of current evaluation practice, including its compatibility with FCS philosophy. As a secondary goal, the study aims to understand the promise and prospects of alternative evaluation approaches that, in theory, are compatible with FCS philosophy. To address these goals, this study uses a mixed-methods approach and includes three phases. Phase 1 involves a survey of staff members involved with program evaluation at 15 Canadian pediatric rehabilitation centres. It determines the level of program evaluation occurring in these settings, verifies on the motivation for evaluation, and describes the degree to which evaluation activities are consistent with the FCS philosophy. Phase 2 involves interviews with staff members and explores the values, factors, and conditions that support and inhibit the evaluation of family-centred programs in pediatric rehabilitation settings as well as the benefits and limitations of using mainstream practices for evaluating these programs. Phase 3 then uses focus groups with staff members and interviews with parents to explore how the evaluation of family-centred programs can be improved as well as to identify the compatibility and practicality of using alternative evaluation approaches within these settings. Overall, the findings show that the amount of evaluation activities occurring within these centres is variable; that the majority of individuals working in program evaluation do not have formal training in it; and that the centres have limited resources for evaluation. The findings also demonstrate that participatory evaluation approaches are more compatible with FCS philosophy but that it might be difficult to implement such approaches given the limited resources and diverse characteristics of rehabilitation settings. In light of these circumstances, the study notes ways for improving program evaluation activities.

Nous avons réalisé une réaction domino qui a conduit à une diversité moléculaire importante avec de bons rendements et une large gamme de groupes fonctionnels. De plus, un contrôle total de la stéréochimie est exercé sur les centres introduits, ce qui a permis en particulier, la synthèse stéréocontrôlée de deux centres quaternaires adjacents.<br />Une amélioration a pu être apportée afin de diminuer la toxicité de la réaction, en remplaçant la moitié du tétra-acétate de plomb par du diacétate de iodo-benzène moins toxique.<br />Cette réaction permet ainsi l'élaboration de cyclohexanes hautement fonctionnalisés comportant jusqu'à cinq centres définis.<br />La famille des iridals (comportant plus de 30 représentants) s'est alors révélée une cible de choix pour l'utilisation de notre réaction domino en synthèse totale. Les iridals sont des triterpènes qui possèdent des propriétés biologiques importantes, principalement contre le cancer (un brevet a été déposé par une équipe de Montpellier). Les iridals ont tous en commun un noyau cyclohexane comportant quatre centres asymétriques adjacents, dont deux quaternaires, ce qui en fait des cibles synthétiques intéressantes.<br />Nous avons choisi l'iridal, molécule mère de la famille, comme première cible et nous proposons une approche de sa synthèse. La construction de la chaîne homofarnésyle est particulièrement traitée.

Thèse:Linköping : Univ., 2002.

Thèse de doctorat : Géographie, aménagement de l'espace : Rennes 2 : 2006. / Bibliogr. f. 319-347. Webographie f. 348-351. Index des sigles et abréviations. Annexes.

Thèse de doctorat : Urbanisme : Università degli studi di Palermo : 2008. Thèse de doctorat : Urbanisme : Paris 12 : 2008. / Thèse soutenue en co-tutelle. Texte italien seul. Titre provenant de l'écran titre. Pagination : 227 p.

Thesis (M. Soc. Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 1983.

The basic purpose of the research is to understand the significance of internal marketing in influencing frontline employees'job-related attitudes and service quality. Since rewards are considered to be an important compqnent of internal marketing, this research investigates relationships among frontline employee perceptions of rewards (extrinsic and intrinsic), attitudes (three components of organisational commitment viz. affective, normative and continuance, and job satisfaction), and service quality, in banking call centres. In this context, a conceptual model is presented comprising rewards as the antecedentsa, ttitudes as the mediating variables, and service quality of the frontline employees as the outcome variable. The model is empirically tested through a large sample study that is conducted among 4 call centres of a major retail bank in the UK. Following certain qualitative in-depth interviews at the exploratory stage, structural equation modelling (using AMOS) is carried out on 342 useable questionnaires (response rate of more than 50%), to empirically test the proposed framework for the study. The measurement and structural models, after validation and purification, provided satisfactory fit estimates across absolute, incremental and parsimonious measures. The results highlight the importance of rewards, as part of internal marketing, in maintaining employee attitudes, and improving service quality. Intrinsic rewards (like role clarity, training and skill variety) emerged as the most significant of all, as they were found to impact on service quality directly. Extrinsic social rewards (like supervision and team support) were not found to be significant, while the finding regarding extrinsic organisational rewards-service quality relationship was surprising. Although assumed important for perfon-nance, some had no direct effect (pay, and benefits satisfaction, extrinsic exchange), while others (working conditions and promotional opportunities) exerted a negative direct effect on service quality, although the indirect effect of most of these rewards was found to be positive. However, these rewards were considered important for influencing employee attitudes, which in turn influence service quality. In this context, the importance of employee attitudes like affective commitment and job satisfaction is emphasisedfor service quality. The empirical results of the study also reveal that it is the nature of commitment that matters in commitment-service quality relationship. Affective commitment emerged as the only attitude variable to bear a significant positive relationship with service quality. Job satisfaction was not found to impact on service quality directly, although the indirect effect was found to be positive. Normative commitment impacted on service quality indirectly, while continuance commitment was not found to be effective at all. Besides theoretical and methodological contributions, the thesis also provides strong managerial implications and directions for future research in applying internal marketing for improving service quality of frontline employees in call centres. Keywords: internal marketing, rewards, service quality, commitment, job satisfaction, UK banks, call centres, frontline employees.

The thesis has been performed at Volvo Car Customer Service in Gothenburg, Sweden. The output from the study will support Volvo to secure the Just-In-Time delivery of referrals for the after-market. The scope was limited to referrals from pre-planned orders, which occurs when there is no availability in the distribution centre where the orders were placed. Volvo's main warehouse in Europe is the Central Distribution Centre, which process referrals. The warehouse had an ongoing organisational change during this study. The concern was that the change would not lead to optimal conditions for processing referrals for different markets. It was therefore important to preserve the market knowledge in order to maintain a reliable referral service. A qualitative study was used and the information was gathered primarily through semi-structured interviews. Literature was studied both initially and continuously through the study. Analyse of the literature, current situation and data collection generated ideas for possible ways of securing the referral process and improvements. Benchmarking and Workshop was also performed in order to obtain further ideas. The result of this study was an information material containing information about all concerned markets, overview of referral flow and information regarding how the Central Distribution Centre needs to print referrals. The proposals suggested for future work were explained in long- and short-term. The short-term suggestions include use of the developed material in order to preserve the knowledge along with providing correct working conditions. For long-term suggestions focus has been on how to reduce or remove the printing problem. For future work Volvo Car Customer Service should consider these proposals in order to secure and improve the referral service.

Στην παρούσα έρευνα καταγράφονται οι απόψεις επιμορφωτών του Περιφερειακού Επιμορφωτικού Κέντρου Πάτρας, σχετικά με θέματα που αφορούν το ρόλο τους καθώς και με την έννοια της αποτελεσματικότητας. Διερευνώνται οι απόψεις τους για τον επιμορφωτικό ρόλο, τα προβλήματα που συνδέονται με αυτόν, ο προσανατολισμός της δράσης τους, τα προβλήματα που αφορούν τους επιμορφωνόμενους ως νεοδιόριστους εκπαιδευτικούς, η ανταπόκριση των Περιφερειακών Επιμορφωτικών Κέντρων στα λειτουργικά προαπαιτούμενα της εκπαίδευσης και στις ανάγκες των εκπαιδευτικών. Παράλληλα επιχειρείται η διερεύνηση των απόψεων των επιμορφωτών για την αποτελεσματική επιμόρφωση, τον αποτελεσματικό εκπαιδευτικό και το αποτελεσματικό σχολείο. Διαπιστώνεται ο θεσμικός προσανατολισμός της δράσης και των απόψεών τους ως προς τους άξονες της έρευνας. / The present survey registers the opinions of Peripheral Training Centres trainers, with respect to subjects relating to the training role, as well as to the concept of effectiveness. The trainers’ opinions about the training role are researched, as well as about relevant problems. Furthermore, the orientation of their action is researched. The trainers state their opinions about the problems concerning new teachers. Likewise, they convey their views on the response of Peripheral Training Centres to the functional prerequisites of education and to the needs of teachers. Correspondingly, a research of trainers’ opinions is undertaken with reference to effective training, effective teacher and effective school. An institutional orientation of their action is ascertained, as well as of their opinions, with regard to the hubs of the survey.

The study examined the responses of Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) within the victim empowerment sector in KwaZulu-Natal, to the needs and expectations of volunteer trauma support workers. The objectives of the study were to determine whether or not NGOs have volunteer care and support programmes and what challenges or constraints exist in providing such programmes. Systems and ecosystems theory were used as the theoretical framework guiding the study. Firstly, it provided a basis for understanding reciprocity between organisations and the environment. Secondly, it provided a framework for understanding the context in which volunteers and NGOs operate. A qualitative approach was used. This allowed the researcher to gather in-depth data necessary for the study. The study made use of non-probability sampling. Ten organisations were purposively sampled for the study. These included two organisations from Pietermaritzburg, and eight organisations from Durban. All organisations are affiliated to the Themba Lesizwe network. Data was collected by use of in-depth interviews, using an interview guide. All interviews were tape recorded and transcribed. The results of the study have shown that, although volunteers were recruited to provide trauma support work, they were also providing generic work including community interventions. The organisations' major reasons for utilizing the services of volunteers were shortage of staff and lack of funding to employ fulltime staff. The study found that whilst all organisations had care and support programmes in place to support volunteers, in the form of training, supervision and debriefing, these were uncoordinated and unstructured. The major finding of the study was that out of ten organisations, only one had a volunteer policy. All participants in the study agreed that there was a need for a volunteer policy and recommended that volunteer policies be developed. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2007.