No description available.

No description available.

This research is concerned with the problems faced by managers within manufacturing when they are expected to successfully implement a major change within their organisation. It uses, as the vehicle for the research, the Theory of Constraints Thinking Process (TOC/TP) first developed by Dr Goldratt between 1986 and 1994. The TOC is used by managers to determine what requires to be changed within their organisation and then to develop both the solution and the implementation strategy. The research has used the access obtained by the researcher to examine the approaches adopted by manufacturing managers in implementing improvement projects, which involve significant change. The primary focus of the research was to confirm the existence of a significant barrier to change and to determine whether this was a function of the individual. Once the obstacle had been identified in specific situations, the second step was to consider whether the obstacle could be described in a generic form with application to a much wider range of change environments. The final stage was to replicate the exploratory stage in other companies in other countries through the involvement of colleagues of the researcher and then consider what might be included in any change project, which would overcome the obstacle so defined. The primary method of data collection was through the application of action research and the development of the data in the form of case studies. The number and types of companies that took part in the study and the range of countries was intended to ensure a reasonable spread of data. The results suggest that one of the key obstacles to change is that outlined in the research problem and that the TOC/TP, through the use of the cloud technique, can describe this obstacle and give direction to the way of successfully dealing with it.

The climate of the Earth is expected to warm due to increasing atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases, particularly carbon dioxide (CO 2). The impact of this change on terrestrial ecosystems is uncertain, yet these ecosystems contain three times more carbon (C) than the atmosphere and could considerably augment anthropogenic CO2 emissions. This thesis aimed to quantify the terrestrial C stored in an area of Pennine moorland and predict its response to changes in climate and management. The area of soil and vegetation types was determined using existing maps of the study site and a geographical information system. Vegetation C was assessed using results from published productivity studies, and soil C was evaluated from a programme of field sampling. Most C was contained in peat soils and comparison of the results with the UK's national C inventory identified inaccuracies in the national values. The impact of sheep grazing and moorland burning on C storage was investigated by utilising long-term experiments at the site. Areas where sheep had been excluded for forty years were compared to grazed areas and burning was investigated using a randomised block experiment. Grazing had little impact on terrestrial C storage, but regular burning significantly reduced C sequestration in peats. The response of the C store to climate change was investigated by i) determining the impact of past climate on C storage and ii) developing a predictive model by measuring the underlying processes of C input and output in the ecosystem. Both approaches illustrated the sensitivity of the ecosystems C balance to climate, suggesting that global warming will reduce C accumulation at the site and, therefore, augment atmospheric CO 2 concentrations. The novel use of near infrared reflectance spectroscopy to characterise peat samples was also demonstrated, indicating opportunities for application of this technique in palaeoecological studies of peats.

The newspaper industry has in the last few decades experienced a gradual but steady decline. The cause of this decline and potential ways of counteraction have been under considerable debate recently both in the industry and in academia. For the last decade and a half, the digitization of news has emerged as a much debated challenge and been perceived by the industry as both its inevitable future and its biggest threat. Taking its starting-point in this complex situation, this dissertation particularly focuses on how the organizational culture of regional, ideologically driven newspaper organizations affects propensity for change. Particular focus is placed on the regional newspaper industry, and an ethnographical case study has been conducted of a Swedish county covered by two independent, competing newspaper organizations. The purpose of the study is to develop a theoretical concept to describe the kind of organizational inertia currently experienced by the regional newspaper industry. Combining semi-structured interviews, observations and analysis of public documentation, it is shown that both regional organizations in the study are struggling to reconcile a steadily declining print edition with the pressures of publishing news online. The regional newspaper industry is expected to deliver online news content to a growing audience without a profitable business model. Since the late 1990s, when the first of the organizations’ websites appeared, the Internet’s potential as a financially justifiable publishing platform has been put into question. Sixteen years later, the websites and the questions remain. The study shows how organizational memory and the act of remembrance are used along with certain aspects of corporate history and culture to legitimize long term strategizing that in turn have significant effects on the propensity for change. Dimensions of “spectrality” and the concept of “spectral organizations” are introduced as theoretical concepts to describe these particular types of organizations that are haunted by their past to the extent that they exhibit strategic entrenchment or even altogether an inability to progress and adapt to their environment. The contribution of the study is to increase the understanding of why the regional newspaper industry is experiencing inertia, and of the ideological forces that make implementing paradigmatic change so difficult. / Baksidestext: The newspaper industry has in the last few decades experienced a gradual but steady decline. The cause of this decline and potential ways of counteraction have been under considerable debate recently both in the industry and in academia. For the last decade and a half, the digitization of news has emerged as a much debated challenge and been perceived by the industry as both its inevitable future and its biggest threat. Taking its starting-point in this complex situation, this dissertation particularly focuses on how the organizational culture of regional, ideologically driven newspaper organizations affects propensity for change. Particular focus is placed on the regional newspaper industry, and an ethnographical case study has been conducted of a Swedish county covered by two independent, competing newspaper organizations. The end result is a theoretical concept that describes, and aids the understanding of, the kind of organizational inertia currently experienced by the regional newspaper industry. / <p>ISBN of the printed version refers to the 2nd edition of the book.</p>

This thesis examines children’s (aged 11-12) ideas about climate change. Seventh grade children in 9 schools in Ontario were interviewed and submitted illustrated responses about climate change over a one year period of data collection. Qualitative grounded theory was used to allow themes from the data to emerge, and the use of computer software, NVivo7, was used to code and classify themes. The data were analyzed to answer three main research questions. First, the thesis explored if there were common similarities or differences between the children’s and adults’ responses (as gained from the literature). Second, children’s responses were grouped by geographical location. These locations included rural, urban, and suburban school. This was conducted in order to determine if any group differences exist among children in these three areas. The study found that children’s and adults perceptions are quite similar, and that in some situations, both groups tend to use substitution of other environmental knowledge (cultural models) in lieu of knowledge of climate change but that children also tended to use different cultural models to explain their ideas about climate change. The thesis concluded that no group differences existed among rural, urban, and suburban children and children in all groups tended to have much more detailed knowledge of mitigation strategies than the effects and causes of climate change. The thesis also concluded that a new educational framework, modeled after the Causes, Effects, and Mitigation Strategies of Climate Change (CEM Framework) ought to be used to redistribute this knowledge across these three areas.

轉換點(change point)問題出現在許多的統計領域，包括了有母數、無母數、迴歸、時間序列、序貫、貝式等模型，本研究主要是針對簡單迴歸模型的估計單一轉換點之問題作探討，若我們均勻分布解釋變數並採用最小平方法來估計轉換點，模擬結果告訴我們估計值會有雙峰的現象，此現象造成了變異數的增大。我們嘗試利用二階段設計來改善之前的估計，藉由第一階段所得到轉換點的可能範圍來估計第二階段的實驗，模擬結果顯示此兩階段估計的確降低了估計值的差異。 / The change point problem can be involved in many models such as parametric, nonparametric, regression, time series, sequential, Bayesian, and so on. This thesis focuses on estimating the location of the change point in a simple regression model. We first show that the computational simulation demonstrates a bimodal phenomenon which could increase the variation of the estimator badly when the independent variables are allocated uniformly over the explanatory interval and the least square method is used to determine the estimator of the change point. In the second part,we implement a two-stage design that tries to shrink the possible location of the change point via first stage and then design the second stage accordingly. Simulation result gives a positive response in reducing the variation caused by the bimodal phenomenon.

Climate change is a type of prisoner’s dilemma. Reductions in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are a public good and are costly to provide. Consequently, nation-states generally have done little to curb their emissions. Countries could be encouraged to reduce their emissions if the international community of states were to sanction, or the world were to shame, states that did not act. However, financial and technological aid is more likely to induce states to impose tougher restrictions on GHG emissions. In order for Copenhagen to precipitate major action on climate change the treaty must either compel countries to fulfill their obligations or assist states in transitioning their economies away from fossil fuels toward alternative energy sources. If the treaty fails to do both of these things then we can only hope that the largest producers of greenhouse gases either take steps to reduce their emissions voluntarily or are forced to take action in response to domestic pressure from their citizens and/or sub-national governments. Otherwise, we will have no choice but to adapt to an increasingly warmer planet and the consequences thereof.

In 2001, Gerald Haman stormed the corporate world by generating 454 000 ideas in 60 minutes delivering "Thinkathon", which he defined as the “world's greatest brainstorming tool”. Easily replicated, Singapore corporate leaders saw the “Thinkathon” as a 'quick fix' to jumpstart mass ideas for Innovative Initiatives in the perennial search for that critical sustaining differentiator for the city state to compete regionally and ever more now, as a developed nation, globally. However, the “Thinkathon” merely provided a good harvest of ideas, but saw no gains in innovative breakthroughs. Alex Osborn (1953), the father of brainstorming, initiated brainstorming as a 3 phase program of fact-finding, idea finding and solution finding but “Thinkathon” provided only mass idea-finding. This thesis sets out to address the gaps in salvaging the effectiveness of mass brainstorming “Thinkathon” if organizations in Singapore still opt to engage this “perceived creative tool” as a jumpstart for Innovative Initiatives. / Since the original “Thinkathon” did not provide a literary foundation, in this thesis we re-examined the evolution of cognitive mental thinking processes from self to group and finally to creative mass brainstorming, to help failsafe the “Thinkathon”, rendering it literally structured and “ideaworthy” to be used independently as a jumpstart Innovative tool. Adapting the original “Thinkathon”, it was put through an empirical series of pilot runs that came along with feedback observations, ultimately metamorphising into a structured 4-step creative ideation approach by-product called “Thinkathon II”. The new Thinkathon II was injected with a new process “Co-Operacy” (Hunter, Dale 1977) which until then was a mere untested philosophy but had proven effective in 'mass consensus decision'. This was useful in filtering mass ideas from a quantitative to a qualitative stage, without premature eradication or adulteration to the original generated ideas, a process which was not available in the original “Thinkathon” by Gerald Haman. / After a series of successful pilot runs which endorsed its efficiency, Thinkathon II was marketed to the public which further reaffirmed its effectiveness as an innovative jumpstart tool for Innovative Initiatives. The final acid test came at the 7th International Association of Facilitators (IAF) Conference held in Singapore on 25th August that gave an added opportunity to showcase the Thinkathon II, sampled by worldwide Facilitators who welcomed the new 4-step structured mass ideation process. / Thus, this thesis, which resulted in a new by-product, the “Thinkathon II”, not only closed the gaps originally created by the founder of Thinkathon, it also provided literature on the art and science of mass idea brainstorming which until now was uncharted. It also disproved the claim made by Tony Proctor (1995) “that large numbers of ideas cannot find a place for quality”. This achievement was also acknowledged by the originator Mr Gerald Haman who saw the added value in rendering his original Thinkathon more "solution-focused". Hence, “Thinkathon II” is now a founded new approach where corporate leaders can use this new “mass idea brainstorming” process, which is worthy of its definition as an innovation tool to jumpstart any Innovation Initiative. / Thesis (PhDBusinessandManagement)--University of South Australia, 2005.

Thesis (MEd (Human Resource Studies))--University of South Australia, 1994