The primary purpose of the investigation was to examine differences in symptom-expression between Caucasians and Asians in response to college-stress. College-stress was defined as adjustment problems that students experience as a function of exposure to a college environment. The propensity of each group to express symptoms in response to stress in somatic (i.e., bodily) versus psychological (i.e., anxiety and depression) modes was investigated. Previous reports have postulated a somatization hypothesis for Asians, as opposed to a psychologization tendency in Caucasians. Intra-Asian differences with respect to symptom-expression were also examined. Data were collected electronically. 115 graduate students participated in the study. Using Fisher's transformations to compare correlations, it was found that neither the somatization nor the psychologization hypotheses were supported. However, within Asians depression demonstrated a stronger association with stress than somatic symptoms. A subsidiary purpose of this investigation was to determine whether attribution-style was an aspect of culture that could lead to differences in symptom-expression. It was hypothesized that Asians would have a more external attribution-style, while Caucasian-Americans would have a more internal style. External style was hypothesized to be related to a somatic tendency, while internal style was hypothesized to be related to a psychological tendency. None of these hypotheses were supported. Finally, some exploratory analyses were carried out to assess the effect of demographic variables on symptom-expression. Sex was related to anxiety symptoms, while level of education was related to somatic symptom-reports. Overall, these findings highlight the need for cross-cultural research in psychology to adopt a more systemic approach in studying variables, as opposed to using merely country/culture as an independent variable. / Ph. D.

There is a lack of tools available to support cross-cultural communication and collaboration. Current research is comprised of assessments of the need for better cross-cultural communication tools and discussions of simple guidelines for developing such a tool. Existing programs such as chat or video-conferencing have been altered to be used in a cross-cultural setting, but little data has been gathered on their effectiveness. There is a need, according to the literature in the field of Computer Supported Collaborative Work (CSCW), that cross-cultural tools be developed, researched, and comprehensively studied. The purpose of this research was to show that a simple cross-cultural communication tool can be developed to support electronic cross-cultural collaborations. BlissChat was developed in Virginia Tech's Macroergonomics and Group Decision Systems Laboratory for this purpose. The dependent measures for the study consisted of the time of completion and errors committed. The experimental design was a 2 x 2 between factor design. The factors were divided into a concordant (same language culture) group versus a discordant (different language culture) group. The other independent variable was the environment, whether they used the communication tool BlissChat, or in the ideal setting of face-to- face (FtF). The two culture groups used were Chinese first language speakers and English first language speakers. Participants who used BlissChat were able to perform their tasks as accurately as those who met FtF by not committing significantly more errors (p<0.05), but they did not perform as efficiently. The participants using BlissChat did not perform as efficiently as those meeting FtF (p<0.05). It took participants using BlissChat much longer to perform their task than participants in FtF conditions (p<0.05). The consequence of these outcomes will effect both the current use as well as the future outcomes of CCSCW. / Master of Science

by Chiu Chi Ming, Jimmy. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1997. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 68-77). / TABLE OF CONTENTS --- p.ii / APPENDICES --- p.iii / LIST OF TABLES --- p.iv / ABSTRACT --- p.v / Chapter / Chapter I. --- Introduction --- p.1 / Chapter II. --- Transformational and transactional leadership --- p.6 / Contingent rewards --- p.9 / Management-by-exception --- p.11 / Intellectual stimulation --- p.12 / Individualized consideration --- p.14 / Charismatic leadership --- p.15 / Summary --- p.19 / Individualism and collectivism --- p.21 / Ingroup versus outgroup --- p.23 / Relating transformational and transactional leadership to the collectivistic context --- p.27 / Contingent rewards --- p.27 / Management-by-exception --- p.29 / Intellectual stimulation --- p.30 / Individualized consideration --- p.32 / Charismatic leadership --- p.34 / Chapter III. --- Method --- p.36 / Research design --- p.36 / Participants --- p.37 / Instrument --- p.40 / Analysis strategy --- p.42 / Chapter IV. --- Results --- p.48 / Confirmatory factor analysis --- p.48 / Tests of factorial invariance --- p.51 / Mean differences of latent variables --- p.53 / Hypothesis results --- p.54 / Chapter V. --- Discussions --- p.57 / Limitations and future research --- p.63 / Conclusion --- p.66 / References --- p.67 / Appendices / Chapter Appendix A --- The 40-item MLQ-1 --- p.78 / Chapter Appendix B --- Sample LISREL program --- p.80 / Chapter Appendix C --- Descriptive statistics and correlations of the 40-item MLQ-1 --- p.82 / Chapter Appendix D --- Correlations of the 5 latent variables-HK data --- p.87 / Chapter Appendix E --- Means and standard deviations of all 40 items of MLQ-1 for US and Hong Kong data --- p.88 / Chapter Appendix F --- Means and standard deviations of all 40 items of MLQ-1 for Hong Kong-ingroup and Hong Kong-outgroup data --- p.90 / Chapter Appendix G --- "Means and standard deviations of the 5 latent variables for US, Hong Kong, HK-ingroup, and HK-outgroup data" --- p.92

published_or_final_version / Psychology / Master / Master of Philosophy

Not available / text

No description available.

Organizacijų darbuotojai, atlikdami pavestas tarptautines užduotis, dažnai susiduria su įvairiomis problemomis, kurios gali turėti lemiamos reikšmės užduoties įvykdymo sėkmei. Nebuvo aptikta duomenų, kad Lietuvoje buvo atliktas tyrimas, kuris nagrinėtų į užsienio šalis išsiųstų organizacijos darbuotojų problemas ir siūlytų problemų sprendimo būdus. Darbo problema. Kokiomis tarpkultūrinės vadybos priemonėmis būtų galima sumažinti ekspatriantų kultūrinę atskirtį? Darbo tikslas. Remiantis tarpkultūrinės vadybos teorijomis, sukurti modelį, kuris padėtų ekspatriantams lengviau adaptuotis tarpkultūrinėje darbo aplinkoje. Uždaviniai: 1. Atlikti kultūros, vadybos bei tarpkultūrinės vadybos teorijų analizę. 2. Išanalizuoti tarpkultūrinės vadybos modelius. 3. Ištirti tarpkultūrinių ciklų stadijas bei jų svarbą organizacijoms. 4. Išanalizuoti ekspatriantų pasirinkimo ir apmokymų modelius. 5. Pasiūlyti naują tarpkultūrinį modelį, mažinantį ekspatriantų kultūrinę atskirtį. Tyrimo objektas – Lietuvos piliečiai, dirbantys tarptautinių ryšių turinčiose organizacijose bei vykdantys, besiruošiantys vykdyti ar jau vykdę organizacijos paskirtas tarptautines užduotis. Keliamos hipotezės: Hipotezė Nr. 1.: Ekspatriantų kultūrinę atskirtį mažina intensyvūs tarpkultūriniai apmokymai. Hipotezė Nr. 2.: Organizacijos pagalba tarptautinės užduoties vykdymo metu padeda sumažinti ekspatriantų kultūrinę atskirtį. Tyrimo metodai. Siekiant išsiaiškinti tarpkultūrinės vadybos įtaką ekspatriantų kultūrinei... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / Business globalization trends raise the new priorities for management theory and practice. Furthermore, being the member of European Union provides new opportunities for Lithuanian companies to reach foreign markets. This situation increases the need of expatriates doing international assignments and working in foreign cultural settings. The goal of this work is – to create an international assignment model based on cross-cultural management theories and practices, which could help expatriates to adopt better to foreign organization cultures. The objectives are: 1) to make the analysis of culture, management and cross cultural management theories; 2) to analyze cross cultural models; 3) to examine the international assignment models; 4) to analyze expatriate training models; 5) suggest new cross cultural model, which minimizes cross cultural gap of expatriates. The object of the research is expatriates working in International organizations who are going to make, making or made International assignments. For research the author used such methods: 1) the analysis of scientific literature; 2) the empirical research; 3) data analysis. The first part of the work, discloses major theoretical issues of cross cultural management and organizational culture. In the second part it is made the review of expatriates International assignment models. In the third part it is given the analysis of available services of consultancy companies working in cross-cultural training business and... [to full text]

M.Ed. / Lack of community involvement in the provision of social-environmental education programmes has become a serious problem, even though some communities are aware that they should be involved. In this study an attempt is made to find out how the community is, or could be, involved in the provision of social-environmental education programmes in primary schools, that is, the issue of community involvement in a school's delivery of Environmental Education, focusing especially on social issues. Part of transforming the education system is making it democratic. The democratisation of education includes the idea that stakeholders such as parents, teachers, learners, and members of the community should be able to participate in the activities of schools. Put simply, the right to education and the duty to transform education, means that all stakeholders have new rights and responsibilities. They have rights and responsibilities concerning the way schools are run, and the way in which education takes place. It is the responsibility of the state, the parents, learners, educators, and others to provide the best possible social-environmental education for all learners. The state cannot provide everything and do everything for the school. It cannot afford to do this. Parents and members of school communities are often in the best position to know what their schools really need, and are aware of what problems exist in their schools. This is a meaningful role within the school. Therefore, there must be a partnership between all stakeholders who have an interest in education. The partners are the state, the parents, learners educators, and members of school communities.

Africa is seen as the last investment frontier and according to literature will have a GDP of $1.5 trillion by the year 2016 and a population that is double the size of Europe. The rapid expansion of infrastructure and construction in African countries, such as Mozambique and Zambia has increased the demand for commercial vehicles. This has sparked unparalleled marketing opportunities for automotive manufacturers and the continent is fast attracting major players in this sector. The international marketing literature still lacks detailed studies and research into the marketing deliberations and trades in Africa. Therefore, according literature a greater representation of African culture within the international marketing literature would provide relevance and richness in the global market place and offer greater insight to organisations who are seeking to invest and expand their businesses in Africa. The management issue here is to comprehend the diversity and vastness of this region and putting together all spheres to ensure growth and creating brand loyalty. The key challenge here is for management to be able to grasp and understand not only the various cultures but also the way of doing business in such a vastly different region. It is therefore imperative for Ford Motor Company to fully understand these factors so as to take full advantage associated with entering a market early which is commonly referred as first-mover-advantage. A case in point is when General Motors entered the Chinese automotive industry in 1997 when the Chinese market was relatively small. General Motors’ enthusiasm and commitment back in 1997 was driven by a belief that China would ultimately become an economic powerhouse and emerge as one of the world’s largest automotive markets. By the year 2010 China was one of the world’s biggest automotive markets and General Motors was a dominant force in this market. Africa has all the key elements for the growth and development of a robust automotive market. By studying past experiences and outcomes from empirical studies on international marketing with emphasis on the automotive industry, it will be possible to draw lessons and experience about the potential growth of the automotive sector on the African continent. This study will also be of great significance to other automotive manufacturers and suppliers looking to expand their business and market share across Africa due to the increase of the middle class. Therefore creative strategies and thinking of how to circumvent challenges in the African cultural environment, creativity in managing bureaucracy and due diligence about business and investment opportunities will uncover unprecedented volumes of profitable business that lies untapped on the African continent. Data from the quantitative study suggest that culture, political environment, country-of-origin, competition and country infrastructure in Nigeria, are essential factors to the development of a successful international marketing strategy for Ford South Africa. This study therefore concludes that Ford Motor Company of South Africa can utilize this framework in order to gain greater market share and ultimately success in Nigeria. Recommendations were also made for future research studies that can contribute to the international marketing literature with emphasis on the African market.

Asian countries have become one of the largest export markets for US food developers during the past decade. Understanding consumer expectations and needs in a cross-cultural framework has gained importance for new products to succeed in the international markets. A sports-drink, which is a functional drink for athletes, has been successfully introduced in the US. The product is also growing in popularity internationally. However, the concept and product sports-drink is relatively novel among Asians. The overall objective of this study was to investigate cross-cultural consumer acceptance and fundamental factors driving diversities in food acceptance using a sportsdrink varied in sweetener concentration. In the first part of the study, respondents (372) from Indonesia, Korea, Mainland China, Taiwan, Thailand, and United States evaluated sports-drink samples at four sweetener levels. Respondents' expected sensory characteristics, concept fitness, functionality, and experience with twenty commercial beverages were also evaluated. The results show that the optimal sweetness level for the sports-drink was lower for Americans than Asians. The degree of increase in perceived sweetness intensity over sweetener levels was greater among Americans than Asians. Also, there were considerable cultural differences in expectations for various beverages. In addition, experience with a product was another key factor affecting expectations. Based on the results from the first part of the study, a model delineating the processes of hedonic and intensity rating incorporating familiarity, concepts, and context effect was developed. To investigate the significance of this model, expectations were rated and sensory testing was carried out by modifying concepts and using different contexts of beverages. People (256) from Mainland China, Indonesia, Korea, and United States (US) participated in this experiment. The length of exposure to a sports-drink was a key factor affecting the optimum sweetener level for a sports drink. Concept influenced both expectation and taste rating of a sports-drink for the panelists who had been exposed to the sports-drink longer. Less exposed panelists were only affected in their taste rating by different concepts. When the concept was less acceptable, the acceptance rating of the optimum sweetener sample was also lowered. US panelists had a different expectation for a lemon-lime flavored beverage than did Asians. Ideal sweetness intensity ratings for general beverages was a good predictor in determining for panelists' optimum sweetener level for a sports-drink. Based on the model proposed, cross-cultural diversities in sweetness preference were better understood. / Graduation date: 2000