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Communication skills and interpersonal relationships have been receiving an increasing amount of attention in literature on workplace culture. Being polite serves a significant role in building up a harmonious working environment, and in enhancing communication efficiency. Current approaches to politeness have called for a more comprehensive framework than the polite-impolite continuum. There is a growing tendency to view politeness as a matter of appropriateness, which involves the negotiation of relationships. This new trend is represented by Spencer-Oatey’s rapport management theory. While rapport management has been framed within the study of workplace culture or communities of practice (CofP), little empirical research has investigated its application in intercultural settings. The present study has continued the focus of building up and maintaining rapport at work, which draws attention to intercultural communicative behaviour as it arises in a multicultural context. In essence, the purpose of this study is to examine how people from different cultural backgrounds manage rapport at work, and consequently explore how the workplace culture is shaped. It also aims to document and examine the change and development of workplace culture with the participation of different members. A multi-method approach underpins the study, which enables the research concern to be looked at from different perspectives. This approach, involving the adoption of workplace observation, audio recording of conversations, and semi-structured interviews, overcomes the weakness of using one single instrument to analyse communicative behaviour. Situated in a multi-cultural university workplace in Mainland China, the research makes use of naturally-occurring interactions between Chinese and foreign (American and European) teaching-related staff. The study is composed of two phases with some overlap of participants. Conversations are analyzed using Spencer-Oatey’s rapport management theory. While audio recording serves as the primary tool to collect data, follow-up and in-depth interviews were conducted in which participants were asked to recall and evaluate others’ and their own communicative behaviour. Findings from the data analysis suggest that participants exhibit an appropriate amount of their own inherent behaviour. Each of them contributes their own cultural traits and personalities to the intercultural communication process, which ultimately determines the general tendency of rapport management style. A diversity of rapport management strategies is identified according to participants’ different rapport management orientations and individual dispositions. Some features of the workiii place culture are thus clearly revealed. Neither the local Chinese staff nor the foreign (native English-speaking) staff behave in a way that could be described as typical of their own culture; their behaviour conforms to a hybridized culture which shows characteristics of both the local Chinese and foreign cultures. The comparison of results from the two phases indicates that the workplace culture evolves according to the cultural and personal attributes displayed by participants. This process is associated with a pidgin language analogy. This study therefore yields a better understanding of the dynamic nature of intercultural workplace communication. While there has long been debate and emphasis on adaptation to a workplace culture, the present study suggests that cultural hybridization is the trend in such a multicultural university workplace. It is therefore implied that in order to manage rapport appropriately in intercultural communication, it is important to be able to negotiate one’s behavioural norms to the workplace culture instead of only acclimating oneself to the local culture.

Submitted in partial fulfillment for the requirements of the Degree of Master of Education in the Department of Educational Psychology in the Faculty of Education at the University of Zululand, 1997. / Socio-political changes have brought about major changes in the education system of South Africa. Many teachers who were accustomed to teaching at monocultural schools are suddenly confronted with the reality of having to cope with pupils of other cultural groups in their classrooms. Most of these teachers were not prepared for these changes. This unpreparedness has led to many problems being experienced by teachers in the multicultural classroom setting. The aims of this study are: * To determine if teachers are effectively trained to teach in a multicultural classroom setting. * To establish if teachers are conversant with the complex needs of children in a multicultural classroom setting. * To establish certain guidelines according to which accountable support can be instituted to equip pre-service and inservice teachers to deal with possible problems that they may encounter in a multicultural classroom setting. Initially multicultural education in England, the USA and South Africa was reviewed. In all three cases a short historical overview of the development of multicultural education was given. Acts that were introduced in regard with the provision of education in these countries as well as certain acts that gave course and direction to the evolutionary process of multicultural education were briefly discussed. Certain advantages and disadvantages of multicultural education as envisaged by certain educationists were also highlighted. In order to understand teaching in a multicultural classroom it was necessary to examine the life-world of the teacher and the teacher-pupil relationship. The life-world of the teacher constitutes his relationships with himself, others, things and ideas and God. Research with regard to this study was conducted as follows: * A literature study of available, relevant literature. * An empirical survey comprising a structured questionnaire to be completed by secondary school teachers in the North Durban region. A likert- type scale questionnaire with three response categories; viz. Agree, Disagree, Unsure, was constructed. The three response categories ensured that the respondents' selections fell into one of the categories enabling the measurement of the direction and the intensity of their perceptions of problems experienced by teachers in a multicultural classroom setting. * In addition to the empirical survey, personal interviews with teachers were conducted. One hundred and eighty teachers were targeted from six randomly selected multicultural secondary schools in the North Durban region. With the aim of administering the questionnaire to the teachers of these schools, it was necessary to first obtain permission from the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education. Permission was also obtained from the Circuit Inspector of the North Durban region. Only after such permission was granted, was the researcher able to conduct this study. The primary data was in the form of a response to one of the three response categories (Agree, Disagree, Unsure). Scores of the responses to each of the three categories were calculated. The descriptive technique was employed for the quantitative analysis of the data. The investigation has the following value: * It will provide a reliable picture of teachers' perspectives of multicultural education; * The most lasting value of this investigation is that it will enable education planners and other relevant bodies to plan and provide professional teacher training programmes in multicultural education. Anticipated dissemination of the research findings: * The problems experienced by teachers in multicultural classrooms can be a topical issue of discussions during seminars and workshops at schools, colleges and universities. * Findings from the research can be useful in the planning of suitable methods (workshops, videos, etcetera) to assist teachers to meet the educational needs of children in multicultural classrooms. * The topic lends itself for further research by interested stakeholders regarding the teaching of children in multicultural classrooms.

This is a study of how certain cultural differences between Japanese and Americans might be problematic in Japanese/American intercultural marriage.

Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka hur förskollärarna beskriver sina samlingar som ett lärandetillfälle i förskolan. Detta genom att undersöka hur förskollärarna ser på samlingens utformning, innehåll och syfte.  För att besvara studiens syfte har vi valt att utgå från sociokulturellt perspektiv och relevant forskning som kopplas till fenomenet samling. Studien tar stöd av kvalitativ metod och sex förskollärare intervjuades. Vi har valt att utgå från abduktion ansats för att vara flexibel när vi analysera vårt empiriska material.   I vår studie belyser vi att barns ålder och barngruppsstorleken avgör samlingens utformning och innehåll. Förskollärarna anser att deras syfte med samlingar är att främja barns lärande och språkutveckling. En del av våra intervjuade förskollärare tycker att lärandet kan ske i spontana samlingar, medan andra tycker att samling behöver vara planerad och ha tydlig struktur. Många av förskollärarna föredrar den mindre samlingen eftersom de tycker att barnen får större möjligheter till samtal. En viktig aspekt som alla förskollärare är eniga om, är att samling ska kunna bidra till olika samtal och bidra med möjligheter till att skapa en kommunikation för barns språkutveckling.

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People throughout history have judged Public Relations critically. So, today, it is essential for PR professionals to know how the field is perceived. This research examines how college students in America and China perceive public relations. Four research questions were proposed to understand perception differences between the two countries, existing misconceptions against public relations, media influences and PR education. This study employed the survey method to find college students' perceptions of public relations in the U.S. and China. The study finds that college students believe that public relations practice is related to a broad range of specialized areas. Most of students view public relations as an important, ethical profession. However, some negative terms are still associated with public relations, such as "spin," that affect students' PR perceptions. In China, fewer students now relate public relations to the previously perceived escort service; and the Chinese cultural norm "guanxi" is considered to be an important element in PR practice. Comparative analyses show that American college students view public relations as a more positive, ethical, and well-developed profession than their Chinese counterparts do. Public relations, in Chinese students' mind, is far away from the well-developed stage. College students believe media, PR courses and internships influence their perceptions to a great extent. More Chinese students recognize the media impact, while more U.S. students value he education impact. This study affirms the importance and professionalism of public relations. At the same time, it provides crucial insights into the challenges that this field is facing in the two countries. No matter whether it is as a profession, or an academic discipline and a social contributor, public relations still needs to keep educating the public in the new decade ofthe 21st century.

Entrepreneurship and the Swedish start-up community have been on an upswing in recent years. There are more incubators and accelerators for growing businesses than ever before. With a growing start-up community there is usually risk capital and finance solutions behind these companies. The climate for risk capital and other financial solutions for ventures to fund their businesses is heavily skewed towards male entrepreneurs, i.e., companies founded by men tend to receive the lion share of the capital invested, which leaves women-led ventures underinvested. The experiences female entrepreneurs have in acquiring financial capital and the effects these encounters have on their entrepreneurial endeavours is something this study aims to investigate. Studies have been made on investor behaviour towards female entrepreneurs. These studies argue that the behaviours from investors are different in nature depending on the gender of the entrepreneur, and that this can be a possible explanation for why the risk capital allocation is skewed. In order to research this in further detail, a qualitative research study was developed where Swedish female entrepreneurs were interviewed. The entrepreneurs in the study were asked to explain in a general way their experiences dealing with investors, if they have ever experienced discriminatory behaviour from investors, and if this had any effects on their entrepreneurial ambitions. The majority of entrepreneurs in the study had not succumbed to discriminatory behaviour from investors. There was, however, a perception that female investors understood the entrepreneurs' businesses in a more prominent way than male investors. The entrepreneurs that had experienced discrimination during the investor meetings all consequently made sure to be accompanied by male partners in a chaperon manner, in order to validate their presence in the investor meeting room.

This thesis engages with sustainable cultural heritage by considering how user-produced maps may reveal new knowledge about heritage values. Through interrogating whether authorized heritage values and unauthorized heritage values are aligned, as manifested in cartographical sources, by taking the World Heritage city of Visby, Sweden as a case study. The thesis will use primary source maps produced by users and compare them to sites of authorized heritage values to determine if, and where, new and divergent heritage values may appear. By considering a bottom-up approach to cultural heritage valuation, as well as supporting the preservation of user heritage values, this thesis contributes how to sustainably plan for cultural heritage from both a social and physical perspective.            The findings from the study reveal how heritage is functioning within the city of Visby, and the larger Gotland Island, to both reenforce authorized values, as well as portray new sites of heritage values. A major feature of Visby and Gotland has to do with its many periods of heritagization, which have created a phenomenon described by the user-produced maps as several heritages existing together in a singular geographical location. The user-produced maps are therefore proved to be exceptionally rich sources for user values and trends related to heritage, and should be considered for digital preservation for scholars, learners and those preserving heritage environments into the future. This study demonstrates the usefulness of user-produced maps as primary sources, and highlights key ways in which authorized heritages may be limiting to user contributions. Therefore, initiatives to encourage users to continue to create maps related to their heritage values should be encouraged. The creation of digital maps by users has limitless potential to enrich, portray, and preserve the lived heritage realities of the users, supplementing the authorized heritage values already established.

Syftet för denna uppsats är att undersöka om och i så fall vilken plats mindre konstnärshem kan ha i en landsbygdskommun. Genom en fallstudie av Bengtsfors kommuns hantering av det donerade konstnärhemmet Birkfeldtska villan har deras förvaltningsarbete kartlagts. Vad kan ha påverkat förvaltningen samt varför har kommunen agerat som de gjort, är frågor som diskuteras. Arkivmaterial och intervjuer har legat till grund för undersökningen tillsammans med en mindre litteraturgenomgång. Resultatet visar att Birkfeldtska villan gick från att anses vara bevarandevärd till att bedömas inte fylla en funktion. Hanteringen av gåvan tycks påverkats av brist på intresse och kunskap samt ekonomiska resurser. Dessa tre faktorer kan vara en utmaning inom landsbygdskommunernas arbete med kulturarvet. / The purpose of this essay is to investigate whether, and if so, what place smaller artists' homes can have in a rural municipality. Through a case study of Bengtsfors municipality's handling of the donated artists' home Birkfeldtska villan, their management work has been mapped. What may have influenced the administration and why the municipality acted as they did, are questions that are being discussed. Archive material and interviews have formed the basis of the investigation together with a small literature review. The result shows that the Birkfeldtska villan went from being considered worth preserving to not being deemed to fulfill a function. The management of the gift seems to be affected by a lack of interest and knowledge as well as financial resources. These three factors can be a challenge within the rural municipalities' work with cultural heritage.