Bet kuri organizacija savo veikloje anksčiau ar vėliau susiduria su įvairaus pobūdžio krizėmis. Sparčiai vystantis ir modernėjant technologijoms, krizinių situacijų kiekis bei jų įvairovė didėja. Krizinė situacija organizacijai gali atnešti didelių finansinių nuostolių, padaryti daug žalos jos reputacijai ar netgi sužlugdyti organizacijos veiklą. Tačiau tinkamai suvaldyta krizė gali tapti ir naujų postūmių pradžia. Krizių komunikacija yra vienas pagrindinių krizių valdymo elementų. Magistrinio darbo tikslas – išanalizuoti organizacijų komunikacinę elgseną krizės metu teoriniu bei praktiniu aspektais ir pateikti pasiūlymus organizacijų komunikacijos krizių metu veiksmingumui didinti. Tyrimo objektas – organizacijos komunikacija krizinės situacijos metu. Teorinėje darbo dalyje nagrinėjama krizės samprata, priežastys ir ypatybės. Aptariami pasiruošimo krizinėms situacijoms etapai, svarbiausi krizių komunikacijos žingsniai. Pateikiamos galimos krizių komunikacijos strategijos bei modeliai ir jų taikymo ypatumai, taip pat Situacinė krizių komunikacijos teorija ir jos reikšmė organizacijos reputacijai. Tiriamojoje darbo dalyje, remiantis žiniasklaidos analize, nagrinėjamos trys skirtingo pobūdžio organizacijų krizinės situacijos ir šių organizacijų taikytos komunikacinės priemonės, vertinamas jų veiksmingumas. Taip pat pateikiama atliktos ekspertų anketinės apklausos, kuria siekta atskleisti viešųjų ryšių specialistų nuomonę apie krizinių situacijų valdymo ir komunikacijos ypatumus... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / Later or sooner each organization in its activity meets various kinds of crisis. The amount and variety of critical situations is increasing in a rapid development and enhancement of technologies. Critical situation can bring big financial losses to an organization, cause much damage to reputation or even ruin its activity. However a proper management of a crisis may become a new push forward. Crisis communication is one of the key elements of crisis management. The aim of the Master’s thesis is to analyse the communicational behaviour of organizations during the crisis employing both theoretical and practical dimensions. The object of the research is the communication of the organization in a critical situation. The theoretical part deals with crisis concept, causes and characteristics. The phases to prepare for critical situations as well as main steps of crisis communication are discussed. Possible crisis communication strategies and models, peculiarities of their application as well as Situational crisis communication theory and its importance to the reputation of organization are introduced. With reference to the analysis of the media three critical situations of organization bearing different manner and communicational means that have been applied by these organizations as well as their efficiency has been dealt with in the research part of the thesis. The analysis of the results of conducted expert questionnaire polls, which aimed at disclosing the point of view of... [to full text]

Šiuolaikiniame pasaulyje įmonės vis didesnį dėmesį skiria įvaizdžio formavimo veiklai. Tinkamas įvaizdis – tai realus organizacijos turtas, kuris įtakoja sėkmingą organizacijos veiklą bei didina organizacijos vertę. Todėl tinkamo įvaizdžio sukūrimas yra pirminė bet kokios organizacijos užduotis.Tyrimo objektas- nacionalinės krepšinio lygos įvaizdžio formavimas.Tyrimo tikslas – nustatyti nacionalinės krepšinio lygos įvaizdžio formavimo aspektus.Uždaviniai:1. Išanalizuoti organizacijos įvaizdžio sampratą.2. Atskleisti svarbiausius veiksnius formuojančius įvaizdį.3. Nustatyti veiksnius lemiančius NKL įvaizdį.Išvados. 1. Atlikus mokslinės literatūros analizę, nustatyta, jog vieningos ir visa apimančios organizacijos įvaizdžio sąvokos nėra. Bet vis dažniau organizacijos įvaizdis yra apibrėžiamas, kaip idėjų, jausmų, suvokimų ir įsivaizdavimų, kuriuos asmuo ar jų grupė turi organizacijos atžvilgiu, visuma, jai turi įtakos materialūs ir nematerialūs organizaciniai elementai, komunikacija bei asmeninės ir socialinės vertybės. 2. Svarbiausi veiksniai formuojantys organizacijos įvaizdį yra fizinis akivaizdumas, firminis stilius, komunikacijos (viešųjų ryšių) ir rėmimo kompleksas, personalas, kokybė, organizacijos vertė bei reputacija. Tikslingai formuoti, valdyti įvaizdį galima tik susipažinus ir ištyrus šiuos veiksnius ir analizuojant jų poveikį.3. Visi išskirti svarbiausi organizacijos įvaizdį formuojantys veiksniai yra aktualūs ir reikšmingi, tačiau remiantis respondentų NKL įvaizdį... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / In today's world, more companies are focusing on image building. Appropriate image is a real estate of organization, which influences the success of the organization's operations and increase value to the organization. Therefore, the creation of  proper image is the primary task of any organization. The object of investigation – the national basketball league imageThe aim - the National Basketball League's image aspects.Objectives: 1. Analyze the concept of the organization's image. 2. Reveal the most important factors shaping the image.3. To identify the factors which determine the image of NBL. Conclusions. 1. From an analysis of the literature showed that a single and unified image of the organization's concept does not exist. But increasingly the organization's image is defined as ideas, feelings, perceptions and perceptions by an individual or group has the organization, a whole, it must affect the tangible and intangible elements of the organizational, communication and personal and social values.2. The most important factors shaping the image of the organization's physical evidence, corporate identity, communications (public relations), and support complex, staffing, quality, value and reputation of the organization. Targeted to develop, manage image only after hearing and examination of these factors and analyzing their impact.3. All identified the key factors shaping the image of the organization are relevant and important, but according to the respondents' image of... [to full text]

Identities are present in the interactions between individuals and organizations. Online shopping requires credit card information, while e-government services require social security or passport numbers. The involvement of identities, however, makes them susceptible to theft and misuse. The most prominent approach for maintaining the privacy of individuals is the enforcement of privacy policies that regulate the flow and use of identity information. This approach suffers two drawbacks that severely limit its effectiveness. First, recent research in data-mining facilitates the fusion of partial identities into complete identities. That holds true even if the attributes examined are not, normally considered, to be identifying. Second, policies are prone to human error, allowing for identity information to be released accidentally. This thesis presents a system that enables an individual to interact with organizations, without allowing these organizations to link the interactions of that individual together. The system does not release individuals' identities to organizations. Instead, certified artificial identities are used to guarantee that individuals possess the required attributes to successfully participate in the interactions. The system limits the fusion of partial identities and minimizes the effects of human error. The concept of using certified artificial identities has been extensively researched. The system, however, tackles several unaddressed scenarios. The system works not only for interactions that involve an individual and an organization, but also for interactions that involve a set of individuals connected by structured relations. The individuals should prove the existence of relations among them to organizations, yet organizations cannot profile the actions of these individuals. Further, the system allows organizations to be anonymous, while proving their attributes to individuals. Reputation-based trust is incorporated to help individuals make informed decisions whether to deal with a particular organization. The system is used to design applications in e-commerce, access control, reputation management, and cloud computing. The thesis describes the applications in detail. / Thesis (Ph.D, Computing) -- Queen's University, 2010-04-07 11:17:37.68

Purpose: Social media is a global phenomenon that has developed from an opportunity of contact between people, into a platform for contact between organizations and people. This essay aims to investigate the public relation strategies of one organization on a popular social network.The main question that this study aims to answer is how the travel agency Ving chooses to create and preserve relationships to the public on Facebook in order to maintain a good reputation. Asub-question explores whether any patterns exist in Ving’s approach of interaction with its stakeholders. Method/Material: This study consists of a quantitative content analysis in which the interaction between the organization and the audience has been studied. Posts published by the public as well as replications from Ving have been categorized and then analyzed using two analytical models. The collected material consists of 513 posts published by the public and 457 answers published by Ving. The 56 posts that remained unanswered by Ving were also categorized and analyzed. Main results: One of the main findings of this study shows that Ving has a high frequency of responding to to their publics on their Facebook page. 89 % of the published posts have been responded by Ving with an informative answer and an answer that calls for further contact,suggesting that a will of Ving to interact with its followers and create a long-lasting and sustainable relationships will lead Ving to good relations among the followers. Good relationships creates a good reputation.

Access to abstract permanently restricted to Ball State community only. / A brief summary of wartime service -- To a man, fighting like heroes -- We are all made by the same God -- Prosecuted for honor. / Access to thesis permanently restricted to Ball State community only. / Department of History

If auditors question a company’s ability to continue existing, they should issue a going concern opinion in the audit report. Whether or not auditors will issue a going concern opinion depends on auditors’ ability to identify going concern problems, as well as their decision whether or not to issue going concern opinions. In Sweden, the going concern accuracy rate has been low compared to other countries. The aim of this study is therefore to analyse whether it is auditors’ lack of ability to identify going concern problems or their decision not to issue a going concern opinion, or perhaps both, that could explain the relatively low accuracy rate. Interviews with four auditors from the Big Four audit firms and four CFOs from middle sized companies were conducted. The results show that there are factors speaking both for and against auditors’ ability to identify going concern problems, why we cannot say for sure whether auditors’ lack of ability to identify going concern problems could be an explanation to the relatively low accuracy rate. The results do however reveal that auditors actively make decisions not to issue going concern opinions to their clients as much as possible, which could explain the relatively low accuracy rate.

Nei paesi democratici, le elezioni rappresentano il principale meccanismo per garantire che, una volta eletto, un politico agisca effettivamente nell'interesse della collettività. Nel primo capitolo, presento una rassegna della letteratura sull'electoral accountability. Nel secondo capitolo, mostro come la presenza delle elezioni possa essere la causa della riluttanza dei politici ad investire in beni pubblici di lungo periodo (political short-termism), e come tale comportamento possa essere ottimale per la collettività. Nel terzo capitolo, mostro come l'interesse per la rielezione possa indurre un politico a continuare una politica che aveva intrapreso in passato anche quando sarebbe ottimale per la collettività cambiare politica , e a non continuare una politica introdotta in passato da un politico rivale anche quando sarebbe ottimale per la collettività non cambiare politica. Questi risultati possono aiutare a spiegare perchè i politici in carica hanno un "vantaggio elettorale" rispetto ai nuovi politici. / In the democratic countries, elections are the primary mechanism for ensuring that, once in office, a politician actually acts in the collectivity's interest. In the first chapter, I present a survey of the literature on electoral accountability. In the second chapter, I show that the presence of the elections may be the cause of the politicians' reluctance to invest in long-term public goods (political short-termism), and such behavior may be optimal for the collectivity. In the third chapter, I show that reelection concern may induce a politician to continue a policy he introduced in the past even when a policy change would be optimal for the collectivity, and not to continue a policy introduced in the past by a rival politician even when a policy change would not be optimal for the collectivity. These results may help to explain why the incumbent politicians have an "electoral advantage" over new politicians.

Large multi-national corporations experience more and more pressure to maintain good relationships with their stakeholders, including employees. Concurrent with this, the focus of Corporate Communication management has shifted from pure communication management to relationship management. Lonmin Platinum, a mining company within the South African mining and minerals sector is no exception in this regard. In fact, due to the apartheid legacy and government regulations that are aimed at safety and equity, it is especially difficult to manage employee relationships in the mining industry. Apart from historical and environmental factors, Lonmin Platinum's task is further complicated by its diverse work-force. At the time of the study the work-force of approximately 20 000 employees consisted of literate, semiliterate and illiterate employees. In addition, the company comprised five business units, each with their own corporate identity. In order to manage relationships effectively, a company needs to understand the nature and quality of its relationships as well as which factors might influence its stakeholder relationships. Studies have already indicated that a company's corporate identity can contribute to the stakeholders' images of the company. Over time, the image impacts on the company's reputation and consequently on the stakeholders' relationships with the company. In the case of a company such as Lonmin Platinum, with an endorsed corporate identity, it can be expected that corporate identity will also play a role in the nature and quality of relationships, including employee relationships. Previous studies have investigated the link between corporate identity and relationships focussing on communication, and on behaviour elements of identity. Up until now, no examples of research of the possible influence of symbolic corporate identity elements on relationships in the South African mining industry could be traced. Against this background, the following research question was asked: What is the relationship between employees' perceptions of symbolic corporate identity elements and employer-employee relationships at Lonmin Platinum? Semi-structured interviews, focus group interviews and quantitative questionnaires were applied as data collection methods. The results confirmed that Lonmin Platinum did not have a good relationship with its employees in general. The lack of trust was seen as one of the most apparent problems. It also seemed that the employees did not understand the company's endorsed corporate identity. They, for example, did not understand the company structure and identified themselves more with the symbolic corporate identity of their respective business units than with the company itself. With regard to the correlation between symbolic corporate identity and relationships, this study indicated a relationship between employees' perceptions of how effective the company reached it objectives and the quality of its employee relationships. Company objectives, such as a safe working environment, a healthy working environment, socioeconomic empowerment and accountability, as well as a company that unites its workforce and creates a family feeling amongst the employees impacted most on employee relationships. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Communication Studies))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2008.

Agents in most types of societies use information about potential partners to determine whether to form mutually beneficial partnerships. We can say that when this information is used to decide to form a partnership that one agent trusts another, and when agents work together for mutual benefit in a partnership, we refer to this as a form of cooperation. Current multi-robot teams typically have the team's goals either explicitly or implicitly encoded into each robot's utility function and are expected to cooperate and perform as designed. However, there are many situations in which robots may not be interested in full cooperation, or may not be capable of performing as expected. In addition, the control strategy for robots may be fixed with no mechanism for modifying the team structure if teammate performance deteriorates. This dissertation investigates the application of trust to multi-robot teams. This research also addresses the problem of how cooperation can be enabled through the use of incentive mechanisms. We posit a framework wherein robot teams may be formed dynamically, using models of trust. These models are used to improve performance on the team, through evolution of the team dynamics. In this context, robots learn online which of their peers are capable and trustworthy to dynamically adjust their teaming strategy. We apply this framework to multi-robot task allocation and patrolling domains and show that performance is improved when this approach is used on teams that may have poorly performing or untrustworthy members. The contributions of this dissertation include algorithms for applying performance characteristics of individual robots to task allocation, methods for monitoring performance of robot team members, and a framework for modeling trust of robot team members. This work also includes experimental results gathered using simulations and on a team of indoor mobile robots to show that the use of a trust model can improve performance on multi-robot teams in the patrolling task.

In line with Schwarz’s (2008) suggestion of extending Situational CrisisCommunication Theory (SCCT) with Kelley’s covariation principle, the presentresearch aims to further examine the applicability of integrating a covariation-basedapproach to crisis responsibility assessment into the SCCT framework. Specifically, acontent analysis was conducted to verify the basic assumptions for applying acovariation-based approach in crisis communication context. A follow-upexperimental study was exercised to test the effect of consensus information – themissing variable in SCCT – on crisis responsibility attributions. The researchsuggested that a covariation-based approach of crisis responsiblilty assessment couldbe legitimately applied in the SCCT framework, and that crisis responsibilityassessment in the SCCT framework could be improved, at least in some particularsituations, by more consistently and systematically taking into account the threeinformation dimensions in covariation principle as integrated information patternsrather than separately considering the effect of one single information dimensionalone.Keywords: