Denna hermeneutiska studie är utförd på uppdrag av Gävle Hamn. Gävle kommun som ägare av Gävle Hamn via Gävle Stadshus har som målsättning att hamnen skall bli regionens logistiknav. De investeras i både infrastruktur och maskinpark, för att kunna expandera och göra det möjligt för hamnen att bli den tillväxtmotor i regionen som ägaren hoppas på. Expansionen av Gävle hamn och dess verksamhet skall på sikt leda till att fler företag etablerar sig i Gävle hamn och i dess närliggande område. Det i sin tur kommer att medföra fler arbetstillfällen, kommuninvånare och företagsetableringar. Gävle kommuns tillväxtprogram har som målsättning att bli fem procent bättre år 2007 i förhållande till år 2004. Faktorer som internationalisering av ekonomin med ökad globalisering av marknader, snabb teknologisk utveckling, ökad miljöhänsyn och en ständig strävan efter hållbar utvecklig, medför att många företag möter en ökad konkurrens, samtidigt som privatiseringar, avregleringar och minskade resursramar ställer hårdare ekonomiska krav på offentliga verksamheter. Stora förändringar av styrningen både av privata och offentliga verksamheter har genomförts, kostnadseffektivitet och hushållning av befintliga resurser är ett måste. För Gävle hamn medför detta att man står inför en expansion och effektivisering av verksamheten för att kunna möta framtidens krav från en global marknad och inte minst från ägaren. För att kunna svara på frågan vilka effektiviseringar, styrande system och dokument internt i organisationen som behöver upprättas, krävs en nulägesanalys, vad som finns och en teoretisk referensram vad som bör finnas. Nulägesanalysen grundar sig på tio kvalitativa forskningsintervjuer, som visar att Gävle hamn behöver standardisera och formalisera verksamheten, för att utnyttja sina resurser på ett bra sätt. Nulägesanalysen ger en helhetsbild av organisationen, vilket möjliggör att man kan identifiera de områden som fordrar extra uppmärksamhet i ett inledande skede. Ur analysen framkom fyra problemområden där åtgärder behövs. Målformulering och strategi, den övergripande framtidsplanen behöver brytas ner till kortsiktiga mål som kan förmedlas och förankras hos medarbetarna. Marknadsplan behöver upprättas för att få ett samlat grepp på marknadsföringen och en kortsiktig respektive långsiktig strategi och målsättning. Ekonomi- och lönesystem, Gävle hamn behöver ett användarvänligt verktyg som underlättar och skapar kontroll på ekonomin. Miljöcertifiering är en viktig fråga speciellt när debatten om miljön och växthuseffekterna blir allt intensivare. Studien visar att teorin ofta beskriver den bästa av världar, som inte alltid speglar verkligheten. Den terminologi som är allmänt vedertagen i böckernas värld saknar många gånger en förankring i den dagliga verksamheten. / This hermeneutic study is performed on request by Gävle harbour. The owner of Gävle harbour is Gävle community by Gävle Stadshus and the goal is to create a logistic centre in the district of Gästrikland/Dalarna. To enable the district to be growing and increasing environment, large investments have been put into infrastructure and machinery. The expansion of Gävle port and its business should in the future lead to that more companies will settle down in the port area and surroundings. That will increase the work opportunities, inhabitants and companies within the community. The goal of Gävle communities’ growth programme is to increase and be five percent better than the year 2004 within 2007. Facts like internationalisation of the economies and increased globalisation of markets, fast technology development, increased act on environmental issues and strive against tenable development. Many companies meet an increased competition, at the same time privatisation, deregulation and decreased recourse frames gives hash financial demands on the public businesses. Large changes in controlling both private and public businesses have been performed, cost efficiency and housekeeping of existing resources is obligated. Gävle port stands in front of an expansion and effectiveness of the business to be able to meet the demands of the future from a global market and the regional owner. To be able to answer the question what kind of effectiveness, ruling system and documents internal in the organization that should be maintained and established, there demands a present situation analyse. To receive the information what the company have and compare to the theories what they should have. The present situation analyse is built on ten qualitative interviews and shows that Gävle port have to standardise and formalise the business to be able to use their resources on a cost efficient way. To get the overall picture of the organisation the present situations analyse shows the areas that needs extra attention in the beginning. Four problem areas can be identified during the analyse that needs to be dealt with. Goal setting and strategy, the vision framtidsplan 2010 must be braked down in short and long term goals that can be mediated to the personnel. Market plan must be created to enable to have strategy and short term and long term goals for the marketing actions. Economy and salary system, Gävle harbour needs user friendly systems that can be helpful and gives control over the financial development. Environmental certification is an important issue now when the debate about environment and global heating is very intensive. The study shows that the theories often describe the best of worlds, but the reality usually shows a different side. Terminology used in theory books many times does not cooperate with the daily business and many times gives half the context.

Abstract   This is a study about reward system, which essentially is a steering instrument that organizations can use in order to motivate the employees to work in the best interest for the organization, and hence the organization can affect the behavior of its employees. The purpose with this study is to see how companies in different sectors make use of a reward system in order to increase their effectiveness and efficiency. The aim is also to see to what extent organizations are linking the organizational goals with the individual goals that occur within an organization. A comparison between the sectors will be done in order to observe similarities as well as differences. As groundwork of this thesis theories regarding motivation and effectiveness and efficiency will be used. The research question is based on the purpose with this study and is stated as follows: “In what way are organizations using a reward system to motivate the employees to work in the best interest of the organization and reach organizational goals?”   In order to answer our research question we have conducted a qualitative study. We have made two interviews with different companies within three different sectors, a total of six interviews. The sectors that we have chosen to focus on are the construction sector, the production sector and the service sector. The interviews were all face to face meetings in Umeå. The empirical findings have then been analysed by linking them to the theories used in our theoretical framework.   The main conclusions we have made are that the construction sector follows traditions when it comes to a reward system. We could also see that companies within the service sector that provide their services to the construction sector are influenced by the construction companies in the way they make use of a reward system. These companies are focusing primarily on profitability and results when rewarding. Within the production sector the companies where working sufficient with the individual goals in order to stimulate motivation and in the end increase the effectiveness and efficiency. Based on our finding this is the sector that is working most satisfactorily with the individual goals that occur within an organization. Further, we could see dissimilarities between the two companies in the service sector, the way they make use of a reward system differs a lot, which we believe is based on the fact that one of the two companies did not have a lot of resources to put on rewards.   Further we could conclude that the more developed reward system an organization has and considers it to be a steering instrument the more thoroughly developed will the groundwork for it be. Some similarities that we could see within all three sectors were that they all were using financial as well as non financial rewards and that the rewards were given to both individuals and to teams.

The thesis project explores the use of an optimization methodology for selecting the lowest monetary cost combinations of technologies to meet a set operational energy efficiency targets for buildings. The optimization approach, which is operated on a normative energy model, is compared with existing prescriptive methodologies for selecting technology combinations and a metric is developed for ranking their effectiveness; the E/C Ratio. The energy savings/ cost ratio is also the objective function that the optimization algorithm is set to maximize. The optimization routine is coded in to a custom MATLAB script and is used in two case studies to optimize a proto-typical Korean apartment and office building. The optimization methodology finds technology combinations that are much more cost effective than the prescriptive methodology at meeting an energy savings target and can generically be applied to other buildings given a palette of technology alternatives and the corresponding cost data.

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This thesis investigated the cost-effectiveness of a 12-month supervised aerobic walking program with or without a behavioural intervention and an educational pamphlet, compared to an unsupervised/self-directed educational pamphlet intervention, among individuals with moderate osteoarthritis (OA) of the knee. Analyses included an economic evaluation to assess the cost effectiveness of the two walking interventions from both the societal and Canadian provincial/territorial health care payer perspectives. A value of information analysis exploring the potential value of future research was also performed. Results revealed that the unsupervised/self-directed intervention was the most cost-effective approach given that it cost the least to implement and participants had higher quality-adjusted life years (QALYs). Walking, either supervised in a community setting, or unsupervised in a setting such as the home, may be a favourable non-pharmacological option for the management of OA of the knee. The thesis concludes with a policy discussion relating to the funding of non-pharmacological therapies.

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of following either the Curves® Fitness and Weight Management Plan or the Weight Watchers® Momentum™ Plan on body composition and markers of health and fitness in previously sedentary obese women. Fifty-one women (age 35±8 yrs; height 163±7 cm; weight 90±1 kg; BMI 34±5 kg/m2; 47±7% body fat) were randomized to participate in the Curves® (C) or Weight Watchers® (W) weight loss programs for 16-wks. Participants in the C group (n=24) followed a 1,200 kcal/d diet for 1-wk; 1,500 kcal/d diet for 3 wks (~30%:45% CHO:PRO); and 2,000 kcals/d for 2-wks (45:30) and repeated this diet while participating in a supervised Curves® with Zumba program 3-d-wk. Remaining subjects (n=27) followed the W point-based diet program, received weekly group counseling, and were encouraged to exercise. Body composition, anthropometrics, resting energy expenditure (REE), lipid biomarkers, and hormone concentrations were assessed at 0, 4, 10, and 16 weeks. Maximal cardiopulmonary exercise capacity and upper and lower body isotonic strength and endurance were assessed at 0 and 16 weeks. Data were analyzed using multivariate analysis of variance for repeated measures. MANOVA analysis of body composition data revealed overall time (Wilks’ Lamda p=0.001) and time by diet effects (Wilks’ Lamda p=0.003). Subjects in both groups lost a similar amount of total mass (C -2.4±2.0, -4.1±3.4, -5.1±3.9; W -2.3±2.3, -4.5±3.0, -5.5±4.6 kg, p=0.78). However, subjects in the C group tended to have a greater reduction in percent body fat (C -3.3±5.2, -3.2±4.6, -4.7±5.4; W 0.6±6.7, -0.6±8.3, -1.4±8.1%, p=0.10) and body fat mass (C -3.9±5.5, -4.6±5.3, -6.4±5.9; W -0.4±5.7, -2.1±6.7, -2.9±7.8 kg, p=0.09), while maintaining FFM (C 1.5±4.3, 0.52±3.7, 1.3±4.0; W -1.8±5.4, -2.4±5.8, -2.5±5.1, p=0.01). While both groups had increases cardiovascular fitness, the C group experienced improvements in upper body muscular endurance (C 1.4±3.9; W -1.2±2.4 repetitions, p=0.006). Both groups experienced improvements in lipid biomarkers; however, only the C group experienced a moderate increase in HDL-c. Results indicate that participants following the C program experienced more favorable changes in body composition and markers of fitness and health than participants in the W program.

This study sets out to address the question of whether the costs and the benefits of measuring intellectual capital assets differ depending on the driver for that measure. Although pressure is growing on firms to measure and report on their intellectual capital assets no research has yet been published that questions the costs associated with such actions. And although academic research has purported to show links between the management of intellectual capital assets and real business benefits the research carried out thus far'has not focussed specifically on the benefits of measuring intellectual capital assets. Although there are now a variety of intellectual capital asset measurement frameworks there has been no cross comparison as to which intellectual capital asset measures provide the most business insight or where the outcome of that measurement is most effective. Using a multi method approach the thesis is tested in three phases; an extensive literature review covering intellectual capital, performance measurement and organisational effectiveness; a survey and content analysis to explore what and why companies measure; and structured interviewing of six companies to investigate the costs and the benefits of measurement. The thesis is tested through the investigation of thirteen propositions which show that: firstly, there is a difference in the relative cost of measuring intellectual capital assets given the measurement driver, which is explained by the frequency of measurement, the mode of data collection and analysis, and whether the use of the measure is a by product of some other driver, secondly, that the insight provided by an intellectual capital asset measure differs given the measurement driver, thirdly, that the measurement of intellectual capital assets is most effective for planning the future; and lastly, that particular measurement drivers are effective, to differing degrees, in financial, customer, operational, people and future organisational performance domains.

The purpose of this thesis is to give a preliminary investigation into the effect of wing deformation on flight dynamics. The candidate vehicle is FW-11 which is a flying wing configuration aircraft with high altitude and long endurance characteristics. The aeroelastic effect may be significant for this type of configuration. Two cases, the effect of flexible wing on lift distribution and on roll effectiveness during the cruise condition with different inertial parameters are investigated. For the first case, as the wing bending and twisting depend on the interaction between the wing structural deflections and the aerodynamic loads, the equilibrium condition should be calculated. In order to get that condition, mass, structure characteristics and aerodynamic characteristics are estimated first. Then load model and aerodynamic model are built. Next the interaction calculation program is applied and the equilibrium condition of the aircraft is calculated. After that, effect of wing flexibility on lift parameters is investigated. The influence of CG, location of lift and location of flexural axis are investigated. The other case is to calculate the transient roll rate response and estimate the rolling effectiveness of flexible aircraft, and compared with the rigid aircraft’s. A pure roll model is built and derivatives both for the rigid wing and the flexible wing are estimated. It has been found that flexible wing leads to the loss of control effectiveness, even cause reversal when reduces the structure natural frequency. The influence of inertia data for flexible roll is also investigated.

This dissertation presents a study on project management and its effectiveness in a multinational pharmaceutical company (MPC). A mixed qualitative-quantitative method consisting of a case study (33 managers) and a follow-up survey (122 employees) was conducted. The cybernetics theory and its related concepts were used to formulate the social and technical components of projects as a network of task-related social interactions within an organizational context. Interaction was defined as the variety or possible states one node generates for another node, while degree of coordination was defined as the extent to which a recipient node can handle the variety of interrelated nodes. Interaction Effectiveness (IE) was calculated based on the ratio of “helpful” to “not so helpful” behaviors between interrelated nodes. MPC’s average organizational IE ratio of 1.03 was used as a baseline to determine the relative effectiveness of different interactions. The IE ratio also revealed two structural network properties. First, a departmental-level analysis indicated that most network relationships were asymmetrical (76.5%), reflecting a significant discrepancy in perceptions between interrelated nodes. Second, the variability of IE ratios (standard deviation) ranged from 0.10 to 1.28, reflecting the degree of consistency among the relationships of each single node and its interrelated nodes. The results of a multiple regression analysis indicated a significant relationship between the perceived ranking of a node’s performance and the node’s IE ratio. Multiple regression analysis also indicated a significant relationship between the perceived ranking of a node’s importance and the total of that node’s helpful and not so helpful comments. Finally, the results showed that the IE ratio was almost double for employees’ positive working relationship links compared to links with which they reported negative working relationships. The qualitative findings also provide significant evidence of the method’s sensitivity to capture project management’s most crucial element of “time.” Categorizing the impact of not so helpful comments corresponded mostly to “delays” (68.87%), whereas the impact of helpful comments corresponded mostly to “saving time” (68.14%). Furthermore, categorizing decisions to handle variety revealed the dominance of “adhocracy” mechanisms (62.18%) to handle input variety as opposed to “procedural” variety handling mechanisms (20.63%). Categorizing the comments related to the not so helpful category of “unreasonable expectations” indicated that 51.4% of all comments pertained to “role overload” followed by “role conflict” (36.5%), with only 12.1% of all comments corresponding to “role ambiguity.” The quantitative follow-up survey’s primary objective was to test the research hypotheses regarding the relationship between “variety”-related concepts and different degrees of project complexity (complex versus simple). The survey supported all hypotheses except Hypothesis 7 regarding project management software. Results, limitations, potential improvements to the current study, and future research directions are discussed.

<p>This dissertation examines whether war has reputational consequences by analyzing the conditions under which third party actors are more or less likely to challenge combatants after the war is over. I develop a theory of reputational effects that emphasizes how information generated during wartime interacts with expectations and the characteristics of third party states to determine when war outcomes influence the decision making of potential challengers. I test this theory against competing explanations using three methodological approaches. First, I analyze the effect that the outcomes of conventional wars have on the initiation of militarized disputes using cross-national time series data from 1816-2004. Second, I use process tracing to assess whether the decision making by Japan and Germany after the Winter War and the Soviet Union, Egypt, and Cuba after Vietnam is consistent with the causal logic of my theory. Finally, I combine qualitative historiography with time series intervention analysis to assess whether the Vietnam War increased or decreased the number of challenges initiated against the United States. I find that the reputational effects of revealed effectiveness are quite broad, but are most pronounced when the fighting environment is similar. Combatants that perform poorly on the battlefield are more likely to be challenged by their potential adversaries, especially when those adversaries expect to fight them in an environment that is similar to the past war. On the other hand, the reputational effects of revealed cost tolerance are much more limited. The statistical analysis found that information about the combatant's willingness to suffer costs only influenced very weak challengers, while the case studies found that it only influenced the behavior of states that were concerned about issues that were similar to those over which the past was fought. When the issues at stake were similar, weak challengers were more emboldened than strong challengers but weak challengers with different issues at stake did not alter their behavior.</p> / Dissertation