In the past few years we have seen the near collapse of the world financial system, and we still have yet to find solutions for world poverty or the food crisis. People have started looking for new solutions in order to solve these problems and are considering new employment options besides the traditional for-profit business sector. Employees are increasingly looking for work in organizations that have a more sustainable approach to business. One organization type that fits these criteria is a social business. Most of the research in social entrepreneurship and social businesses, however, has concentrated on the social entrepreneur and the entrepreneurial process so far. Only few studies have explored the employee side. Similarly, research on perceived employee motivation has mainly concentrated on the traditional for-profit businesses and on non-profit organizations. Although employee motivation is considered as crucial to the success of any business, perceived employee motivation in established social businesses has scarcely been researched yet. The purpose of this thesis is to understand why people choose to work in a social business, and what motivates them to work there. This research was conducted as a single case study following Stake (1995). It was carried out in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area Reuse Centre Ltd in Finland. In order to achieve our goal, we have found it helpful to combine relevant motivation theories such as intrinsic motivation, task significance, prosocial motivation, value congruence, and meaningfulness, with current social business theories. As a result of our research, we have developed a model that elaborates how employees make their decision on employment and what influences their perceived motivation. Our findings suggest that both, the distinct business model and the mission of a social business have a great impact on people’s choice of employment. Moreover, the company values, which are partly derived from the mission of a social business, also influence prospective employees’ choice of employment. In addition, the employees’ educational background impacts their choice as their values reflect their education. They are also looking for such work, whose content fits their education. In our study we have tried to point out that perceived employee motivation in a social business is also strongly influenced by value congruence. Moreover, the perceived meaningfulness that derives from the social business’ mission has an impact on the perceived employee motivation. The employees feel that their work is positively affecting people, society, and the environment, which results in task significance and prosocial motivation. Finally, the flexibility of the work, the ability to influence the work content, and the work atmosphere, are also shown to exercise a great influence on perceived employee motivation.

With the intention to investigate the role of HR practices and the Perceived Organization Support (POS) in the process of key employee retention, this study developed a model that was empirically explored through the case studies of Secoroc and ABBCR in order to have such process examined in the managerial context of Swedish organizations. Results indicate that in these companies the employees' perceptions of support from the selected HR practices contribute to the development of POS and job satisfaction. The practices of growth opportunity and challenging work were indicated to be more significant for the retention of key employees in these companies. Interestingly, pay and the relationship between R&D managers and employees indicated to be of also crucial relevance in the process of retaining key employees. Furthermore, there are indications that the Swedish management style signalled to be a facilitator element for the efficiency of such practices in generating job satisfaction for retaining employees. However, the surfaced data from this study indicated that employees of these companies are affectively committed to their managers and to their work rather than to the organization as a whole.

<p>Scandinavia comprises Denmark, Sweden and Norway. Twenty years ago, the concept of Scandinavian management was created (Grennes, 2003). Earlier research is referring to culture as the reason for different management styles around the world. It is also found that human resources are highly valued in Scandinavian manage-ment (Eriksen et al., 2006). This study aims at understanding what Scandinavian management is and see if this matches with the style of management actually practised in Sweden.</p><p>The purpose of the thesis is to, through empirical examples, study what Scandinavian management is and if it is practised on the Swed-ish market. Included in the purpose is also to investigate how Scan-dinavian management is addressed in prior research.</p><p>This study uses a qualitative method. Two earlier done case studies about Manpower and IKEA are used. Using a qualitative method, we have conducted five interviews to get accurate data to help us answer our purpose. Two of the interviews were conducted with representatives from both Manpower and IKEA. One interview was done with Schramm-Nielsen who is an expert in the field of Scandi-navian management. The last interviews were carried out with two persons with a wide range of experience in the field of management in Sweden.</p><p>The study concludes that the main focus of Scandinavian manage-ment lies within human resources. Equality, communication, coop-eration, trust and consensual decision making are vital elements in the concept of Scandinavian management. Managers in Sweden are focused on their employees and feel that they need to satisfy them in order to motivate them. This motivation has proven to lead to better productivity and performance of the organization. Swedish managers are indeed focused on human resources and are practising Scandinavian management. Scandinavian management is necessary on the Swedish market as it increases the chances for having a pro-ductive company with satisfied employees and customers.</p>

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2000. / Appendix E in Korean. Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 87-95). Also available on the Internet.

Texte remanié de : Thèse de doctorat : Gestion : Paris 1 : 2002. / Titre provenant de l'écran d'accueil. Bibliogr. p. [381]-401.

Thesis (M.B.A.)--University of Hong Kong, 1985.

The main objectives of this study are to demonstrate the significance of customer service quality in the banking sector of Cyprus in order to enable managers in banking organisations to identify the determinants of customer perceptions of service quality and ultimately to provide a method to measure the levels of service quality offered. Therefore, the objectives of this thesis are: • To evaluate the SERVQUAL model and assess whether it can be applied in the context of the Cypriot banking industry, and consequently establish a reliable and valid service quality measurement instrument for Cypriot banks, and • To identify the level of service from banks in Cyprus and detect ways to improve the service quality offered. This study evaluates SERVQUAL dimensions, and more specifically the perceptions side of the instrument, and modifies it through an extensive and in-depth analysis of the literature review published on the topic of service quality and through interviews with bank experts and quality specialists so as to assess its applicability to the banking industry in Cyprus. As a result of this analysis, a modified version of the perceptions’ side of SERVQUAL was constructed as a measurement scale of service quality in the banking sector of Cyprus. Data were collected through customer surveys conducted outside bank branches. Subsequently, the collected data were analysed through tools such as factor analysis, multiple regression analysis, and internal consistency measurement. This analysis helped to prove the validity and reliability of the modified instrument used to measure service quality and revealed the dimensional structure of the service quality construct in the Cypriot banking sector. The major findings of this study suggest a four-dimensional construct derived from 23 items in the questionnaire. These dimensions are employee proficiency, convenience, professionalism and assurance. All four factors are positive and significant predictors of service quality. This result is different from the SERVQUAL and the SERVPERF models as both indicate five dimensions composed of 22 items. The reliability and validity of the scale(s) in this study were fully supported. These results lead to several implications for both researchers and practitioners. For theorists, the results of this study can be used as foundations for further studies, for questionnaire scale development, to further support the use of a single scale and to raise the issue of the non-existence of the ‘tangibles’ dimension, which is not fully discussed in the literature and should be tested in future studies as well. For managers and practitioners this study offers much support for the importance of employees and for a continuous investment in service quality programmes. It also suggests incorporating service quality measurement into branch performance measurement. Finally, the results obtained in this study pose significant challenges to managers and support the idea that practitioners should have a comprehensive view of service quality in banking organizations to accurately measure customer perceptions of service quality.

published_or_final_version / Housing Management / Master / Master of Housing Management

published_or_final_version / Politics and Public Administration / Master / Master of Public Administration

M. Tech. Human Resources Management / This study was conducted to determine whether there is a relationship between organisational culture and assignment fulfilment in an energy provider. Factors comprising organisational culture and assignment fulfilment will be established and discussed. By making use of a detailed literature review, three factors of organisational culture and assignment fulfilment were identified. These factors were used to structure a questionnaire. The following factors of organisational culture were identified: values, managing employee-employer relationships and leadership. Assignment fulfilment factors that were identified are job involvement, job satisfaction and organisational fulfilment. Correlation analyses were used to determine whether there is a relationship between organisational culture and assignment fulfilment. Correlation analysis proved that there is a negative correlation between organisational culture and assignment fulfilment, because when one variable increases the other decreases. It was proved that employees are not fulfilled in the organisation due to the culture of the organisation. An organisation needs to focus on leadership in order to improve the culture of the organisation.