Public place branding in municipalities is increasing in frequency and consists of multiple stakeholders, which enhances the role of communication in this type of project. The research question is how does project communication impact risk management and goal achievement in public place branding projects? This is answered by the main purpose of this study, which is to increase the understanding of the project communication’s role in risk management and goal achievement in public place branding projects. In order to gain this understanding the thesis has had a qualitative case study with an inductive approach. The focus of the theoretical framework is including place branding, project management, strategic alignment, goal achievement, risk management, and project communication. As a case for the study the project Destination South Lapland has been chosen. The project aims to establish a destination enterprise for the region, and includes four municipalities from the counties of Västerbotten and Jämtland. The focus has been to investigate differences in perceptions and handling regarding goals and risks between the strategic and operational level, and how communication is interrelating these areas. The main conclusion that we can draw from the study is that project success factors are based on the projects goals and that project communication of goals, roles, and risks has an impact on goal achievement. The study shows that project communication is what interlinks the success factors and thus enables public place branding projects to achieve its goals. Project risk management and risk assessment was also found as success factors in public place branding projects. Project communication was therefore also found to incorporate risk management into the project strategy, which facilitates public place branding projects in achieving their goals.

Tidigare har målteorier, föräldrastöd och karriärutveckling studerats men hur upplever unga vuxna sin anställningsbarhet i relation till sitt sociala arv från föräldrarna? Detta är studiens syfte att undersöka. Intervjuer genomfördes med 15 deltagare från två klasser på en gymnasiefriskola. En kvalitativ innehållsanalys för kategorisering och tematisering utfördes. Det uppkom tre teman: handling, medvetet betydelsefullt och teoretiskt betydelsefullt. Resultatet visade bland annat att deltagarna prioriterar socialt umgänge, olika idrotter och egen tid men upplever utbildningen som betydelsefull för framtiden. De unga vuxna som vuxit upp med vårdnadshavare utanför arbetskraften talade om hur arbetslösheten kan undvikas medan unga vuxna uppvuxna med vårdnadshavare i arbetskraften fokuserade på att utveckla sin anställningsbarhet. För att belysa skillnader i materialet utfördes viss jämförelse. Slutsatsen var att arbetsgivare kan tänkas möta både naiva och skeptiska arbetssökanden som inte ser kopplingen mellan yrke och drivkrafter men som är medvetna om att de egna valen är avgörande för livssituationen.

Transitive inference refers to the ability to use knowledge of pre-existing relationships to infer relationships between entities that have not been directly compared. This form of logical inference is an important skill for many social species, and has been thought to arise in an immature form in humans between the ages of four and six years. The experimental methods used to test this ability in humans often require some verbal skill, gross or fine motor coordination, a memory capable of containing numerous relationships, and often a great deal of time and repetition in testing. These methods of testing may have been too demanding on other physical and cognitive abilities to be successfully completed by children under four years of age, regardless of their ability to make transitive inferences. The present study used methods sensitive to infant cognition to test the current theory that the ability to make transitive inferences does not develop until the age of four. Nine-month-old infants were tested in three separate experiments using a visual habituation paradigm similar to that used by Woodward (1998) and through investigation of infants’ own imitative actions. Experiment 1 verified that infants can track the goals of others in a habituation paradigm when the goal object changes position throughout habituation trials, both through looking time measures and imitative action. Experiment 2 used an extension of this paradigm to examine the ability to make transitive inferences across a three item chain, serially ordered by the actor’s object preference, and no evidence of transitive inference was observed. Experiment 3 tested infants’ ability to habituate to and recall multiple goals using context as a cue to actor choice. Infants were able to consistently track only one of the pairings, suggesting that avoidance, in addition to selection, may play a role in infant performance in the visual habituation paradigm. / Thesis (Master, Neuroscience Studies) -- Queen's University, 2012-08-14 09:10:37.385

One fourth of students who enroll in 4-year universities never finish. Precipitating causes of early departure include poor academic progress and a lack of clear goals and motivation. A major cause of trouble adjusting to university is students’ failure to cognitively assimilate new experiences. Recent studies have demonstrated that goal setting leads to heightened well-being. Neuroscience research has also closely linked working memory (WM) and goal setting, because WM is related to the use of attention to activate information, for example, goal states or action plans. The present study investigated whether an intensive goal-setting program for struggling students who have experienced a substantial drop in performance would have positive effects not only on academic achievement, but also on well-being, personality (specifically conscientiousness and emotional stability), and cognitive functioning (specifically WM). Students (N = 101) experiencing subjectively perceived academic difficulty and a cumulative GPA ofless than 3.0 were recruited from McGill University. Participants completed baseline measures of mood, personality, and cognition, and were randomly assigned to one of two intervention groups: Half completed an intensive goal-setting program and half a control task with intervention-quality face validity. Every month for 4 months, students were retested on mood measures. After 4 months, students were retested on all measures. Official transcripts were gathered at the end of the semester subsequent to the intervention, in order to compare grades pre- and post-intervention as well as retention rates. [...] / Le quart des étudiants inscrit dans un programme universitaire ne termineront pas leurs études. Les causes qui précipitent cet abandon incluent une faible progression académique, un manque de motivation, ainsi qu’une absence de buts clairement établis. Une des raisons principales pouvant expliquer ce manque d’ajustement à la vie universitaire peut également s’expliquer par l’incapacité des étudiants à assimiler de nouvelles expériences sur le plan cognitif. Des études récentes ont démontré que se donner des objectifs aide à développer un sentiment accru de bien-être. La recherche neuroscientifique a aussi établi un lien étroit entre la mémoire de travail (MT) et la capacité de se fixer des objectifs. C’est à dire, la MT est reliée au déploiement des ressources attentionnelles, qui en retour sont importantes dans la planification et l’élaboration de stratégies pour faciliter l’atteinte d’un but ainsi que le retour sur l’état de ces buts. Cette étude vise à découvrir si l’utilisation d’un programme avec des objectifs claire peut avoir des bienfaits sur le plan académique, le bien-être, la personnalité (stabilité émotive et l’état de conscience) et le fonctionnement cognitif (MT) d’étudiants à faible rendement académique. Des étudiants (N = 101) en difficultés scolaires et ayant une note pondérée de moins de 3.0/4.0 ont été recrutés à l’Université McGill. Ceux-ci ont complété des tests mesurant leur bien-être, personnalité, fonctionnement cognitif et ont ensuite été assignés par hasard soit au groupe expérimental (assignation intensive d’objectifs) ou au groupe contrôle (intervention neutre apparaissant efficace). Chaque mois, pendant quatre mois, les étudiants ont rempli des questionnaires sur leur état émotionnel. [...]

In 1996, Professor Robert J House published a reformulated Path-Goal Theory of Work Unit Leadership, based on his earlier 1971 and 1974 theories. Path-goal leadership attempts to explain the impact that leader behaviour has on subordinate motivation, satisfaction and performance. The aim of this context-specific study is to evaluate this reformulated ‘1996 Theory’ via Structural Equation Modelling with engineers from the Royal Air Force as the primary data source. This thesis offers a revised methodology to test path-goal leadership. In detail, three moderator variables are modelled with four independent variables to establish association with two dependent variables. In addition, five propositions from the ‘1996 Theory’ are examined. The analysis suggests that: the moderator influences preference for a particular type of leadership behaviour (by the subordinate); leader behaviour has an impact on subordinate satisfaction; leader behaviour affects satisfaction directly and performance indirectly; subordinate satisfaction has a direct affect on subordinate performance; and performance is influenced by the type of task demand. It is considered that there is association between the variables; however, the direction of this association is not known and it is difficult to predict accurately. Without further research, which is replicated and revalidated with other cohorts, causality in the leader behaviour — outcome variable paradigm cannot be argued. Due to time constraints, the research has several limitations. Not all propositions cited in the ‘1996 Theory’ are tested and several other variables are not examined. Finally, recommendations are made for future study, particularly replication with other cohorts in the public, private and third sectors to ensure validity. This will help in determining causality with leader behaviour and motivation, satisfaction and performance.

This case study has been about the attitudes and values of a group of participants in a specific workplace. The aim has been to try and ascertain if the identified attitudes and values of the participants have had any influence on career development. There were 12 participants involved and at the time of this project they were either in permanent part or full time employment with ‘The Company’. ‘The Company’ is a pseudonym given to the business where the participants worked and the setting for this research project. The workplace is situated in a remote location on an industrial work site in New Zealand. Each participant engaged in the research voluntarily. They completed a questionnaire and took part in a semi-structured interview. Confidentiality and anonymity of all participants had been respected and maintained throughout the entire project. Results show that there were three principle influences that could be attributed to the ways that participants perceived the workplace and personal career development. They were workplace values, workplace training, and workplace goals. These attributes are influenced in different ways and hold divergent meaning for individual participants. The most highly rated value, as identified by participants in this project has been variation of tasks undertaken in the workplace. This was not challenged by any of the indicators used to consider opinions and values expressed by participants; education, generational groupings, career type and work streams. Seven of the twelve participants desired promotion within ‘The Company’. The ways that participants hoped to achieve promotion was often unspecified. Participants did not articulate specific planning methods. Future research is recommended such as focusing on how employees can develop career goals that fit with the goals of their workplace.

This study deals with a very common problem encountered in many automotive industries. Automotive companies try to level the production of different models over time based on the demands for these models in the market. In order to achieve this, they introduce a leveled stream of cars in the beginning of the production line. But because of many reasons this leveled stream gets disturbed in its course. In order to re-level the stream, buffers are used between the shops. One such buffer is called as selectivity bank and it sits between paint shop and assembly shop. This buffer receives a disturbed sequence from the paint shop. The thesis tries to develop different algorithms that can be used to discharge cars from this buffer in order to achieve better leveling in the presence of rework and assembly constraints. These algorithms continuously try to steer the system from an undesirable state to a more desirable state by keeping track of current conditions in the plant. A simulation model is developed, which gives a platform for comparing relative performance of these logics under different conditions. The simulation tool is also helpful in designing optimum size of this buffer that will result in desired leveling performance.

Women from across the globe purchase and consume cosmetics in order to achieve their appearance goals and it is generally agreed that a consumers’ goal orientation may influence their interpretation of advertising materials and thus the purchase decision-making process. The cosmetics industry promotes their products using almost exclusively images of attractive, young, highly idealised women, and thus has a significant influence on female appearance ideals worldwide. Extensive research connects viewing idealised images to negative outcomes for consumers’ self-concept, however there are mixed results regarding the effectiveness of idealised models in advertising. Moreover, there are mixed results regarding the effectiveness of different message frames. The overall aim of this thesis is to investigate the effects of possible selves and cosmetic advertising on the consumption of cosmetic products. This research draws together areas of literature which have been studied in varying settings in order to determine the individual and collective effects of these independent variables; possible selves, model idealisation and message framing, on women’s attitude toward cosmetic advertisements and purchase intentions in the cosmetic product context. To understand the effects that goal orientation, as well as the images and text of cosmetic advertisements have on cosmetics consumption, an online experiment was conducted using a 2x3x2 between-subjects factorial design. The study manipulated three independent variables, namely, salient possible self (hoped-for and feared), model idealisation (more idealised model, less idealised model and no model) and regulatory message framing (desired reference and undesired reference) and measured the impact of these variables on attitude toward the ad and resulting purchase intention. The final data set was comprised of 420 responses from 18-35 year old females. A series of ANCOVA analyses were used to determine the effects of possible selves, model idealisation and message frames on consumers’ attitude toward the ad and their purchase intention. The results indicate hoped-for selves, no model advertisements and desired message frames are independently the most effective in the cosmetics context. However, the goal-compatibility hypothesis was not supported. Furthermore, findings indicate an interaction between the image and the message of cosmetics advertising, which suggests cosmetic advertisers must carefully consider the combination of the images and messages they use to promote their brand and products. The theoretical and managerial implications, as well as direction for future research are discussed.

This study investigated children's social learning of prosocial behaviors in a transgressor context. Two-to three-year-olds (24-47 months, N = 54) saw videos of an adult help another adult in distress by performing a novel prosocial action. Children were then led to believe that they had transgressed to cause their parent's pain and sadness. It was hypothesized that children in the experimental condition who watched the video and then transgressed would be more likely to perform the novel action (imitation) and to display non-demonstrated prosocial behaviors (goal emulation) relative to children in two control conditions: (a) children who did not view the video but transgressed and (b) children who viewed the video but witnessed a neutral interaction. Children in the experimental condition were no more likely to imitate or emulate than children in the control conditions, suggesting that children have difficulty applying socially learned prosocial behaviors in a transgressor context.

Motivation inom skolan är avgörande för elevers lärande. I self- determination theory (SDT) betonas vikten av inre motivation genom autonomi, kompetens och samhörighet. Stöd, höga förväntningar och målsättningar har visats sig ha positiv inverkan på motivation. Syftet med denna undersökning var att studera vad som främjar ungdomars motivation, med utgångspunkt i SDT samt ungdomars och vuxnas perspektiv, utifrån skilda tillvägagångssätt i motivationsarbete. Intervjuer genomfördes med 8 deltagare från en friskola och 8 från en ungdomsverksamhet. Analysen genomfördes i tre steg: gemensamma komponenter, skillnader mellan verksamheterna och i relation till SDT. Resultatet visade på viktiga gemensamma nämnare som individanpassning, lärarstöd samt mål- och utvecklingsfokus. En skillnad som framträdde verksamheterna emellan är huruvida det går att arbeta med höga förväntningar eller om ungdomen bör styra sin process själv. Ett öppet klimat, med stor individanpassning och tillitsfulla relationer, har framkommit vara grundförutsättningar för den inre motivationen.