En fungerande relation mellan chef och medarbetare skapar bättre förutsättningar för välmående på arbetsplatsen. Studiens syfte är att belysa relationen chef-medarbetare inom yrken med brukarkontakt samt att generera en teori och förklaringsmodell grundad i data, vilken manifesterar aspekter som är betydelsefulla för chefer och medarbetare kopplat till den fungerande relationen dem emellan. Med grundad teori som forskningsansats och metodologiskt angreppssätt använder vi nio intervjuer och tre skuggningar för att undersöka och lyfta chefers och medarbetares perspektiv på relationen chef-medarbetare. Resultatet visar att både chef och medarbetare framhåller relationen dem emellan som mycket viktigt. Vår teori innefattar ett flertal aspekter som enligt dem behöver vara välfungerade för att relationen ska vara fungerande, t.ex. medarbetarens förhållningssätt och atmosfären på arbetsplatsen. Resultatet visar också att det är chefen som måste ge förutsättningar för relationsskapandet. Det mest utmärkande i det insamlade materialet är vikten av tydlighet från både chef och medarbetare för att deras relation ska vara fungerande. Den genererade teorins förklaringsmodell kan användas som ett verktyg i utformandet av trivsamma arbetsplatser samt som en påminnelse om att relationen chef-medarbetare är viktig för välmående på arbetsplatsen. / A functioning relation between the employer and the employee generates better conditions for wellbeing at the workplace. The purpose of this study is to illustrate the functioning relation between employer-employee, within social work/the supporting role profession, and to generate a theory and a model. The aim with this is to illustrate the aspects of the functioning employeremployee relation, which are important according to them. With grounded theory as the research and methodological approach, we use nine interviews and three participative observations to examine and highlight employers and employees’ perspectives of their relation to each other. The result shows the importance of the functioning relation between them, according to both the employer and the employee. Our theory highlights several aspects that are all necessary if a functioning relation shall be possible, e.g. the employees approach and the working climate. The result also proves the importance of the employers’ role to obtain the prerequisites to develop a good relation. The most distinguishing feature of the collected material is the importance of clarity from both the employer and the employee. The generated theory model can be used as a tool in the strategy of acquiring good working conditions as well as a reminder of the importance of a functioning relation between the employer-employee.

Information is one of the most essential resources in our contemporary societies, as it guideshuman thinking, planning and subsequent actions, which in turn generates consequencesthat are desired or not. The Lehman Brothers bankruptcy in 2008, the tsunami in Indonesiain 2004, the Space Shuttle Challenger destruction in 1986 are just three instances ofdramatic situations, emerging continuously, where information plays a crucial role. Thisstudy investigates the phenomenon of the lack of needed information, predominantlyexperienced with difficulties in human, social and industrial affairs. Consequently, thechallenge is to understand why such situations emerge. Two approaches are utilized toexplore this challenge using an interpretivist tradition. The first is a hermeneutic approach,the second a grounded theory approach. The first approach – theoretically oriented –investigates numerous theoretical bodies, selected with the assumption that they can explainthe addressed challenge. The results show that there are no comprehensive theoreticalbodies that can fully account for the phenomenon of the lack of needed information.Furthermore, there is no consensus on what “information” is – the very core of thechallenge, which gave the foundations for a formulation of an alternative notion ofinformation and is instrumental for the present investigation. Thus, no a priori theory isused to guide the empirical investigation. The second approach – empirically oriented –investigates fifty empirical cases, where the lack of needed information is clearly manifested.The results present an initial outline for a possible future theory of information inadequacy,constituted by the dichotomy of information-lack and information-overflow. Informationlackis dominated by: “information is non-existent”, “information is insufficient”, “information is censored” and “information is undelivered”. Whereas, information-overflow isdominated by: “information is ambiguous”, “information is redundant”, “information isirrelevant” and “information is undervalued”. The two main dichotomous characteristics andtheir interrelations result in patterns of various information inadequacies. The keyconclusion of the present study is that while dramatic situations are increasing everyday,there is as yet no theoretical body designed to comprehensively account for the phenomenonin context; only partial accounts are found. Thus, the empirical investigation suggests thatthe phenomenon of the lack of needed information seems to emerge because of diversefactors, ranging from political and cultural structures, through human individualcapabilities, and ending with procedural and technological artefacts. This study advocatesthat further research is needed to fully account for and explain instances of the lack ofneeded information, and that such an account requires an innovative and interdisciplinary focus.

This thesis is an exploration of the perspectives of recipients and providers of health and criminal justice services about the transitional support needs of arrestees and remand prisoners, leaving short-term custody. The study implements Constructive Grounded Theory Methods, underpinned by the Network Theory of Social Capital as the theoretical framework. Forty-two semi-structured interviews were conducted, with five participant groups; service users (arrestees/remand prisoners), family/carers, mental health staff (criminal justice liaison and mental health in-reach, community mental health teams), criminal justice staff (police/prison officers) and mental health commissioners. Participants provided unique perspectives about the health and social support, available at the transitional points of leaving short-term custody. This was supported by the construction of 11 sociograms for service users, in both arrest (n=5) and remand (n=6) situations, to highlight the availability and functionality of support networks. Transitions are particularly problematic in relation to linking offenders with appropriate community-based mental health services. The over-arching constructed grounded theory is a need for a culture shift within health policy and practice to refocus on transitional care planning to optimise continuous care pathways. Associated themes include ‘lack of practical assistance’, ‘lack of crisis support’, ‘returning to the security of prison’ and ‘poor transition planning’. Critical Time Intervention, a variant of case management has demonstrated benefits when applied to mental health and offender populations, transiting from hospital and prison settings. The programme contains all the components of service that service users, carers and staff identified as important to effectively support transitions from short-term custody to the community.

The current context of health in Brazil has experienced important transformations in the last years and therefore new and innovator possibilities of work must emerge. The Family Health Strategy inserts itself in this context as an important tool of rearrangement of the services in the primary care. The nurse stay before this challenge once she assumes the management of the processes of work, as well the coordination and organization of the health services. This research had as general objective: to present the meanings attributed to the interaction process by nurses in their management at the Family Health Strategy, as well as their articulation with the elaboration of a theoretical matrix in their experiences of management in the Family Health Strategy. This is a Descriptive Field Research, with qualitative approach, guided by the methodological referential respectively of the Symbolic Interactionismo and Grounded Theory. The data collection occurred during the months of March, April and May of 2012 through semi structured interviews, departing from an intensive proposal. The subjects were seven nurses, who manage the Family Health Strategy in the countryside of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. To analyze the data the steps of grounded theory were used: open coding, axial code and selective coding. The research obeys the ethical principles of the Res.196/96 and was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Federal University of Santa Maria. After the codification, the following categories were achieved: revealing itself as professional, living together with adversities, engaging with the organization of care, establishing the teamwork, and focusing the work on the user. The categories were organized around a central explanatory concept, with the purpose of giving the comprehension of the central phenomenon in which they are constituted: Experiencing the management of the nurse in the Family Health Strategy act: significants from the interface with the care. This phenomenon was presented through the Paradigmatic Model in order to demonstrate that the manager nurse realizes his function in the Family Health Strategy and tries to play his function putting the user as central focus of his work. / O atual contexto de saúde no Brasil tem vivenciado transformações importantes nos últimos anos, emerge a necessidade de desenvolver novas e inovadoras possibilidades de trabalho. A Estratégia Saúde da Família (ESF) insere-se nesse cenário como importante ferramenta de reorganização dos serviços na atenção primária. O enfermeiro coloca-se diante desse desafio, na medida em que assume atividades relacionadas ao gerenciamento dos processos de trabalho, bem como a coordenação e organização dos serviços de saúde. Este trabalho teve como objetivo geral apresentar os significados atribuídos pelos enfermeiros ao processo interacional no exercício gerencial das ESFs e como objetivos específicos discutir a gerência realizada pelo enfermeiro na ESF, bem como sua articulação com a assistência de enfermagem e ainda elaborar uma matriz teórica representativa da vivência do enfermeiro na gerência das ESFs. Trata-se de uma pesquisa de campo descritiva com abordagem qualitativa, guiada pelo referencial teórico-metodológico do Interacionismo Simbólico e Teoria Fundamentada nos Dados (TFD), respectivamente. A coleta de dados ocorreu nos meses de março, abril e maio de 2012 e realizou-se por meio de entrevistas semiestruturadas a partir de uma proposta intensiva, os sujeitos foram sete enfermeiros gerentes das ESFs de um município do interior do Rio Grande do Sul. Para análise seguiram-se os passos propostos pela TFD: codificação aberta, axial e seletiva. A pesquisa seguiu os princípios éticos propostos pela Resolução 196/96 e foi aprovada pelo Comitê de Ética da Universidade Federal de Santa Maria. Após a codificação obteve-se as seguintes categorias: revelando-se profissional, convivendo com adversidades, envolvendo-se com a organização do cuidado, estabelecendo o trabalho em equipe e centrando o trabalho no usuário. Estas foram organizadas em torno de um conceito explanatório central, com o objetivo de proporcionar a compreensão do fenômeno central que se constitui: Vivenciando o agir gerencial do enfermeiro na estratégia saúde da família: significados a partir da interface com o cuidado. Este foi apresentado junto ao Modelo Paradigmático. Assim, foi possível vislumbrar que o enfermeiro gerente reconhece a importância da sua atuação na ESF e procura desempenhar a sua função considerando o usuário foco central do seu trabalho.

The core essence of a marketing transaction is the exchange of value between two parties. Quite often, the exchange of value describes a customer purchasing a product from a company. When purchasing products, the exchange of value can often fail due to product defects or customer dissatisfaction. When the marketing exchange fails, customers often desire an avenue for recourse to right the exchange imbalance. Accepting and quickly processing product returns represents a strategic tool companies can leverage to maintain healthy relationships with customers, despite an exchange failure. Effectively managing product returns also benefits companies financially, by reducing inventory levels, costs, and the risk of product obsolescence. Despite providing both relationship management and financial benefits, numerous companies struggle to manage product returns effectively. In a time when companies are facing a growing number of product returns due to omni-channel retailing and online shopping, implementing an effective system to manage product returns has become a vital strategic tool necessary to maintain competitiveness. First, the current research answers the question of why do companies struggle with product returns? by identifying the important components of an effective product returns system. Informed by complex adaptive systems theory and based on a qualitative, grounded theory analysis, the current research finds that the hidden complex nature of managing product returns prevents numerous companies from implementing an effective system to mange returns. Managing product returns requires five important components (firm capabilities, employees, the returns management information system, organizational climate, and the customer service boundary), which interact with each other multiple times to process a product return. After identifying the important components and interactions within a product returns system, Essay I integrates the information together to form a substantive theory of the complexity of product returns management. The substantive theory implies that companies looking to improve their management of product returns need to understand and invest in multiple components within the product returns system. Second, the current research answers the question of how do the employees, returns management information system, and climate for creativity components of a product returns system relate to a firm’s flexibility, adaptability, and performance? To answer this research question, this dissertation empirically evaluates the role these three components play in shaping a firm’s flexibility, adaptability, subjective performance and relationship quality by analyzing data collected through an online survey with 102 US managers with experience in product returns. The empirical analysis indicates that employee decision-making resources show a statistically significant negative relationship with firm adaptability, while the firm’s climate for creativity and flexibility show a statistically significant positive relationship with firm adaptability. Firm adaptability shows statistically significant positive relationships with subjective performance and relationship quality. Firm adaptability acts as a partial or full mediator in all of these relationships. The combined findings of Essay I and Essay II point to the importance of product returns as a strategic relationship management tool. Firms that can effectively manage product returns give employees more flexibility to respond to problems, are better able to make structural changes, have higher subjective performance ratings, and better quality relationships with customers.

This diploma thesis is concerned with the problematic of the links between self-presentation on social networks (SNS) and female beauty ideal. The thesis defines the beauty ideal as social construct, because every culture has its own beauty ideal and every period held its own standards on what is considered as beutiful. The thesis is also based on assumption that definitions of beauty are multidimensional and is focused on several beauty ideals. The aim of the thesis is to evaluate ways of self-presentation of women on social networks in the context of ideal of beauty. The research is based on the analysis of profile pictures on social networks and is also based on qualitative method of grounded theory. The final results show that the dominant way of visual self-presentation is represented by selfies. But the research has also shown that in each group there is a minority group of women who present themselves in accordance with the chosen ideal of beauty. Differences are described at the end of the thesis.

Modern medical students are exposed to a variety of anatomical and physiology textbooks and atlases as part of their medical training. Although little has been written on how these students interact with medical illustrations during learning, several scholars allude to the importance of combining visual and textual information in the learning process. Medical illustrators have the ability to proficiently organise visual and textual elements in such a fashion to communicate a certain message. However, medical illustrators should be aware of students’ needs when designing visual material for learning purposes. The gap that this study aimed to address is one often experienced in South Africa, where illustrators know very little about the user, in this case medical students’ use of illustrations as a learning tool. The importance of this study derives from the development of user-centred knowledge to improve the quality of work produced by medical illustrators. The aim of the study was to explore how design elements and principles influence the use, comprehension and preference of medical illustrations as part of the learning experience. Two other aspects selected for this study are the relevance of labelling techniques in medical illustration as well as the quality of the reproduction of images, especially for learning purposes. This study was conducted through exploratory qualitative research in order to develop a deeper understanding of the way medical illustrations are used during learning. Constructivism was selected as the epistemological approach for this study as it focuses on new knowledge constructed by students from previous experiences. Data was collected by means of semi-structured in-depth interviews and open-ended questions. Six second year and six fifth year medical students of the School of Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Pretoria were purposively selected and interviewed. The discussion guide used for interviews consisted of 15 sets of medical illustrations with three or four images per set. Each illustration contained a different application of the same design characteristic, but similar in content or nature of information. The largest part of the interview was an adaptation of the repertory grid method to compare and analyse rich data. Data were transcribed verbatim and organised following the principles of grounded theory. Data sheets were listed, compared and analysed through the application of open and axial coding to determine the relationship between students’ learning styles, and the attributes of the design characteristics selected for this study. This study shows that design elements in medical illustrations influences second- and fifth-year medical students’ comprehension and learning of anatomy when illustrations are used as teaching material. Deeper understanding regarding their learning styles, drawing abilities and preference for drawing styles were gained. Furthermore, second- and fifth-year medical students’ preferences for media, labelling methods, as well as the quality of the reproduction of the illustrations for learning purposes were illustrated. This information is imperative when designing illustrations for learning and teaching purposes. This study accentuates the importance of collaboration with medical illustrators in South Africa and abroad, as well as with physicians and educators. / Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / gm2014 / Visual Arts / unrestricted

The aim of this thesis was to acquire knowledge about patient participation in everyday life of persons with dementia living in SCUs in nursing homes. Data collection and analysis in studies I-III was carried out according to Grounded Theory. Data was collected by open non- participant observations during 51 hours, and conversations with 8 residents and 17 health care personnel (I), interviews carried out twice with 12 relatives (II) and 11 nursing personnel (III), and by a study specific questionnaire based on the findings from study I-II to 233 relatives (IV). Descriptive and non-parametric statistics were used (IV). Presence of nursing personnel in body, mind and morality was found to be the prerequisite for patient participation (I). This required personnel with high competence in dementia care, commitment to and interest in the resident, and continuity in their work (I, III). Wellbeing and dignity in the resident’s everyday life was found to be the most important goal, not necessarily a high level of patient participation (II-III). The level of participation had to be adjusted to the resident’s ability and wish to take part in decisions in the very moment. However, the level was often primarily adjusted to suit the personnel’s ideas about how to carry out daily care (I, III). Relatives had an important role in the participation process by interacting, and exchanging information, with the personnel. By forming a basis for individualised care in this way, relatives made a difference to the resident’s everyday life and contributed to their wellbeing and dignity (II-IV). The SCU’s context also affected patient participation (I-IV). Patient participation must be given attention by leaders and be prioritised in dementia care. Nursing personnel can enhance patient participation by promoting relatives’ partaking in the participation process, as this has potential for further contributing to quality of care.

D.Litt. et Phil. (Public Management and Governance) / This study focused on the variables that influence change leadership competencies to strategically manage transformation within the South African public sector. One of the key aims was to develop a competency framework for transformational leaders in senior public management positions. The thesis provided a conceptual description and explanation of appropriate and adequate leadership concepts, theories, approaches and phenomena that influence leadership role competencies for change management. It also contributed to a specific level of understanding of appropriate and adequate change concepts, theories and phenomena regarding the problem of change leadership role competencies. Furthermore, the study also investigated strategic leadership concepts, theories and approaches for addressing the problem of strategic leadership role competencies. A modernist qualitative research methodology was followed, where grounded theory was applied as the research strategy. Furthermore, a qualitative coding paradigm was established to develop an integrated model of strategic and transformational leadership competencies in order to manage organisational change. Importantly, the qualitative coding paradigm was developed to enable public sector employers to develop a competency framework that encompass the key leadership skills, behaviours, attributes and knowledge for senior public managers who have to cope effectively with organisational change within a public sector environment. The study contributed to the development of a substantive theory of the organisational change process. Furthermore, on a practical level, it contributed to the disciplinary and methodological fields of Public Management, Public Leadership and Public Governance.

There is a historical trend of decline in available Career and Technical Education (CTE) Teacher Preparation programs and an increase in CTE course and program enrollments in Florida’s secondary school system. This contradiction in CTE teacher supply and demand raises an important question. What is going on? More specifically, what sustains the remaining programs in the face of this decline? The purpose of this qualitative study is to explore sustainability factors from past and present CTE teacher preparation program educators and administrators to gain a better understanding of this issue. The participant selection for this study was identified from four active and one recently phased-out undergraduate CTE teacher preparation programs in five Florida universities. There were ten participants who were interviewed either face-to-face or virtually with a semi-structured protocol. Memo-taking, member checking, and peer review were added to the data. Data analysis, guided by grounded theory and a constant comparative approach, discovered themes which contributed to the development of The CTE Teacher Preparation Program Sustainability Framework. The framework includes two domains: (a) Internal, and (b) External. The Internal Domain, Program Experience, includes: (a) Statewide Exposure; (b) Intracampus Alliance; (c) Innovative Changes; and (d) Program Ownership. The External Domain, Essential Conditions, includes: (a) Program Value; (b) Certification Alignment; and (c) Employment Policies. The implications of this study may extend the life cycle of current CTE teacher preparation programs.