Human Resources (HR) is always toted as being an important element in any organisation, yet this contribution is frequently taken for granted. The HR Executive and Division are expected to react to the instructions of senior management, regarding plans for the organisation, by providing the human resources to achieve these strategies. History and literature are proving that this type of relationship is not conducive to the attainment of goals and objectives. HR input must form a part of the strategic planning process and HR Management must be seen as strategic partner rather than its current supportive subservient role. In SANRAL much emphasis is placed on its human resources and how it intends achieving its goals through these resources. This study aimed to test whether these goals are achievable through the systems and processes in place. HR Management is responsible ultimately for these systems and processes. The relationship that exists between HR management and the organisation's strategic management team will determine whether these objectives are attainable or not. The role that HR Management plays in the organisation was reviewed. Literature consulted proposed that when HR management took on a strategic role at the formulation stage of strategies, then these organisations were far successful at achieving their goals than organisations that didn't. This only happened when HR management was at a fully integrated level with the strategic management process. The SANRAL organisation was evaluated next, using questionnaires, interviews and a case study approach to collect the data to build a refectory of information. This was done to identify and to determine the role that HR Management played in this organisation. The third step involved analysing this data collected and considering it against the literature reviewed to determine the type of relationship that existed. Evidence pointed to a one-way level relationship between the HR Management and strategic management. The conclusion reached indicated that the role of HR and the processes in place currently was not conducive to successful execution of the organisation's strategies. As a result the organisation's ability to achieve its goals successfully will be affected negatively. Finally, key areas within the organisation were identified that hampered the progress of SANRAL's HR Management to a strategic role, and recommendations were made to address these areas. This would ensure that the organisation would be much more successful in achieving its objectives had it not adopted this role . / Thesis (MBA)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2004.

Trots att många menar att Human Resources har en allt viktigare roll i förändringsprocesser råder det brist på studier som undersöker på vilket sätt de i sitt dagliga arbete är involverade i förändringsprocesser och hur de interagerar med andra aktörer inom organisationen under processen. Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka vad HR bidrar med kopplat till processen vid planerade organisationsförändringar. Undersökningens frågeställning inriktades på vilka olika roller HR kan ta vid planerade organisationsförändringar samt vilka faktorer som påverkar HR´s delaktighet i dessa. Studien har en kvalitativ hermeneutisk ansats och baseras på sex semistrukturerade intervjuer med HR-medarbetare på två olika organisationer inom privat sektor. Resultatet visar på att HR framförallt tar två olika typer av roller som vi har benämnt supportrollen och den självständiga rollen. Dessa kopplar vi i analysen sedan till två övergripande roller som HR kan utgå ifrån i sitt agerande. De faktorer vi har sett i vår studie som påverkar HR´s delaktighet i förändringsprocesser är brist på tid, stort avstånd till kärnverksamheten och medarbetarna, vilken relation de har till cheferna samt vilken typ av förändring det handlar om.

I det konkurrensutsatta samhälle som vi idag lever i är inte kommunen på samma sätt som tidigare en självklar och livstrogen arbetsgivare. I dagens samhälle gäller det att bygga upp en organisation som har ett starkt varumärke. Vikten av att bygga ett starkt varumärke är en förutsättning för att kunna behålla och attrahera ny arbetskraft. Studien har genomförts på en kommun i Sverige där vi har undersökt hur kommunen arbetar med frågor som arbetsgivarpolicy och värdeord. Med hjälp av teoretiker som Senge och Argyris diskuterar vi kommunens vision om att vara en lärande organisation. Storstadskommunen arbetar efter en ny arbetsgivarpolicy och en uppsättning värdeord, där kommunen uppmuntrar sina anställda till ett kontinuerligt lärande. Vi vill med denna studie ta reda på hur arbetsgivarpolicyn påverkar kommunen som organisation samt vilken påverkan dessa uppsatta värdeord har på kommunens varumärke. Metoden som vi har använt oss av bygger på intervjuer med chefer och textanalys av kommunens styrdokument. Resultatet av intervjuerna visar dels på att det finns bristande samverkan mellan verksamheterna inom kommunen och dels att chefer inom kommunen har olika uppfattningar om värdeorden. Textanalysens resultat visar dock på att kommunen har en god förutsättning för att uppnå visionen om att vara en attraktiv och modern arbetsgivare men att implementeringsprocessen är lång och resurskrävande.

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This study argues that ideological rather than material constraints are the major obstacles that limit full female participation in the Saudi Arabian labour force and hinder Saudi working women from combining their double roles as mothers and paid workers. As a developing country, Saudi Arabia is facing multiple problems. One of these challenges is the great shortage of human resources. In 1984/85, 59.8 per cent of the labour force in Saudi society was foreign. Female participation in waged employment is very low with only 5.1 per cent of women of working age participating in the labour force. This ethnography focuses especially on working mothers in Riyadh and is based principally on intensive interviews with fifty women holding posts in the full range of women's occupations in Saudi Arabia. After two general ethnographic chapters which outline Saudi women's lifestyle in the pre-oil and the modern periods, this thesis considers in detail women's activities in their paid employment and domestic roles. Special attention is given to Saudi ideologies which restrict women's participation in the labour force, in particular Saudi conceptions of male and female relations. One of the main arguments is that Islam in itself is not responsible for women's limited participation in the labour force, rather it is the interpretation of Islam which is heavily affected by socio-political factors in Saudi society. Many studies of working women in Western countries concentrate on the phenomenon of the "double day" that working women face when they undertake a paid job in addition to their domestic responsibilities. According to this view, material constraints constitute the major problem of working women. Authors arguing from this view point assume that the availability of domestic replacements would solve the major problems experienced by these working women. The present thesis argues that material constraints are not the main problem of working women in Riyadh. The influx of wealth has enabled many families to employ domestic help but, nevertheless, many working women still suffer from their conflicting double roles. According to Saudi cultural beliefs, nature determines the sexual division of labour. Women are assumed to be mothers and housewives, and men are assumed to be the breadwinners of their families. The concept of a woman's "career" does not exist in Saudi society. A women's career is her home and children. There are three types of cultural and attitudinal factors that challenge Saudi working women. Firstly, there is women's conception of themselves. Women always locate themselves within the dominant culture which is greatly affected by male representations. Secondly, people's attitudes towards women's work play an important role In helping or hindering women to combine their double roles. Finally, there is the issue of husbands' support for their working wives. Because Saudi Arabia is a male-dominated society, husbands play an especially significant role in their wives' lives. They can be a great source of support and help, or they can be a source of frustration.

I Sverige ses alkohol som socialt accepterat under såväl vardag som högtid, både jul och konferensresa skålas in med öl och brännvin. Dock går det inte att frångå det faktum att över 300 000 av landets invånare lider av ett alkoholberoende, vilket gör det till en av våra största folkhälsosjukdomar. En sjukdom som ofta inte syns, men förekommer framförallt på våra arbetsplatser. På arbetsplatsen ligger yttersta ansvaret hos cheferna; deras förmåga att upptäcka och agera när tecknen väl syns hos individen. Dessa tecken är inte alltid enkla att se vilket framgick i denna studie. Studiens syfte var att skapa förståelse för chefers upplevelser och erfarenheter av att hantera anställda med alkoholproblematik samt att utröna vad som påverkar chefers agerande när de ställs inför denna situation. För att uppfylla syftet genomfördes en kvalitativ, hermeneutisk intervjustudie. Deltagare i studien var chefer med erfarenhet av alkoholproblematik samt ledande aktörer inom alkoholarbete i näringslivet. Studiens huvudsakliga slutsatser är att alkohol är ett svårhanterligt ämne för chefer, grundat i rädslor och kunskapsbrist. Det framkom även att chefer upplever en svår balansgång mellan medmänsklighet och arbetsgivaransvar samt lagkrav.

Attracting and engaging talented people, the 'star performers', is an on-going challenge for organisations. Our theoretical understanding of the nature of star performance and the way in which HR systems facilitate such performance is limited. Drawing from theories of human resource management, leadership, performance, job characteristics and organisational justice, this research develops and tests a model of the role of High Performance HR systems in facilitating task and contextual performance. This model proposes that the way in which organisational systems influence individual levels of performance is via two intervening mechanisms - perceptions of work processes and organisational justice. The program of research is comprised of two studies. In Study 1, I explored the utility of the task and contextual performance framework for understanding stars using supervisor-employee dyads (N = 174) from a large Australian government agency. The results of this study provide support for the central hypothesis of this thesis. Task and contextual performance are key components of star ratings, and other elements such as being self-directed, having a big picture viewpoint, and a willingness to lead, also contribute. In Study 2, I employed two well-established frameworks of employee responses to situational factors and psychological perceptions to examine the role of HR systems and practices in facilitating star performance. Specifically, the study used substitutes for leadership theory (Kerr & Jermier, 1978) and the formation of psychological contracts (Robinson, Kraatz & Rousseau, 1994) to examine the way in which HR practices are connected with task and contextual performance. It was proposed that HR practices are positively associated with task and contextual performance, and that this relationship is moderated by job characteristics and teamwork. It was also proposed that the relationship between HR practices and performance is mediated by perceptions of justice. The results of this study indicate that complex relationships exist. Specifically the findings provide support for one of the core propositions. Job characteristics and teamwork can moderate the relationship between HR practices and performance. The patterns of moderation indicate that HR practices provide marginal gains where jobs are perceived by employees as being enriched, but are able to make a more substantial contribution under conditions of less enrichment. Under these conditions HR practices are able to make a greater contribution to performance by providing performance cues and establishing expectations and clarifying roles. The relationship between HR practices and performance was not found to be mediated by perceptions of justice. In this thesis I provide evidence of the relevance of the task and contextual performance framework to conceptualising star performance. Furthermore, I examine the conditions under which High Performance HR systems facilitate star performance. Both of these aspects are necessary for designing appropriate HR strategies and interventions for managing talent.

Thesis (M.S.)--Rutgers University, 2007. / "Graduate Program in Industrial Relations and Human Resources." Includes bibliographical references (p. 56-64).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Rutgers University, 2008. / "Graduate Program in Industrial Relations and Human Resources." Includes bibliographical references (p. 228-235).

Although the Internet has become a global medium, which companies use to access individuals worldwide, it is argued in this thesis that cultural issues still need to be taken into account when designing Web sites. In fact, international marketers agree that culture in terms of consumers‘ values and beliefs remains a significant constraint for reaching international consumers. Professional analysts and designers generally agree that well-designed user interfaces improve the performance and appeal of the Web and help in reaching large numbers of consumers across cultures. Therefore, one way of improving the user-interface is by paying attention to users' culture, which means developing culturally adapted Web sites. The Web localisation literature addresses the users' ultural concerns by utilising some of the popular cultural models like those of Hofstede and Hall; however these tools are not appropriate for handling the cultural values affecting the online behaviour of consumers. Effective Web localisation can be achieved through an appropriate cultural framework that incorporates the cultural values that affect the online behaviour of consumers. This thesis introduces the electronic cultural adaption framework or E-CAF, as a structure for adapting local Web interfaces. The E-CAF, constructed for the travel domain, uses six cultural dimensions derived from the observation of behaviour and identifies unique cultural variables that affect online consumer behaviour. The E-CAF is constructed using grounded theory methodology and is then evaluated as a tool for adapting local Web interfaces. This includes discussing the applicability of the E-CAF as a tool for identifying online marketing strategies suitable for targeting consumers across cultures and using the E-CAF to assess and evaluate the cultural adaptation of three Egyptian local travel interfaces. Finally, the E-CAF is utilized as a means for developing questions that can help designers to collect the clients' designing requirements. This helps the designers to build an effective local interface based on an understanding of each client‘s special design requirements.