In pace with a noticeably fiercer global competition and an increased customer awareness, today’s organizations are faced with vast requirements for higher productivity and stronger customerorientation. This transformation has denoted that human resources have become more and more accentuated, and a consensus has grown for the true power embraced within them. In Sweden, some few prominent leaders have distinguished themselves by being highly successful in reinforcing employee motivation, and their knowledge and experiences are priceless in the pursuit of utilizing the full potential of the workforce. The purpose with this thesis is to study how ten of Sweden’s most successful and acknowledged leaders view and work with employee motivation and critically examine their standpoints. The purpose is furthermore to exemplify how other leaders can strengthen employee motivation through adapting these motivational suggestions. Qualitative cross-sectional interviews were conducted for the empirical research, holding a hermeneutic and inductive research approach. The respondent pool is comprised by both commercial leaders, as well as leaders from the world of sports. They range from being managers over purely service-focused organizations, to being founders of innovative product-producing organizations. The major areas, which are touched upon are; general work motivation intrinsic/extrinsic motivation, communication, and lastly empowerment, responsibility and participation. Four major areas influence employee motivation (The Society and Social Surroundings, The Organization and Business Environment, The Manager and The Employee). This is visualized in the “Four-Factor Model”.

The current information society is collecting information about individual needs, wants and desires continuously with the help of new technologies. Information systems, such as consumer relationship management (CRM) have a crucial importance when providing personalized services to the customers. This is done by gathering, storing, maintaining and distributing important consumer knowledge throughout the organization. (Chen & Popovich, 2003) However as previous studies have shown, consumers are becoming increasingly concerned about threats to their personal privacy when new technologies are integrated into the society (e.g. Cranor et al, 1999; Kervenoael et al, 2007). As these emerging issues are becoming more common in the consumers’ daily lives, it is of great importance to discover their perceptions about it. Hence, the purpose of this study is to examine the consumers’ perception about their privacy and how they affiliate with their personal information being processed in various organizations. The theoretical framework suggests that several factors affects the consumers comfort in sharing personal information to companies, such as the physical environment of the organization, which type of information that is shared, what organization that stores and uses the information, the psychological distance the actors have to each other and how much control the consumers have over the use of their personal information. A selfadministered questionnaire was used to collect the data. The results showed that the majority of the respondents were concerned about the information that is gathered about them, which further emphasises the importance of this study. It was evident that the respondents were more willing to provide demographic and lifestyle information, rather than financial and purchase related information. The results also showed a variation depending on which organization that is considered. The various organizations were categorized into four different groups; Intimate distance, personal distance, social distance and public distance, depending on the respondents’ perceived comfort in sharing their personal information with them. Some significant differences were observed between the various demographic groups as well. One of the findings indicates that men appear to be more comfortable in sharing their personal information to certain companies in comparison to women, due to a higher intellectual risk-propensity. It is argued that the consumers concern for privacy is an important issue to consider for companies. In order to maintain a strong relationship with their customers it should be integrated as an essential part of their CRM-strategies to make their information gathering techniques more efficient.

Purpose - The purpose of the thesis is to record the content of the information shared by buyer to supplier in independent dyadic business relationships in the clothes manufacturing industry of Imbaba and Warrak, Great Cairo, Egypt. The objective is as well to describe how this sharing is managed in terms of communication frequency, order cycle time and information technology used. Methodology – A case study was performed on four companies in the clothes manufacturing industry of Imbaba and Warrak, Egypt. The empirical data was collected through six semi-structured interviews. The results were thereafter analyzed through a summarized framework. Findings - The content of shared information is mainly of traditional character, nevertheless do 50 % of the relationships as well include elements of additional soft information. When the information sharing is performed through regular communication do the frequency vary with an average of 0.43, once every 2.3 days. The order cycle times vary from delivery the same day as order placement to three days after order placement, with an average of 0.5 days. The information is shared through two different information technologies: face-to-face and telephone. Research implications – Imbaba and Warrak are considered one of the poorest districts in the Great Cairo region. The region has although seen great development the last 12-15 years and is today a main district for the industry of clothes manufacturing in Cairo. The role of information sharing yet appears to be poorly examined. Originality/value - Making the situation evident to the case companies will impact on their possibilities to make further improvements within the area of information sharing. Key words Information sharing, dependence, independence, dyad, content, frequency, order cycle time, information technologies. Paper type Bachelor Thesis

Inventory management and production control problem of a dealer operating in a decentralized spare parts network is analyzed in this dissertation. Spare parts network is assumed to be formed of two dealers and the problem of a dealer is considered under the assumption that the other dealer has a known policy. These dealers collaborate through inventory and service pooling. Furthermore, the dealers collaborate through sharing information on the net inventory status. Upon demand arrival, a dealer may request a part from the other dealer, in which case a payment is made. Under this competitive and collaborative environment, the optimal operating policy of an individual dealer is characterized under full information. Through computational analysis, the conditions under which the dealer under consideration is most profitable are identified. Finally, by comparing dierent pooling strategies and several information availability levels, the benefit of information sharing is quantified.

<p>In pace with a noticeably fiercer global competition and an increased customer awareness, today’s organizations are faced with vast requirements for higher productivity and stronger customerorientation. This transformation has denoted that human resources have become more and more accentuated, and a consensus has grown for the true power embraced within them. In Sweden, some few prominent leaders have distinguished themselves by being highly successful in reinforcing employee motivation, and their knowledge and experiences are priceless in the pursuit of utilizing the full potential of the workforce.</p><p>The purpose with this thesis is to study how ten of Sweden’s most successful and acknowledged leaders view and work with employee motivation and critically examine their standpoints. The purpose is furthermore to exemplify how other leaders can strengthen employee motivation through adapting these motivational suggestions.</p><p>Qualitative cross-sectional interviews were conducted for the empirical research, holding a hermeneutic and inductive research approach.</p><p>The respondent pool is comprised by both commercial leaders, as well as leaders from the world of sports. They range from being managers over purely service-focused organizations, to being founders of innovative product-producing organizations.</p><p>The major areas, which are touched upon are; general work motivation intrinsic/extrinsic motivation, communication, and lastly empowerment, responsibility and participation.</p><p>Four major areas influence employee motivation (The Society and Social Surroundings, The Organization and Business Environment, The Manager and The Employee). This is visualized in the “Four-Factor Model”.</p>

Background: In the past, enterprises had no recognition of information integration and operated as independent units within a chain. As a result, most of the firms throughout the supply chain faced inadequate information sharing, lack of collaboration, and absence of compatible IT infrastructure. Theses three elements play a crucial role in information integration that assists companies’ goal congruence. In a highly competitive market, companies from different industries take these three elements into consideration in order to synchronize their activities. Nowadays, transportation industry plays a crucial role in all developed countries in order to fulfill the customer’s needs and act as a connection between manufacturers and consumers. Intermodal freight transportation is one of the elements of transportation industry that includes two main players - freight company and terminal operator. In this respect, it is essential to review theoretical framework and explore the practice of information integration within intermodal freight transportation. Hence, this study carries an investigation on information integration in accordance with theoretical framework from the perspective of the dyad that includes a freight company and a terminal operator. Purpose: The research defines the level of information integration within intermodal freight transportation. A freight company and a terminal operator are the players studied in this research. Three elements of information integration, which are collaboration, information sharing, and IT implementation and adaptation, are investigated in order to identify the level of information integration. The main objective is to understand the information integration and its level within the industry from a dyadic perspective. Method: This research is conducted from a positivist scientific perspective along with qualitative research method and deductive approach. The authors conduct the embedded multiple-case study with a dyadic perspective. In this context, the freight companies and terminal operators are the studied players within this research. In order to gather the empirical data, semi- structured interviews are conducted via telephone and email. Empirical data is analyzed by utilizing two different methods, which are within-case and cross-case analysis. Furthermore, ethical issues are considered in this research, based upon trustworthiness and accuracy. Result and Conclusions: The conclusion of this research is based upon within and cross case analysis. Three studied dyads have shown the same result of medium level, while one dyad has demonstrated high level of information integration. In this regard, each dyad has been rated separately in accordance with the theoretical framework that provides scale with low, medium and high levels regarding collaboration, information sharing, and IT implementation and adaptation in order to find the level of information integration. From the dyadic perspective and with help of cross case analysis, the level of information integration regarding the whole research population is defined at medium level. It is remarkable that obtained results, in accordance with the theoretical framework, are different from the companies’ representatives’ perception of information integration.

In this work bullwhip effect in the supply chains was studied and reduction of the effect was analyzed. Simulation was done with Rockwell Arena software. Eight different models were created using two different bullwhip reduction schemes (batching removal and information sharing) with two different ordering distributions (normal and exponential distribution). Analyzed supply chain consisted of two groups of customers, two distributors, one manufacturer and two suppliers, producing different components for manufacturer. Information processing, lead and manufacturing times where stochastic values. Analysis is based on the mean value and standard deviation of orders and inventory level. Research showed, that most effective bullwhip reduction scheme is information sharing which let to reduce supplier’s inventory level up to 90%. Also effect reduction schemes are more effective when order variability is greater. This work is primary supply chain model. Therefore author offers to continue this work and do next analysis: to analyze other order distributions’ and other stochastic model variables influence to bullwhip reduction schemes, to analyze other supply chain structures, to do mathematical evaluation.

The use of Information Technology in construction is below best practice when compared to other industries. The construction industry is now, however, on the verge of widespread acceptance of internet technology and the communications benefits this can bring. Construction collaboration technology, where project teams use the internet as an interface for project communications, have emerged as a potentially valuable tool. Little research has been focused in this area, particularly on how this phenomenon is being experienced. The aim of this research is to develop a better understanding of the way people experience the use of the internet for information sharing on construction projects and the preliminary identification of the skills set (Knowledge, Skills and Abilities - KSAs) required for industry members to effectively participate. Phenomenography was selected as an appropriate research methodology to provide an empirical, representative and descriptive research approach and to provide a qualitative based study in a field dominated by quantitative studies. This is a 'second-order approach' which focuses on the experiences of the participants as described by them. A pilot and three major case studies were selected to identify research participants for interviews. A total of nineteen interviews were conducted and transcribed during 2003 in Australia, the United States of America and the United Kingdom, which formed the research data. A phenomenographic analysis was performed on the research data revealing seven 'categories of description' which describe the limited number of qualitatively different ways that the phenomenon is being experienced. A relationship exists between the different categories which can be structured in a logical framework called the outcome space. The preliminary identification of the skills set is then proposed from the research data and the phenomenographic outcomes to provide construction project participants and the industry a first pass on what Knowledge, Skills and Abilities (KSAs) may be required for effective participation.

Univ., Diss.--Münster, 2003. / Literaturverz. S. XI - XXXIV.

In the first chapter the author outlined the context of the study, the overview, terminology and the research aims, as well as research questions. The purpose of the study was to explore the management of change in schools of the Kavango region in Namibia. It aimed to determine the guidelines, factors that influence change, the role of the principals in managing change and strategies used to train school managers to cope with new demands and changes. The literature reviews, in Chapter 2, address the theories of change management. They further outline the role and successes of school principals in managing change. The literature revealed a lack of information-sharing and skill amongst staff members in general, and principals in particular. The description of the methodology in Chapter 3 addresses how the research questions were approached using purposeful sampling and semi-structured interviews as part of an interpretive approach. A thematic analysis of the data was undertaken from which important recurring concepts were derived. This process continued during data collection. The findings from the data analysis in terms of twelve themes (cf. 4.4) which were composed by grouping together related concepts are presented and described in Chapter 4. Findings showed that participating principals lack skills in managing change, but it appears that there is potential for improvement if they are trained to understand the management of change and leadership theories. A summary of the main findings of the study is found in Chapter 5, together with conclusions and recommendations. Limitations of the study and implications for future research are also addressed. An analysis of the study indicated that there is lack of support, monitoring and coordination of the management of change programmes at the regional level. Reference was made to leadership and management programmes such as the Education and Training Sector for Implementation Programme [ETSIP] initiated by the Ministry of Education [MoE] to assist principals. The findings suggest that programmes petered out because follow-up was limited. / Educational Studies / M. Ed. (Education Management)