<div>My dissertation consists of three chapters in the field of managerial economics and experimental economics. The first chapter studies the ratchet effect and the possible ways to mitigate it. Specifically, I conduct a controlled experiment to test the effectiveness of job rotation in eliminating the ratchet effect. Additionally, I compare effort provision between the situation where agents are rotated exogenously and the situation where the principal rotates agents endogenously. The experiment shows that the ratchet effect is effectively reduced both when workers are informed that they will be rotated in the future and when a principal has a costly option of rotating agents.</div><div> </div><div><br></div><div>The second and third chapter are based on joint work with Prof. Yaroslav Rosokha. In the second chapter, we study a single-queue system in which human servers have discretion over the effort with which to process orders that arrive stochastically. We show theoretically that the efficient outcome in the form of high effort can be sustained in the subgame perfect equilibrium if the interactions are long term (even when each server has a short-term incentive to free ride). In addition, we show that queue visibility plays an important role in the type of strategies that can sustain high-effort equilibrium. In particular, we show that limiting feedback about the current state of the queue is beneficial if servers are patient enough. We conduct a controlled lab experiment to test the theoretical predictions and find that when the queue is visible, human subjects cooperate if the queue is long, but defect if the queue is short. We also find that cooperation is hard to achieve when the queue is not visible. </div><div><br></div><div>In the third chapter, we report another lab experiment to test the theory developed in the second chapter. In the new experiment, we provide a more natural queueing frame for the subjects rather than the neutral language used in the second chapter. We also increase the number of matches in each treatment. We find that effort increases with the expected duration of the interaction. We also find that visibility has a strong impact on the strategies that human subjects use to provide effort. As a result, providing less visibility makes servers more willing to provide high effort if they are patient enough.</div>

Currently, many companies face the problem of IT employee exhaustion. Reports state that network and software engineers feel exhausted due to an elevated workload resulting from the increased demand for digitalization during the COVID-19 pandemic caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV2. Moreover, remote work has been associated with a loss of motivation and boredom among some employees. Job rotation is a management technique widely used to increase motivation and expand the skillset of employees. While studies investigating the effects of job rotation on the working conditions of IT employees exist, these date back to the period before the pandemic. This thesis aims to investigate the potential of using job rotation with several network and software engineers during the COVID-19 pandemic in the European and North American markets. In other terms, this master thesis is a case study that investigates the specific community of these 44 software and network engineers. Therefore, I collected data in the form of responses of software and network engineers in interviews and a survey, for qualitative and quantitative research respectively. This study provides important insights and forms a base for the further investigation of the potential of job rotation for the maintenance of sustainable working conditions for IT employees during a global crisis such as the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond. The case study shows how job rotation may promote social sustainability. / För närvarande möter många företag problemet med utmattning av IT -anställda. Rapporter säger att nätverks- och programvaruutvecklare känner sig utmattade på grund av en ökad arbetsbelastning till följd av den ökade efterfrågan på digitalisering under COVID-19-pandemin orsakad av coronaviruset SARS-CoV2. Dessutom har distansarbete förknippats med förlust av motivation och tristess bland vissa anställda. Jobbrotation är en ledningsteknik som används i stor utsträckning för att öka motivationen och utöka de anställdas kompetens. Medan studier som undersöker effekterna av arbetsrotation på IT -anställdas arbetsförhållanden finns, går dessa tillbaka till perioden före pandemin. Denna avhandling syftar till att undersöka potentialen för att använda jobbrotation med ett antal nätverksingenjör och programvaruutvecklare under COVID-19-pandemin på de europeiska och nordamerikanska marknaderna. Med andra ord är detta examensarbete en fallstudie som undersöker den specifika gemenskapen hos dessa 44 programvaruutvecklare och nätverksingenjörer. Därför samlade jag in data i form av svar från programvaruutvecklare och nätverksingenjörer i intervjuer och en undersökning, för kvalitativ respektive kvantitativ forskning. Denna studie ger viktiga insikter och utgör en grund för den fortsatta undersökningen av potentialen för jobbrotation för att upprätthålla hållbara arbetsförhållanden för IT-anställda under en global kris som COVID-19-pandemin. Fallstudien visar hur jobbrotation kan stödja social hållbarhet.

<p>Repetitive and monotonous work is frequently associated with neck and shoulder pain and negative psychosocial factors inducing stress reactions. The present thesis concerns the relations between psychophysiological and subjective stress reactions, muscle activity measured by surface electromyography (SEMG) in the trapezius muscle, and neck and shoulder pain in women performing repetitive and monotonous work. In Study I cardiovascular and subjective stress reactions were investigated during computer work in a laboratory setting. The findings indicated that heart rate variability is a more sensitive and selective measure of mental stress compared with blood pressure recordings. Study II explored the relations between stress reactions and muscle activity during supermarket work. The results showed that perceived negative stress reactions may have a specific influence on muscle activity in the neck and shoulder region, which can be of importance for work-related musculoskeletal disorders in repetitive and monotonous work. In Study III the association between SEMG activity patterns and neck and shoulder pain was investigated during cash register work. It was found that pain-afflicted women had a different muscle activation pattern (more static, more co-contraction, less muscle rest) compared with pain-free women. Study IV was a follow-up study evaluating the introduction of job rotation among female cashiers. The results indicated positive effects on diastolic blood pressure, muscle activity, and partly on neck and shoulder pain, although perceived stress was unchanged. It was concluded that job rotation seems to have a limited effect on chronic neck and shoulder pain, but may be an effective preventive measure. The empirical findings are particularly relevant for women who, compared with men, more often perform repetitive and monotonous work and are also more often affected by neck and shoulder pain.</p>

La rotación laboral en las empresas del sector Microfinanzas en Arequipa, ha generado interés especial, la rotación en el Área de Negocios, específicamente el puesto de Analistas de Créditos, porque ocasionan un impacto directo en la pérdida de fidelización de los clientes; a la vez genera distintos efectos en las siguientes áreas de la empresa: en el área de talento humano se generan costos de reclutamiento, capacitación e Impacto en el clima laboral; En el Área de negocios, reducción de la cartera de créditos, pérdida de clientes, incremento de la cartera atrasada, retraso en el cumplimiento de metas y reducción de la rentabilidad La rotación se da entre Bancos (especializados en Microfinanzas), Financieras, Cajas Municipales, Cajas Rurales, Edpymes y Cooperativas, esta rotación genera principalmente tres efectos: (1) pérdida de clientes, por compras de deuda; (2) disminución del nivel de exclusividad, los clientes empiezan a tener crédito con otras entidades; (3) Sobrendeudamiento, incrementan su monto de crédito, manteniendo su capacidad de pago El presente trabajo de investigación se basara en un enfoque cualitativo, encontrando que la rotación en el área de negocios en el puesto de Analista de créditos, en el sector de Microfinanzas en la provincia de Arequipa, es causada por tipo personal y Organizacional; Este problema hace necesario identificar las razones de la rotación y poder proponer soluciones, y lograr disminuir la rotación del puesto de Analista de créditos, esto permitirá que se atenúe la perdida de fidelidad de los clientes. Por lo anterior, este trabajo de investigación revisara literatura de Administración de Recursos Humanos, Artículos y estudios sobre la rotación de Personal, que permitan encontrar propuestas de solución adecuadas a este problema. / Job rotation in companies in the Microfinance sector in Arequipa has generated special interest, turnover in the Business Area, specifically the position of Credit Analysts, because they have a direct impact on the loss of customer loyalty; At the same time, it generates different effects in the following areas of the company: in the area of human talent, recruitment, training and Impact costs are generated in the work environment; In the Business area, reduction of the loan portfolio, loss of clients, increase of the overdue portfolio, delay in the achievement of goals and reduction of profitability The rotation occurs between Banks (specialized in Microfinance), Financial, Municipal Savings Banks, Rural Savings Banks, Edpymes and Cooperatives, this rotation generates mainly three effects: (1) loss of clients, due to debt purchases; (2) decrease in the level of exclusivity, customers begin to have credit with other entities; (3) Over-indebtedness, increase your credit amount, maintaining your ability to pay The present research work will be based on a qualitative approach, finding that the rotation in the business area in the position of Credit Analyst, in the microfinance sector in the province of Arequipa, is caused by personal and Organizational type; This problem makes it necessary to identify the reasons for the rotation and be able to propose solutions, and to reduce the turnover of the Credit Analyst position, this will allow the loyalty loss of the clients to be mitigated. Therefore, this research work will review literature on Human Resources Management, Articles and studies on Staff turnover, which will allow finding suitable solutions to this problem. / Trabajo de investigación

Repetitive and monotonous work is frequently associated with neck and shoulder pain and negative psychosocial factors inducing stress reactions. The present thesis concerns the relations between psychophysiological and subjective stress reactions, muscle activity measured by surface electromyography (SEMG) in the trapezius muscle, and neck and shoulder pain in women performing repetitive and monotonous work. In Study I cardiovascular and subjective stress reactions were investigated during computer work in a laboratory setting. The findings indicated that heart rate variability is a more sensitive and selective measure of mental stress compared with blood pressure recordings. Study II explored the relations between stress reactions and muscle activity during supermarket work. The results showed that perceived negative stress reactions may have a specific influence on muscle activity in the neck and shoulder region, which can be of importance for work-related musculoskeletal disorders in repetitive and monotonous work. In Study III the association between SEMG activity patterns and neck and shoulder pain was investigated during cash register work. It was found that pain-afflicted women had a different muscle activation pattern (more static, more co-contraction, less muscle rest) compared with pain-free women. Study IV was a follow-up study evaluating the introduction of job rotation among female cashiers. The results indicated positive effects on diastolic blood pressure, muscle activity, and partly on neck and shoulder pain, although perceived stress was unchanged. It was concluded that job rotation seems to have a limited effect on chronic neck and shoulder pain, but may be an effective preventive measure. The empirical findings are particularly relevant for women who, compared with men, more often perform repetitive and monotonous work and are also more often affected by neck and shoulder pain.

Denna studie görs inom det arbetslivspedagogiska fältet och behandlar arbetsrotation på ICA-butiker. Syftet är att undersöka hur arbetsrotation sker hos medarbetare inom olika ICA-butiker och vilken betydelse det får för lärandet. Lärandet som undersöks är hur individer kan tillgodogöra sig yrkeskunskap utifrån de läroprocesser och lärandesituationer som uppstår i samband med arbetsrotation. De teoretiska verktyg som används grundar sig i Ellströms feed-forward och feed-back faser, de tre regleringsnivåerna av lärande samt en teori om subjektiva och objektiva handlingsutrymmen. Studien använder sig även av Börnfelts teori om en formell och informell organisation. Den metod som använts är kvalitativ och grundar sig i öppna intervjuer med åtta anställda från ICA-butiker med olika butiksformat, med det syftar vi till ICAs butiksformat; Nära, Supermarket, Kvantum och Maxi. Intervjuerna har transkriberats och analyserats ner till fyra olika teman; Arbetets innehåll, Avvikande situationer, Formellt Medarbetarskap och Informella Relationer. Resultatet visar att om anställda roterar mellan avdelningar eller ställs inför utmaning öppnar det upp individers handlingsutrymme, vilket leder till feed-forward faser som i sig genererar lärosituationer där anställda kan lära sig på en begreppslig- och intellektuell nivå. I flertal butiker bestämmer den formella organisationen det objektiva handlingsutrymmet men studien visar att den informella organisationen kan skapa sitt eget objektiva handlingsutrymme. Detta ställer visserligen krav på att det förekommer ett subjektivt handlingsutrymme i form av kunskap eller erfarenhet. I de butiker där ett tydligt objektivt handlingsutrymme ges tenderar anställda att hjälpa varandra inom och över avdelningar i högre utsträckning. I studien konstateras också att arbetsrotation gynnas av kollegiala relationer. Resultatet av studien kan användas för att vidare studera arbetsrotationens inverkan på lärande. Studien kan med fördel användas av yrkesverksamma inom ICA-butiker i syfte att få ökad förståelse för vilka konsekvenser som kan förbindas med införandet av arbetsrotation. / This paper examines job-rotation in ICA-stores within the pedagogy of working life. The purpose of this study is to determine how job-rotation works in ICA-stores and its relevance to learning from a employee perspective. The area of learning that we are investigating is how individuals assimilate knowledge from their professions through learning processes and situations during a job-rotation. The theoretical tools used in this study are based on Ellströms views on the feed-forward and feed-back phases, on Ellströms three levels of learning to conceptualise the act of learning, and finally on the theory of the subjective and objective spaces of action in regards to the learning situation. The paper mentions Börnfelts theories of formal and informal organisation as well. We used a qualitative method based on open interviews with eight employees from different ICA-stores, varied in both location and size. All interviews have been transcribed and analysed into four themes: The Content of the Work, Daily Obstacles/everyday situation, Formal Teamwork, and Informal Relations. The results of these interviews show that if employees rotate between departments, so called “revolving work tasks,” or face challenges within their own work tasks, the individuals acting space is opened up. This results in feed-forward and feed-back phases, which in turn generate the learning situations where the employees can learn on a conceptual and intellectual level. In several stores, the formal organisation creates an objective space of action for the employees, but the study shows that an informal organisation can also create their own objective space of action. If this is going to happen, employees must acquire a subjective space of action in the form of knowledge or experience. In a store with a clear objective space of action, employees tend to help each other more within and over departments. The study also states that a good relation between coworkers facilitates job-rotation. The results of the study can be used as a basis for further study of the way job-rotation affects learning. The study lends itself well to be used by people now working at ICA-stores, in order to get a better understanding of the consequences that can be connected to the introduction of job-rotation.

The aim of the research was to look at the motivations behind white-collar crime and, by means of the insights gained, allow businesses to achieve a better understanding of these motivations and the possible loopholes that exist with respect to white-collar crime. Empowered which such knowledge, businesses fraud mitigation polices and approaches are enhanced; which contribute towards sustained operations and increased shareholder value by reduce losses. Face-to-face interviews were held with 29 white-collar offenders imprisoned at the Johannesburg Medium Correctional Centre in Gauteng, South African. Data was collected from these interviews and grouped into themes that related to the research questions. An action plan was formulated to assist business in their fight to eliminate and reduce the impact of commercial crime. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

Cette thèse porte sur la planification du personnel en accordant une attention particulière à l'aspect humain et aux facteurs ergonomiques dans le domaine de la production. Un certain nombre de modèles mathématiques sont présentés pour formuler les problèmes d'ordonnancement et de planification du personnel étudié. Concernant les modèles de planification, la productivité du système de fabrication et le bien-être des travailleurs sont ciblés. De cette manière, une méthode d'affectation des travailleurs est présentée pour réduire le temps de production et une méthode d'ordonnancement pour la rotation des tâches est présentée afin d’équilibrer la charge de travail des opérateurs. À cet effet, une analyse ergonomique est effectuée sur les postes de travail du système de production étudié. Cette analyse aboutit à l'évaluation des postes du travail suivant la convention dite des feux de circulation, c'est-à-dire que les postes sont classés dans les niveaux de charge faible, moyen et élevé qui sont représentés respectivement par les couleurs verte, jaune et rouge. Une approche mathématique est développée pour convertir ces résultats en valeurs numériques, car les paramètres quantitatifs sont plus applicables pour l'optimisation de la planification. Une programmation multi-objectifs est proposée pour optimiser les deux objectifs mentionnés du problème d'ordonnancement de tournée du personnel étudié. Les méthodes d'agrégation linéaire et de ε-contrainte sont appliquées pour résoudre ce modèle d'optimisation. En outre, cette thèse présente une nouvelle variante du problème d'affectation appelé problème d'affectation généralisée par séquence qui est défini pour la planification du personnel dans un système combiné constitué des postes de travail en série et en parallèle. Il est prouvé que ce problème d'optimisation combinatoire est NP-difficile et les méthodes exactes ne sont pas capables de résoudre les instances de grande taille. Ainsi, trois méthodes approchées composées de deux approches matheuristiques et une heuristique hybride sont développées pour résoudre ce problème. Les méthodes matheuristiques sont basées sur la décomposition de la formulation pour simplifier le modèle principal en deux ou plusieurs modèles plus petits. La troisième méthode est une heuristique gloutonne combinée à une recherche locale. En outre, dans la dernière étape de cette thèse, la planification des ressources humaines pour un système de soins à domicile est formulée mathématiquement. Selon la structure du système, une intégration des problèmes d'affectation et de tournées de véhicules est présentée. Enfin, une approche matheuristique en trois étapes est proposée pour résoudre ce problème d'optimisation combinatoire. / This thesis concerns the human resource planning by paying a special attention to the human aspect and ergonomic factors in the manufacturing domain. A number of mathematical models are presented to formulate the studied workforce scheduling and planning problems. In the planning models, the productivity of the manufacturing system and the well-being of the workers are targeted. In this way, a worker assignment approach is presented to reduce the production time and a job rotation scheduling approach is presented to balance the workloads on the operators. For this purpose, an ergonomic analysis is carried out on the jobs of the studied production system. This analysis results in the traffic light evaluation for the jobs, i.e., the jobs are categorized into the low, medium and high workload levels which are presented respectively by the green, yellow and red colors. A mathematical approach is developed to convert these outputs to the numerical values, because the quantitative parameters are more applicable for the optimization of the planning. A multi-objective programming is proposed to optimize two mentioned objectives of the studied workforce scheduling problem. Both linear aggregation and epsilon-constraint methods are applied to solve this optimization model. Furthermore, this thesis presents a novel variant of the assignment problem called sequencing generalized assignment problem which is defined for workforce scheduling in a combined system consisting of the jobs in series and in parallel. It is proved that this combinatorial optimization problem is NP-hard and the exact methods are not able to solve the large-scale instances. Hence, three approximate methods consisting of two matheuristic and a hybrid heuristic approaches are developed to solve it. The matheuristic methods are based on the decomposition of the formulation to break down and simplify the main model into two or more smaller models. The third method is a greedy heuristic combined with a local search. The efficiency of the three mentioned methods is evaluated by various instances of different sizes. Moreover, in the last step of this thesis, the human resource planning for a home healthcare system is formulated mathematically. According to the structure of the system, an integration of the worker assignment and vehicle routing problems is presented. Finally, a three-steps matheuristic approach is proposed to solve this combinatorial optimization problem.

This thesis focuses on problems related with new graduates at the „Department of New Employees Training“ of TŘINECKÉ ŽELEZÁRNY joint stock Company. The work evaluates to what extent the participants are satisfied with the training period, work of each mentor assigned to them and how they are involved in solving concreate tasks. Later suggestions are made on what measures should be taken to improve the program, for future participants to be satisfied.

The transition from apartheid to democracy in South Africa, which began in 1994 led to a change in a plethora of policies and/or legislation. In recent years there has been much debate on how the standard of education provisioning in schools could be raised in the light of the introduction of the much debated Revised National Curriculum Statement (RNCS) and thereafter the National Curriculum Statement (NCS). These reform initiatives have brought about confusion and a sense of unsettledness amongst educators, including principals as well as their School Management Teams. Furthermore, the abovementioned and other policies required educators to acquaint themselves with either the materials that are used or the content of the curriculum and the planning and presentation of lessons. This entails in some occasions that educators who are more experienced have to assist the less experienced ones since they understand the RNCS and more recently the NCS better than the others. According to me this emphasises the importance of educator development towards raising the standards in schools. Continuous Professional Development (CPD) is a process that fits the role of an educator as a lifelong learner. The aforementioned is captured in the Norms and Standards for Educators (2000). The need for more attention to be accorded to the professional development of practising educators is emphasised in the Report of the Ministerial Committee on Teacher Education (2005). This report led to the development of the National Policy Framework for Teacher Education and Development which has as its aim to attempt to address the need for suitably qualified educators in South Africa. The National Policy Framework for Teacher Education and Development will be used in this study along with the Integrated Quality Management Systems (IQMS) as tools to achieve the continuous development of educators in South African schools. The Personnel Administration Measures (PAM) of 1999 are also used since they stipulate the roles and responsibilities of the educator, including those of the principal, deputy principal(s) as well as the heads of department. In particular it stipulates that the principal (Department of Education, 1999:10) is responsible for the development of staff training programmes, school-based, school-focused and externally directed, and to assist educators, particularly new and inexperienced educators, in developing and achieving educational objectives in accordance with the needs of the school. This research project deals with the challenges experienced by educators regarding their own Continued Professional Development (CPD). It thus aims at coming up with an empirical account of the challenges experienced by the said educators. The study will focus on, among others, the educators’ experiences in the implementation of the IQMS as a developmental tool for educators in schools. It looks at the roles that different staff members in senior positions in terms of the CPD of the educators. These include the developmental opportunities available in the sampled schools. Carefully selected and drafted interview questions assisted me in soliciting answers from the sampled educators. / Dissertation (MEd)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Education Management and Policy Studies / unrestricted