Effectuée dans le cadre d'une maîtrise en gestion, cette étude vise à pourvoir le Conseil régional de la santé et des services sociaux (CRSSSAT) d'un système d'aide à l'allocation des budgets en actifs immobilisés, lesquels sont destinés aux établissements de santé et des services sociaux de la région de l'Abitibi-Témiscamingue. L'étude aborde en premier des sujets tels le processus décisionnel, les notions d'équité et de besoin ainsi que les systèmes d'information de gestion. L'essentiel émergeant de cette prémisse affirme que ces notions représentent des concepts abstraits dont l'appréciation est subtile et que toute décision à leur égard ne peut être prise que suivant une rationalité limitée. Considérant ces aspects et la complexité organisationnelle en cours, une approche de contingence de type opérationnel fut alors retenue afin de pouvoir franchir les diverses phases de la conception d'un modèle approprié et d'actualisation d'un système pertinent qui est, en l'occurrence, un système informatisé d'aide à la décision. La méthodologie choisie pour l'élaboration du modèle est la méthode de hiérarchie multicritère comprenant une technique de comparaison analytique. Cette technique permet de formuler des appréciations en alliant la pensée logique à l'intuition des individus par l'utilisation d'une échelle de mesure et d'une matrice de comparaisons binaires. L'évolution du construit est provoquée principalement par l'analyse de l'appréciation des critères effectuée par les décideurs en comparaison avec les résultats d'appréciation de deux groupes témoins. La finalité de ce processus est un modèle de priorisation des projets comportant vingt-trois critères quantifiés regroupés sous cinq dimensions également quantifiées. L'expérimentation du modèle fut effectuée sur des projets authentiques à l'aide d'un support informatisé configuré dans cette étude et de ce fait, considéré comme un système interactif d'aide à la décision. Les simulations effectuées avec ce système et surtout l'analyse des extrants mènent à l'ajout d'un module complémentaire pour tenir compte de la priorisation locale déterminée par les établissements. La mise en oeuvre du système dans l'organisation est assurée par la convergence du modèle de priorisation régionale et du module de priorisation locale, ainsi que par l'intromission d'une règle de plafonnement au niveau du financement qu'un établissement peut se voir accordé, par la flexibilité du système qui permet des modifications et surtout, par la participation intéressée des membres décideurs présents à toutes les phases importantes de cette recherche-intervention.

We study a two-stage stochastic facility location problem in the context of disaster response network design. The uncertainty inherent in disaster occurrence and impact is captured by defining scenarios to reflect a large spectrum of possible occurrences. In the first stage (pre-event response), planners should decide on locating a set of facilities in strategic regions. In the second stage (post-event response), some of these facilities are to be activated to respond to demand in the disaster affected region. The second-stage decisions depend on disaster occurrence and impact which are highly uncertain. To model this uncertainty, a large number of scenarios are defined to reflect a large spectrum of possible occurrences. In this case, facility activation and demand allocation decisions are made under each scenario. The aim is to minimize the total cost of locating facilities in the first stage plus the expected cost of facility activation and demand allocation under all scenarios in the second stage while satisfying demand subject to facility and arc capacities. We propose a mixed integer programming model with binary facility location variables in the first stage and binary facility activation variables and fractional demand allocation variables in the second stage. We propose two Lagrangian relaxations and several valid cuts to improve the bounds. We experiment with aggregated, disaggregated and hybrid implementations in calculating the Lagrangian bound and develop several Lagrangian heuristics. We perform extensive numerical testing to investigate the effect of valid cuts and disaggregation and to compare the relaxations. The second relaxation proved to provide a tight bound as well as high quality feasible solutions.

<p>The aim of this thesis is to provide a better understanding of how the knowledge creation process can be used to add value to the management of knowledge in a South African organization. This thesis describes, explores and explains how knowledge is created within an organization, how the organization can use it to add value to its current business practices and how a knowledge management methodology that is aligned with the systems thinking principle, can be used to manage the knowledge creation process.</p>

Thesis (DBA(DoctorateofBusinessAdministration))--University of South Australia, 2007.

This research portfolio consists of three linked research papers aiming to show that knowledge management initiatives can play an important role in achieving practical outcomes and enhancing the competitive advantage of business enterprises. Research paper 1: Knowledge management literature review. Research paper 2: A multiple case study of knowledge management practices in Thai software development companies. Research paper 3: Implications of business outcomes and knowledge sharing behaviours for the Thai software business. / Thesis (DBA(DoctorateofBusinessAdministration))--University of South Australia, 2006.

This thesis will highlight leadership styles applied by project manager in different situations. In order to have a comprehensive understanding of the leadership style, the thesis will review some of the well known leadership theories including traits theory, behaviour theory and contingency theory etc. In addition, the concept of project management and project manager as well as project success are mentioned in the thesis. Issues will be identified at the end of literature review and they will be the focus in the following chapters. / Based on the information gathered from the literature review, case study and questionnaire survey are conducted to further investigation. Three cases related to construction and IT industries have been selected and they will be analysed to examine the situations matched with appropriate leadership style. Furthermore, project manager and his team members' roles will be identified in each case. Questionnaire survey has 50 questions that are designed to identify the respondent's opinions to project manager's roles, traits and their leadership style etc. / The findings of the research will be concluded in the last chapter. These findings show that project manager can not use a single leadership style in all situations. Therefore, project manager needs to clarify the surrounding and choose an appropriate style that will help him to achieve an effective environment in which project team members and other stakeholders can contribute their knowledge and skills to project success. Recommendations for the further investigation will also be put forward at the end of this chapter. / Thesis (MProjectManagement)--University of South Australia, 2006.

A professional status for project management will enable it to provide a better service to society. Project management is recognised as a discipline and embraced by many practitioners as an occupation. However, it is still not fully recognised as a profession due to some barriers that hinder its maturation as a profession. Judging by a sociological analysis of professions, occupation reach professional status by fully satisfying approaches of 'process' and 'characteristics'. / The endeavour to professionalise project management is an international effort. The process to achieve professional status and the characteristics of professions follows universal principles. Therefore, the literature review draws on information from the global context whilst the questionnaire survey focuses on Australia. / Outcomes of the literature review have been supported and enlarged by the questionnaire survey findings. The main barriers that hinder the maturation of project management as a profession are the following: firstly, weaknesses in knowledge base and philosophical principles; secondly, lack of project management competency at individual and organisational levels; thirdly, lack of project management courses at university levels; fourthly, lack of solid professional standards; fifthly, lack of project management culture in business organisations; sixthly, misuse of the title 'project manager' in the work environment; and seventhly and finally, frailness in professional culture and weak sense of community among practitioners. These barriers interact with and influence each other, thereby creating more barriers. / Project management is in the process of maturation as a profession. However, for project management to achieve this, it will mainly rely on the competency of practitioners and professional organisations to overcome the mentioned barriers. There is also the inherent factor of maturation: that is, time to achieve it. / Thesis (MProjectManagement)--University of South Australia, 2004.

Paper one provides a historical perspective of how the concept of knowledge moved out from the realms of philosophy into the world of commerce where it is regarded as a strategic asset, thereby motivating attempts at developing frameworks for managing it. / Paper two describes an exploratory survey on the knowledge management (KM) practices of MSC-status companies. These are companies that have registered with the Multimedia Development Corporation (MDC), which is a one stop government agency established to promote the development of the Malaysian Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC). Amongst others, MSC-status companies must be in knowledge-based businesses such as education, biotechnology, software design, and multimedia content development. Pending the establishment of their operations in the MSC, some MSC-status companies still operate from outside of the MSC, including overseas. MSC-status companies include some of Malaysia's and the world's leading knowledge-based companies. / Paper three describes an exploratory study to investigate the nature of informal knowledge sharing amongst MSC-status companies. Other research indicates that a key attraction for firms to locate in clusters such as California's Silicon Valley seems to be the opportunity for getting valuable information about the industry and the competition by just being in the cluster. The research investigated what informal channels MSC companies normally tap into for obtaining free unintended information exchange about their environment; in conjunction with this, the nature of industry knowledge that gets exchanged informally through such channels were explored. The research also investigated whether there are differences in the way firms tap into their knowledge milieu, depending on whether they operate from inside or outside of the MSC cluster. / Thesis (DoctorateofBusinessAdministration))--University of South Australia, 2004.

This doctoral study used the Path-Goal Theory (House 1971, House & Dessler 1974, House & Mitchell 1974) to examine the relationships between the managerial leadership styles and subordinate job satisfaction and job performance in Sibu Municipal Council (or SMC in short), a municipal council in Sarawak, Malaysia. The moderating effects of task structure on these relationships were also examined. The four path-goal leadership styles studied were: directive, supportive, participative and achievement-oriented leadership styles. The self-administered questionnaire survey gathered a response rate of about 88% out of the total staff strength of about 260 people in the SMC. / The order of the levels of leadership styles, as perceived by both the SMC managers and their subordinates, from the lowest to the highest, was supportive, directive, participative to achievement-oriented leadership styles. The SMC managers perceived themselves to exhibit a higher level of each of the leadership styles than that perceived by their subordinates. / The subordinates reported a relatively high level of job satisfaction, and the study showed that this satisfaction was derived only from the participative leadership style of the managers. Directive, supportive and achievement-oriented leadership styles did not have significant relationships with job satisfaction. / The level of job performance was also found to be relatively high. Supportive leadership style was tested to have significant negative influence on job performance while achievement-oriented leadership style was found to have significant positive influence. Directive and participative leadership styles were found to have no relationship with job performance. / The level of task structure was found to be relatively high. The level was found to be lower than normal for a study in Taiwan (Chang 1999) but higher than the US norm. Task structure was tested to have no significant moderating effect on the influence of participative leadership style on job satisfaction. It had significant moderating effect of the influence of supportive leadership style on job performance but no significant moderating effect on the influence of achievement oriented leadership style. A sub-group analysis showed that the moderating effect of task structure was greater for subordinates with relatively less experience than those with relatively more experience. / An important outcome of this study is the finding that the research instruments show reliability for research in a non-Western setting. Overall, the results of the study show some support for the Path-Goal Theory. / Thesis (DoctorateofBusinessAdministration))--University of South Australia, 2005.

Thesis (DBA(DoctorateofBusinessAdministration))--University of South Australia, 2004.