Background: People with intellectual disabilities (ID) remain at high risk of developing type 2 diabetes (T2D) due to lifestyle associated risk factors such poor diets and low physical activity levels. Interventions have been adapted which target ongoing T2D self-management. However, there are no adapted programmes which prevent T2D through reducing risk factors. The present research project addresses this gap through a three-phase study on the existing literature, theoretical basis, and process evaluation of a T2D prevention programme. Methods: Phase 1: The literature reviews identified that the support needs of people with ID with T2D are currently not being met. Appropriate training needs to be delivered so that people with ID can self-manage or reduce the risk of T2D effectively. Given the early onset of T2D in people with ID and their often shorter lifespan, there is rationale for a preventative agenda in T2D education. Four potential mainstream intervention programmes were identified, and the self-efficacy model was found to be the most prevalent successfully implemented theoretical model. Phase 2: Nine sub-themes were identified following analysis of the data: 1) "Mastery through knowledge"; 2) "Mastery through tools and strategies"; 3) "Mastery through autonomy"; 4) "Influence of social setting"; 5) "Positive social comparisons"; 6) "Positive and negative self-statements"; 7) "Feedback from Caregivers"; 8) "Adjustment experiences"; 9) "Symptom awareness". These were mapped onto Bandura's (1977) Four Sources of efficacy enhancement model and were consistentwith its proposed mechanisms. The Four Sources model serves as a useful mode of enquiry for exploring people with ID's experiences and perceptions of self-managing diabetes. It also confirms the appropriateness of ssself-efficacy as a potential intervention component for this population. However, additional support may be required for people with ID to reflect meaningfully on their experiences and thus have a sense of self-efficacy. Phase3: 96% of invited students agreed to participate. The Walking Away programme was positively received, and some short-term impact was described, yet there were limitations to accessibility of the program due to the complexity of the language and materials. Suggestions for further adaptations regarding materials and content were provided, and there was perceived scope for a long-term implementation built into college curriculum. Results: Phase One: The literature reviews identified that the support needs of people with ID with T2D are currently not being met. Appropriate training needs to be delivered so that people with ID can self-manage or reduce the risk of T2D effectively. Given the early onset of T2D in people with ID and their often shorter lifespan, there is rationale for a preventative agenda in T2D education. Four potential mainstream intervention programmes were identified, and the self-efficacy model was found to be the most prevalent successfully implemented theoretical model. Phase Two: Nine sub-themes were identified following analysis of the data: 1) "Mastery through knowledge"; 2) "Mastery through tools and strategies"; 3) "Masterythrough autonomy"; 4) "Influence of social setting"; 5) "Positive social comparisons"; 6) "Positive and negative self-statements"; 7) "Feedback from Caregivers"; 8) "Adjustment experiences"; 9) "Symptom awareness". These were mapped onto Bandura's (1977) Four Sources of efficacy enhancement model and were consistent with its proposed mechanisms. The Four Sources model serves as a useful mode of enquiry for exploring people with ID's experiences and perceptions of self-managing diabetes. It also confirms the appropriateness of self-efficacy as a potential intervention component for this population. However, additional support may be required for people with ID to reflect meaningfully on their experiences and thus have a sense of self-efficacy. Phase Three: 96% of invited students agreed to participate. The Walking Away programme was positively received, and some short-term impact was described, yet there were limitations to accessibility of the program due to the complexity of the language and materials. Suggestions for further adaptations regarding materials and content were provided, and there was perceived scope for a long-term implementation built into college curriculum. Phase Three: 96% of invited students agreed to participate. The Walking Away programme was positively received, and some short-term impact was described, yet there were limitations to accessibility of the program due to the complexity of the language and materials. Suggestions for further adaptations regarding materials and content were provided, and there was perceived scope for a long-term implementation built into college curriculum. Conclusions: The findings provide basis for a further trial incorporating the suggested adaptations. A self-efficacy informed prevention programme was highly acceptability to students and teaching staff. Further education colleges provided a supportive setting and yielded a rich sample.

Information is a significant asset to organizations, and a data breach from a cyberattack harms reputations and may result in a massive financial loss. Many senior managers lack the competencies to implement an enterprise risk management system and align organizational resources such as people, processes, and technology to prevent cyberattacks on enterprise assets. The purpose of this Delphi study was to explore how the managerial competencies for information security and risk management senior managers help in managing security objectives and practices to mitigate security risks. The National Institute of Standards and Technology framework served as the foundation for this study. The sample was made up of 12 information security practitioners, information security experts, and managers responsible for the enterprise information security management. Participants were from Fortune 500 companies in the United States. Selection was based on their level of experience and knowledge of the topic being studied. Data were collected using a 3 round Delphi study of 12 experts in information security and risk management. Statistical analysis was performed on the collected data during a 3 round Delphi study. The mean, standard deviation, majority agreement, and ranges were used to determine the final concensus for this research study. Findings of this study included the need for managerial support, risk management strategies, and developling the managerial and technical talent to mitigate and respond to cyberattacks. Findings may result in a positive social change by providing information that helps managers to reduce the number of data breaches from cyberattacks, which benefits companies, employees, and customers.

This thesis deals with the importance of managing employees’ thoughts and feelings in relation to organisational learning. To visualise and to identify affections within organisations is of major importance since most of our actions and the decisions we make are steered by our emotions rather than rational thinking. In this work we show that employees’ thoughts and feelings can be managed by implementing the cognitive therapeutic process into the organisational setting. In comparison to the more traditional way of managing problems within organisations, i.e. the two activities of problem identification and problem solving, the cognitive therapeutic process also addresses the importance of identifying associated feelings and underlying automatic thoughts in relation to an occurrence or a situation. Consequently, the overall purpose of this thesis has been to develop an approach for improving the quality of organisational learning processes which should stimulate employees’ contribution and facilitate the identification of their thoughts and feelings in relation to their work. As a result, ‘The Affect Based Learning Matrix’ (TABLe MATRIX) was developed. TABLe MATRIX can be used either in a paper-based or in a Web-based format and identifies and analyses individuals’ affections in relation to an organisational occurrence or change, a subject or a problem. Our empirical investigations show that TABLe MATRIX contributes to improving the output of organisational learning processes since unspoken negative emotions make people passive in finding new solutions. TABLe MATRIX has been evaluated by interviewing thirteen operational development representatives within eight different branches and also by testing the paper-based version at two large organisations within retail fast moving consumer goods and within education.

Introduction: A trend for organisations to change from single to multiple project management has been observed over the last couple of decades. Organizations shifted their focus from single project management towards the simultaneous management of the whole set of projects as one entity – project portfolio. New multi-project settings require a new management approach and practices to successfully manage a portfolio. A common practice in organizations is to evaluate projects after they had been carried out. At that point not much can be done and it is impossible to improve performance and prevent failure. Hence, problems that occur in projects’ implementation phase remain unsolved and even unidentified. Constant control, review and monitoring of projects’ performance in the implementation phase could lead to the problematic portfolio areas being spotted and timely management decisions being made in order to improve the overall portfolio performance. Problem: How do organisations manage projects within a portfolio that perform poorly in the implementation phase? Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is: to describe to what extent and in what ways organizations control, review and monitor project performances in the implementation phase; to identify if organisations use any methods, tools or techniques in order to spot projects that perform poorly according to their expectations; and to discover what happens to the poorly performing projects in the implementation phase after they were identified. Method: An electronic qualitative questionnaire had been constructed and sent out to the 46 sampled Swedish companies currently running project portfolios. 115 most suitable respondents had been chosen to answer the survey. Frame of Reference: Theoretical framework is built on the literature within project portfolio management field, mostly concerning control, review and monitoring of projects of projects’ performance within their implementation phase; practices used to manage poorly performing projects as well as the value of organizational learning. Conclusion: The research results show that even though majority of the studied organizations are aware and striving towards efficient project portfolio control, review and monitoring, a lot of space for improvement still remains. Results reveal that organizations are trying to keep track of projects’ performance within a portfolio, however, very few poorly performing are identified. Moreover, the management practices for underperforming projects are still very limited if not non-existent.

<p><strong>Introduction: </strong>A trend for organisations to change from single to multiple project management has been observed over the last couple of decades. Organizations shifted their focus from single project management towards the simultaneous management of the whole set of projects as one entity – project portfolio. New multi-project settings require a new management approach and practices to successfully manage a portfolio. A common practice in organizations is to evaluate projects after they had been carried out. At that point not much can be done and it is impossible to improve performance and prevent failure. Hence, problems that occur in projects’ implementation phase remain unsolved and even unidentified. Constant control, review and monitoring of projects’ performance in the implementation phase could lead to the problematic portfolio areas being spotted and timely management decisions being made in order to improve the overall portfolio performance.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong>Problem: </strong>How do organisations manage projects within a portfolio that perform poorly in the implementation phase?</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong>Purpose: </strong>The purpose of this thesis is: to describe to what extent and in what ways organizations control, review and monitor project performances in the implementation phase; to identify if organisations use any methods, tools or techniques in order to spot projects that perform poorly according to their expectations; and to discover what happens to the poorly performing projects in the implementation phase after they were identified.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong>Method: </strong>An electronic qualitative questionnaire had been constructed and sent out to the 46 sampled Swedish companies currently running project portfolios. 115 most suitable respondents had been chosen to answer the survey.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong>Frame of Reference: </strong>Theoretical framework is built on the literature within project portfolio management field, mostly concerning control, review and monitoring of projects of projects’ performance within their implementation phase; practices used to manage poorly performing projects as well as the value of organizational learning.</p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>The research results show that even though majority of the studied organizations are aware and striving towards efficient project portfolio control, review and monitoring, a lot of space for improvement still remains. Results reveal that organizations are trying to keep track of projects’ performance within a portfolio, however, very few poorly performing are identified. Moreover, the management practices for underperforming projects are still very limited if not non-existent.</p>

This dissertation investigates how executives engage in information technology projects and how organizational control of IT projects forms and evolves over time. It contains an in-depth account of a large, multi-year IT project in a financial company. The story of the “New Deposit System” project provides insights into the dynamics of IT projects in organizations and the challenges facing executives engaging in the governance of these complex undertakings. Several characteristics of IT projects, such as their abstract nature, technological complexity and non-repetitiveness, render several of the manager’s trusted forms of control impracticable. Even the ideal of “strong top management support” is found to be problematic: it is an extraordinary measure unlikely to translate well into regular organizational practice. What we find instead are actors in search of means and ways to exercise influence. We find control to be reciprocal and dynamic, influenced by the organization and its history, by the principles and practices of corporate IT management and by the values and norms of the IT profession. In this environment, selection of key people, evolving trust, other people’s assessments and the construction and reshaping of a project image become important parts of the managerial repertoire for IT project governance. / Diss. Stockholm : Handelshögskolan, 2002

Due to the digitalization era and challenges faced by the healthcare sector, Medical Information Systems are now being extensively used at hospitals. The implementation of the systems is a complex task which entails a need for careful considerations from a managerial view, since the main purpose with implementing the systems is for managerial control. One of the things management should consider is the professional aspect. The nursing profession is a highly specific one, and this could implicate special considerations. The aim of this master’s thesis is to take on a sociotechnical approach towards the implementation of Medical Information Systems and investigate how the nursing profession is affecting the implementation process, and what it may implicate for hospital management. To answer the research question a qualitative approach has been chosen. The empirical data has been gathered through semi-structured interviews with nurses from the case organization. The result implies that the nursing profession have a substantial impact on the implementation process. Instead of embracing the instructions and support offered by management, the nurses develop their own way of working within the system.

Companies realize to stay competitive they have to introduce quality improvement programs. Many companies are challenged today with the sustainability of these quality improvement programs. Generally the understanding of the dynamic behaviour of quality improvement programs is poorly understood with soft issues as factors of the system. System dynamics may solve this problem. This research was focussed on operational management of operations. The organising framework of this research has been qualitative research where the research design was a polar type research design where the case studies focussed on initiatives that were dramatic success or failures, with the expectation that their comparison would help identify those processes that prevent competence enhancing change. A dynamic hypothesis has been constructed from archival data, semi-structured interviews and direct observations, gathered during these case studies. A system dynamics model for quality improvement programs in an automotive environment has been tested and expanded to be applicable for a heavy engineering manufacturing environment. The structure of the system dynamics model has been expanded to include a sustainability feedback loop which also included a management support model. The management support model included soft factors such as management support, management pressure and managerial effectiveness. The complete quality improvement program system dynamics simulation model with sustainability has been tested and validated against a real system data, for a heavy engineering manufacturing environment, gathered during the case studies. The model parameters were determined from a calibration algorithm, by using the Vensim® simulation platform, that fitted the real system behaviour the best. A sensitivity analysis has been done on the model parameters determining the information cues for the management decision policies. From the system dynamics model of the complete quality improvement program, including the sustainability feedback loop, proposed management decision policies have been studied that could lead to sustainable quality improvement programs for a heavy engineering manufacturing environment. From these simulation studies several management policies have been proposed. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / gm2013 / Graduate School of Technology Management / Unrestricted

Magister Commercii - MCom / This study aimed to assess employee’s responses with regard to the implementation of a new workplace improvement programme. The purpose of this research was to focus on the understanding that could be gained about employee’s responses to organisational change using qualitative research

This study develops an original theoretical model of critical managerially controllable factors that have high potential for achieving significant improvements in the (intermediate and ultimate) outcome(s) of product innovation efforts. To this end, the author draws on the relevant empirical literature and integrates four complementary theoretical perspectives, namely; the critical success factors (CSFs) approach, the resource-based view (RBV), the input-process-output (IPO) model, and the system(s) approach. The model (hereafter CFEMOs) aims to explicate the simultaneous direct and indirect/mediated interrelationships among the product innovation’s critical firm-based enablers (new-product fit-to-firm’s skills and resources, internal cross-functional integration, and top-management support), process execution proficiency, and performance outcomes (operation-level performance, product-level performance, and firm-level performance). Additionally, it aims to predict the variations of the process execution proficiency and the performance outcomes. The CFEMOs model was empirically tested using an online survey that was completed by 386 U.S. restaurants owners/senior executives on their recently innovated new menu-items. By utilising a partial least squares structural equation modelling, the statistical analysis substantiated that, compared to the models of the extant relevant empirical studies, the CFEMOs model has a broader scope and a superior predictive power. It simultaneously explains 72% of the process execution proficiency, 67% of the new menu-item superiority (quality, speed-to-market, and cost-efficiency), 76% of new menu-item performance (customer satisfaction, sales, and profits), and 75% of the new menu-item contribution to the overall restaurant performance (sales, profits, and market share). Furthermore, this study established that those restaurateurs who concurrently succeed in enhancing their internal cross-functional integration, top-management support, and new-product fit-to-firm’s skills and resources, descendingly ranked, would achieve high process execution proficiency, which subsequently would grant them superior operation-level performance, product-level performance, and firm-level performance. This thesis concludes by providing several key original contributions and crucial implications to product innovation research and practice, as well as offering several promising avenues for future research.