Abstract Due to the advanced development of information technology, society groups generated from internet have been in shear progress. Not only can this phenomenon establish a bridge of emotional connection, it can also provide health information and medical knowledge. Moreover, it certainly can be influential on health policy conducted by governments. Among the present medical society groups, PatientsLikeMe.com (PLM) developed an innovative business model. It built up a platform which allows patients share their own medical history. Through sharing medical history, the patients are able to discover someone else who has similar symptoms and then help to improve clinical outcome. This website may collect patients¡¦ information under patients¡¦ permission. After being clearly filed and analyzed, the data may be sold to medical companies or co-operated institutions for improving clinical therapy. This model has been evaluated by an American consulting institution on business model -- ¡§Board of Innovation¡¨ --as the ¡§Top 10 shocking Business Model of 2010¡¨.Additionally, this model is recognized as a specific research model that may permanently change the methodology of medical research.(J Gospel Net December 2nd,2010) With a view to evaluating the function of websites on helping breast cancer patients to overcome depression and helplessness on diseases, in this study, we would like to introduce the concept of PLM internet society groups. After two interviews on breast cancer patients, we found that the patients are desperately looking for information while the diagnosis is firstly confirmed. These patients are thereby paying deep sympathy to the ones who are also in the same shoes. Under this condition, the patients are willing to share their experience anonymously. At the same time, they only want to solve the problems that already come to the door rather than prepare in advance. Consequently, all the information is collected from the surroundings and lack of proved quality. Therefore, it is important to avoid the fear brought by the overloaded information. From this research, we concluded that (1) during treatment, the breast cancer patients can receive professional assistance and sharing experience from PLM or similar function/ service on websites. (2)Through internet technology, it is possible to provide a platform that surpasses the limitation of both time and space and allows patients to share their personal experience and medical history. (3) PLM system opens a window that allows physicians or nurses to answer patient¡¦s question in one-to-one manner. It is also possible for patients to share their knowledge and some tips that may not be mentioned by medical professionals. However, we also notice that most patients still have problems on using internet society groups because of time limitation, incapability of typing and being unfamiliar on internet skills etc. This research concludes that internet society groups are unlikely to fulfill the requirement of breast cancer patients. Key Word¡GPatientsLikeMe.com (PLM), Case Manager, Social Networking.

Facility managers use various cost models and techniques to estimate the cost of renovating a building and to secure the required funds needed for building renovation. A literature search indicates that these techniques offer both advantages and disadvantages that need to be studied and analyzed. Descriptive statistical methods and qualitative analysis are employed to identify and compare techniques used by facility managers to calculate the expected renovation costs of a building. The cost models presently used to predict the cost and accumulate the budget required for renovation of a building were determined through interviews with ten Texas-based university facilities managers. The data and information gathered were analyzed and compared. Analysis of results suggests that traditional methods like Floor Area Method (FAM) is the most accurate, less time consuming, easy to use as well as convenient for data collection. Case-Based Reasoning (CBR), though not as widely used as FAM, is known to facilities managers. This is due to the fact that, if a new type of project needs to be renovated, and the data for a similar project is not available with the facilities manager, a completely new database needs to be created. This issue can be resolved by creating a common forum where data for all types of project could be made available for the facilities managers. Methods such as regression analysis and neural networks are known to give more accurate results. However, of the ten interviewees, only one was aware of these new models but did not use them as they would be helpful for very large projects and they would need expertise. Thus such models should be simplified to not only give accurate results in less time but also be easy to use. These results may allow us to discuss changes needed within the various cost models.

Practice in the sales profession and current competency research indicate salesperson competence is key to organizational competitive advantage. With models of selling evolving to respond to the marketplace, there are changes in the competency requirements and roles people must play for future success, resulting in the emergence of new kinds of sales professionals. While there has been research in the area of entry-level salesperson competency, there is a gap in the literature regarding sales manager competence. Despite potential for sales managers to influence salesperson performance in the evolving sales models, research focusing on sales manager selection, development, and performance is limited. The purpose of this research was to synthesize sales manager competency perceptions, propose an inventory of competencies for frontline sales managers (FLSMs) in for-profit organizations that can assist in improving individual, team, and organizational performance, and generate recommended uses of the competency model that could serve as a guide for human resources initiatives to increase levels of sales force effectiveness. The Delphi technique was the chosen research method for this study, with an expert panel of 35 nominated Chief Sales Officers (CSOs) and FLSMs. Through a threeround electronic questionnaire series, the panel reached consensus on 34 competencies in eight clusters in the following three categories considered essential for exemplary performance by FLSMs: team effectiveness, personal effectiveness, execution and results. All numerical data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Spearman's rank order correlation coefficient was used to determine the degree of agreement among respondents, and the constant comparative method of data analysis was used to synthesize panelist's input. The findings of this study resulted in the following conclusions: Exemplary performance in FLSMs requires competence in developing and sustaining inter- and intrapersonal skills excellence as compared to the functional selling skills required for high individual contributor performance; There was agreement in how CSOs and FLSMs perceive competency importance; There was strong disagreement in how CSOs and FLSMs perceive FLSM competence; Both groups report they would use the FLSM Competency Model as a coaching tool; FLSMs noted the primary use of the competency model would be to benchmark their skills.

In this dissertation, we focus on what the core competencies the manager should have before they take the international assignment and what kind of assessment process and development path they should go through to become a international manager. We interviewed several current international managers in the DaimlerChrysler Group and get their input and also interviewed the HR in the head office to get the clear pictures of the international manager developing program.

Interview is the most frequently-used method of selection in present enterprises. In order to select suitable employees, there will be at least two phases of interviews in which both of line managers and hr specialists are interviewers. There is no existing literature discussing about the differences between their behaviors during interviews. This study is mainly focused on those differences between interview questions asked by line managers and hr specialists in a cooperative interview. Besides, this study also analyses relevant factors which have impacts on effectiveness of interviews and corporation. This study uses dyadic questionnaires to collect empirical data and the author selects both line managers and hr specialists to answer the dyadic questionnaires. To increase validity of data, there is a limitation on the process of sample selection. Only those line managers from manufacture department or business divisions which are the major profit resource in enterprises can answer the questionnaires. 180 dyadic questionnaires were sent, and 114 valid questionnaires were responded. The valid response rate was 63.33%. Using independent-sample T test, one-way ANOVA and two-way ANOVA, the results are shown as below, 1.The effectiveness of interviews is irrelevant to interview training, interview period and interview check list. 2.There is no difference between interview questions asked by line managers and hr specialists. 3.There is no significant influence on interview questions between line managers and hr specialists by interview training, interviewer¡¦s interview experience and method of interview cooperation. 4.The effectiveness of cooperation is not influenced by interview training and interviewers¡¦ interview experiences either.

There are more and more foreign investments getting into Mainland China. China has a very big market with 12 billion people. The economics grows very fast in China, and it gathers so much fortune. Many corporations in Taiwan are also stretching their business development into Mainland China because those business people do believe they have advantages than other foreign investments such as the similar identification of language, culture, and working values. However, those corporations do not hire many local employees as middle or higher-level managers while they are really doing business in China. Actually, they found that employees do have different working values and thoughts which make corporations have to adapt their human resource policies. This study tries to identify if the local employees in China have good management competency, which is qualified to be the middle-level managers. This study is also trying to find out what kind of training programs are capable to help managers get different management competencies. The results of the study indicate that¡G 1. Leading skills and professional working skills are the most important management competency for the local middle-level managers in China. 2. The personal characteristics will influence Taiwanese managers to identify management competency of local middle-level managers in China, such as the level of education, serving department, position-level and industry-type. 3. Training methods for each management competency are listed in the context. The results are practical and hopefully are useful for corporations to refer to. This study has identified the important management competency of local middle-level mangers in China. However, the samples of this study did not cover various types of industries and gather from every political district in China. The following research is recommended to have more samples from different industries and get more samples from different political districts in China in order to deeply analyze the management competency of local employees in China.

¡@¡@More and more organisations are increasing the demand of Information Technology (IT) project owing to the rapid technological development in nowadays business environment. With the high growth of IT project, it can cause heavy work-overload for IT Managers, which often resulted in reduction of work productivity. In reality, a considerable number of tasks in organisation are operating by projects. These require more project managers to control. Unfortunately, industry analysis reveals that qualified IT project managers have not increased relatively. Many managers have experience in participation or leading in project management, which portrays those managers have reached a certain extent of competences of project management. It is possible that organisations can select qualified IT managers from those non-IT background managers. ¡@¡@The study will use the theory of focus groups by interviewing some managers, who have the experience in IT project management, to identify the essential competences requirements of a non-IT project manager as being an IT project leader. Meanwhile, analyze the top three competences for IT project managers that usually mentioned by scholars so as to understand the critical impact asnd relationship for the non-IT project managers as leading IT project. ¡@¡@The final conclusion and contribution of this study are as follows: 1. A non-IT project manager should have the "30 competences" in leading the IT related environment. 2. "Communication, planning and control," not only are the basic competences, but also "the most important competences". If the non-IT project manager is lacking these three competences, he is not qualified to be an IT project manager. 3. Compare to an IT project manager, a non-IT project manager is lacking the knowledge and skills within the IT environment. One of the most important aspects is tool capacity, followed by the "IT based knowledge" 4. A non-IT project manager needs a strong ¡§communication skills" to help him strengthen the "planning capacity" and to overcome the inadequate "control capabilities".

<p>Författare:</p><p>Lars Jennfors</p><p>Titel:</p><p>Sport Managers, Vad gör de? - En studie kring de arbetsuppgifter som innehas och de kvalifikationer som krävs för att arbeta som sport manager</p><p>Innehåll:</p><p>Sport Management är ett förhållandevis outforskat område i Sverige. Därmed är det inte alldeles självklart vilka personer som har ett arbete som kan kallas sport manager. Definitionerna som därmed blir av central roll i studien är idrottssektorn, idrottsorganisationer och sport manager. Att ta del av dessa definitioner är viktigt för att kunna ta till sig av det resultat som framkommit.</p><p>Syftet med undersökningen är att ta reda på vilka kvalifikationer som krävs på idrottens arbetsmarknad inom yrket sport manager, samt vad en sport manager har för arbetsuppgifter. Detta utforskas genom två skilda men samtidigt kompletterande delstudier.</p><p>Detta leder till följande två frågeställningar:</p><p>• Vilka kvalifikationer efterfrågas hos den jobbsökande och vilka arbetsuppgifter anger idrottsorganisationerna att den jobbsökande kommer att få i sin managertjänst?</p><p>• Vilka arbetsuppgifter och kvalifikationer krävs i det vardagliga arbetet för de personer som har managertjänster inom idrottssektorn?</p><p>I delstudie ett har 25 jobbannonser undersökts för att ta reda på vad idrottsorganisationer betonar gällande arbetsuppgifter och kvalifikationer. I delstudie två har intervjuer gjorts med tio sport managers för att få deras bild av vilka arbetsuppgifter man har och vilka kvalifikationer som behövs.</p><p>Resultatet från delstudie ett visar att man som sport manager framförallt jobbar med/behöver kvalifikationer inom följande femton områden: planering och organisering, leda, erfarenhet, kunskap kring idrottssektorn, ansvar, personalhantering, ekonomi, utbildning, utveckla, projekt, intresse/engagemang, samarbetsförmåga, kontakter externt, initiativrik och kunna kommunicera.</p><p>Resultatet från delstudie två visar att man som sport manager framförallt jobbar med/behöver kvalifikationer inom följande tio områden: ekonomi, personalhantering, externa kontakter, projekt, utveckling, överblick över alla delar, leda, kunskap kring idrottssektorn, utbildning och erfarenhet.</p><p>Ingenting från de två studierna motsäger varandra. Båda studierna visar att som sport managers anses det viktigare att ha kunskap kring idrottssektorn än att ha en formell akademisk utbildning. Samtidigt framhävs just generalistkunskapen för sport managers, dock i olika stor omfattning beroende på vilken chefsposition som besitts. Vissa sport managers kan dessutom behöva specifik kunskap inom något område.</p>

Le principal apport de cette thèse est de contribuer à la compréhension d’une dimension de la professionnalisation du dirigeant de santé, l’activité. Une bonne partie de la formation des dirigeants peut reposer sur une analyse, par eux-mêmes, de leurs propres activités en situation.Cette recherche est un apport de la Formation des Adultes pour les Sciences de Gestion : comprendre l’activité de qualification, activité faite par les dirigeants dans leur quotidien de travail.Les activités de qualification des dirigeants sont des activités discursives et sociales. À travers l’activité de qualification l’environnement professionnel se trouve modifié ou reconstitué. Pour atteindre les objectifs de l’organisation, le dirigeant cherche à influencer autrui, ses collaborateurs, au travers des «jugements de valeur » qu’il formule. L’activité de qualification du dirigeant de santé est comprise à partir d’une entrée complémentaire de celle de la Théorie Managériale. Elle est comprise du point de vue microsocial, spécifiquement de la Théorie de l’Activité et de la Théorie Cognitive de l’Apprentissage. Elle s’appuie méthodologiquement sur la courante théorique de la pragmatique discursive, dans une démarche de la pragmatique du discours, c’est-à-dire, sur des observations détaillées du terrain de ce que les dirigeants disons en interaction avec leurs collaborateurs, dans un contexte, taille et type d'organisations déterminés : l’hôpital de la ville de Curicó ou Chili.Nous avons conclu que les activités de qualification sont des requalifications pour les autres. C’est une façon de prendre le pouvoir sur l'environnement du travail et une appropriation dudit environnement pour la proposer aux autres, en permettant au dirigeant de construire « d’apprentissage interprétatif ».Les activités de qualification sont comprises comme des «propositions explicites» faite par le dirigeant, qui a l’intension d’influencer et d’agir sur la construction du sens d’autrui, avec trois fonctions dominant, en rapport avec : la réduction de l’incertitude, la préservation de l’image de l’organisation et de soi et l’enjeu de pouvoir. / The main contribution of this thesis is to enrich the understanding of an aspect in the professionalization of health managers, the activity. Much of the leadership training can be based on an analysis, made by themselves, about their own working situations. This research is a contribution from Adult Education to Management Science: understanding the qualifying activities undertaken by leaders in their daily work. Qualification activities undertaken by leaders are social and discursive activities. Through the qualifying activity, the working context is modified or reconstructed. To achieve the objectives of the organization, the leader seeks to influence others, the employees, through the "value judgments" that he expresses.The qualifying activity of health managers is understood from an additional matter from that of managerial theories. It ranges from the micro perspective, specifically according to the Activity Theory and Cognitive Learning Theory of Learning. It draws methodologically on the discursive pragmatic theory trend in an ethnomethodological approach. That is to say, on detailed observations of the context including what the leaders say in interaction with their colleagues in a specific context, as well as the size and the type of organizations identified: the hospital in the city of Curicó or Chile. We concluded that the qualifying activities are re-qualifications for others. It is a way to take power on the working environment and the ownership of that environment to propose it to others, allowing the manager to build an "interpretive learning."Qualifying activities are understood as "explicit proposals" made by the manager, who intends to influence and to act on the construction of meaning of others, with three dominant functions in relation to: the reduction of uncertainty, the preservation of the image of the organization and of the actors and the issue of power.

In my dissertation, I experimentally examine whether and how the reporting model a firm uses to guide its corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosures can influence managers’ capital allocation decisions. Chapter 1 provides an overview of my research question, why this research question is important, what I predict I will find, and the main results of my experiment. In Chapter 2, I briefly review the CSR literature generally and in accounting specifically, touching particularly on what has catalyzed the recent growth in CSR disclosure, how it influences behavior, and the emerging role of CSR reporting models as well as differences among these models. Two key features that differ among available reporting models are the intended users of the disclosures (e.g., capital providers or all stakeholders) and the disclosure location (e.g., MD&A or Sustainability Report). In Chapter 3, I draw upon research in social psychology on the social contingency model to hypothesize that differences in the intended users and the disclosure location jointly influence the extent to which managers’ capital allocations are weighted toward financial versus social benefits. I also hypothesize that this influence is mediated by how accountable managers feel for financial and social performance. Chapter 4 outlines the experimental design and method I use to test my hypotheses. The results of my experiment and related statistical analyses are reported in Chapters 5 and 6, in which I find support for my predictions across two different participant populations I use as proxies for managers. Specifically, I find that participants allocate capital to social benefits across all conditions, but that their overall allocations are largely driven by financial considerations. That is, they weight financial benefits more heavily than social benefits. However, when the reporting model disconnects CSR disclosure from a more traditional financial reporting setting (i.e., when the CSR disclosures are made to all stakeholders in a Sustainability Report), participants’ weight on financial benefits is reduced. In addition, I find that these results are driven by changes in perceived accountability for both financial and social performance. I also find evidence that the influence of the CSR disclosure location is contingent on whether the disclosure audience’s preferences are perceived to uniformly favor financial benefits. Chapter 7 concludes and reiterates the important implications of my dissertation. Namely, the results of my study help inform standard setters, regulators, stakeholders, and managers about the consequences of alternative CSR reporting models and highlight the potential effects of CSR disclosure standards on stakeholder welfare.