At the present time, characterised by increasing complexity of not just socio-economics systems, decision-making in positions of executive management is becoming increasingly difficult. Although more and more attention is dedicated to use of information and communication technologies in corporate sector and organizations collect unprecedented amount of very detailed data from all areas, their real nature is often not considered. Data, information and knowledge, through which we can achieve real understanding of causes of the observed systems behaviour, are necessary basis for ability for prediction of tomorrow's effects of today's decisions. This thesis aims to highlight the essence of data, information and knowledge in organization and the necessity of systemic perception for creating efficient and effective decisions. The second part of this thesis presents design of system-dynamic model (including user interface), which explains the mechanisms of health care volume accounting in medical facilities with more departments. The model should facilitate understanding of functioning of hospitals by the public, and respect of general nature of medical facilities functioning to create a base for robust model-oriented decision support system for the management.

In der vorliegenden Arbeit wird die Rolle grafischer Prototypen bei der Gestaltung von Mensch-Maschine-Systemen untersucht. Diese grafischen Modellierungen von Gestaltungsentwürfen sollten den Aufbau mentaler Repräsentationen fördern und somit die Lösung von Gestaltungsproblemen unterstützen. Diese Annahme wird in zwei Experimenten überprüft. Die Erkenntnisse werden in die Methode zur prospektiven Gestaltung von Mensch-Maschine-Systemen integriert und in einer Fallstudie auf ihre Praktikabilität untersucht. Damit leistet die Arbeit einen Beitrag zur Untersuchung der Rolle von Visualisierungen in der Gestaltung von Mensch-Maschine-Systemen. Gestaltung von Mensch-Maschine-Systemen wird als partizipativer Problemlöseprozess betrachtet, der der integrierten Gestaltung sozialer und technischer Komponenten von Mensch-Maschine-Systemen dient. Zur Unterstützung der Gestaltung wird der Einsatz von Prototypen, Modellierungen der Gestaltungsproblemen und -entwürfen, diskutiert. In aktuellen Methoden zur Gestaltung von Mensch-Maschine-Systemen kommen unterschiedliche Prototypen zur Unterstützung der Gestaltungsaktivitäten Entwerfen (Konstruktion von Prototypen) und Evaluation (Kommunikation durch die Elaboration von Prototypen) zum Einsatz. Sowohl die Konstruktion als auch die Elaboration von Prototypen sollte den Aufbau mentaler Repräsentationen fördern (Neyer, Doll & Moeslein, 2008; Sachse, Hacker & Leinert, 1999; Smith & Browne, 1993). Dieser Aufbau mentaler Repräsentationen stellt eine zentrale Funktion von Prototypen dar, da angemessene Repräsentationen des Gestaltungsgegenstands als Voraussetzung für gute Gestaltung und für die Evaluation durch Beteiligte angesehen werden (Eason, Harker & Olphert, 1996; Novick & Hmelo, 1994; Sachse & Hacker, 1997). Welche Form von Prototypen dafür besser geeignet ist, wurde bislang nicht empirisch geprüft. Die Hauptfragestellungen dieser Arbeit beziehen sich auf den Effekt der Konstruktion von Prototypen sowie die Effekte der Konstruktion und Elaboration grafischer im Vergleich zu narrativen Prototypen auf mentale Repräsentationen. Diesen Fragestellungen wird in zwei Experimenten und einer Fallstudie im Anwendungsbereich der Gestaltung von Mensch-Maschine-Systemen nachgegangen. In dem ersten Experiment wurde die Unterstützung der Entwurfsphase, d.h. der Aufbau mentaler Repräsentationen durch die Konstruktion von Prototypen untersucht. Probanden konstruierten grafische oder narrative Prototypen eines Mensch-Maschine-Systems (Experimentalgruppen) oder rezipierten Informationen zum Mensch- Maschine-System (Kontrollgruppe). Die Konstruktion von Prototypen führte zu besseren mentalen Repräsentationen des Problemraums. Die Form der Prototypen beeinflusste die Güte der mentalen Repräsentationen nicht, jedoch wurde die grafische Modellierungsnotation besser bewertet. Im zweiten Experiment wurde die Funktion von grafischen und narrativen Prototypen für die Kommunikation von Gestaltungsvisionen untersucht. Die Fragestellung war, wie sich die Elaboration grafischer oder narrativer Prototypen auf die mentalen Repräsentationen, die zur Elaboration benötigte Zeit sowie die Bewertung der Modellierungsnotation auswirkt. Mit grafischen Prototypen konnten in kürzerer Zeit mentale Repräsentationen des Problemraums aufgebaut werden, die mehr Elemente enthielten als die narrativer Prototypen. Zudem wurden grafische Prototypen erneut besser bewertet. Darüber hinaus wurde die Funktion grafischer Prototypen in einer Fallstudie erprobt. Die Methode zur prospektiven Gestaltung von Mensch-Maschine-Systemen (Hamborg, Schulze & Sendfeld, 2007) wurde in dieser Arbeit weiterentwickelt und zur Einführung von Standardsoftware eingesetzt. Grafische Prototypen kamen in Kombination mit Gestaltungsheuristiken sowohl in der Entwurfs- als auch der Evaluationsphase zum Einsatz. Es zeigte sich, dass die Methode durchführbar und praktikabel ist und die Gestaltung unterstützt. Grafische Prototypen wurden dabei als verständlich und nützlich bewertet. Zusammenfassend zeigen die Ergebnisse der Untersuchungen, dass grafische Prototypen das Entwerfen und die Kommunikation von Gestaltungsentwürfen unterstützen, indem sie zum Aufbau mentaler Repräsentationen des Problemraums beitragen. Der Einsatz grafischer Prototypen erlaubt es z.B., die Folgen von Technologie- Einführungen im Vorfeld berücksichtigen zu können. Damit hat diese Arbeit über den reinen Erkenntnisgewinn hinaus einen praktischen Nutzen bei der Verbesserung der methodischen Unterstützung der Gestaltung von Mensch-Maschine-Systemen. In weiteren Untersuchungen sollten die vermuteten Effekte von Prototyping auf die Gestaltungsgüte empirisch adressiert werden und die gewonnenen Erkenntnisse in quasiexperimentellen Studien repliziert werden.

In this thesis, the central interest is to better understand how participatory methods applied during participatory processes in natural resources management can serve as nuclei for social learning. Thereby, the main focus is on learning via interaction in groups. My approach begins with the aim of developing an analytical framework which reflects the main processes that are effective within participatory methods. The framework presents an analytical tool, including proposed methods to monitor and compare the results of participatory approaches with respect to social learning. Building upon this framework, I develop an agent-based model to simulate and explore group dynamics. This model is intended to support a theoretical exploration of whether or not and if so, at what stage, personal views of a problem evolve into a shared understanding of a problem (which can be seen as a key element of social learning), and an assessment of how individual mental models and group properties relate to each other. Results of the model are interpreted to offer suggestions about factors hindering or fostering social learning during the application of participatory methods.

As artificial intelligence becomes more widespread, the need forexplanations on how the technology actually works increases.Previous research in the area has mainly focused on studyingexplanations for technologists and domain experts. Moreover, theuser's need for information is rarely accounted for. The purpose ofthis study is to examine which information needs lay users have indealing with the systems that employ artificial intelligence thatsurround them in their daily lives. In order to achieve the purpose ofthe study, as well as building on results from previous research,Netflix was chosen as the object of study. A qualitative study usingsemi-structured interviews was conducted. The research materialwas later analyzed, using thematic analysis. The results show thatthe users’ mental model, and the lack of information from Netflix,affected the users’ information needs. All participants expressedthat the information provided by Netflix was insufficient and thatthey wanted more information. / I takt med at kunstig intelligens blir tatt i bruk av stadig fleresystemer, øker behovet for forklaringer om hvordan teknologienfungerer. Tidligere forskning innen området har hovedsakeligfokusert på å studere forklaringer for teknologer ogdomeneeksperter. Brukernes faktiske informasjonsbehov gjøressjelden rede for. Hensikten med denne studien er å undersøkeinformasjonsbehovet lekbrukere har i møte med de systemer somomgir dem i dagliglivet, som benytter seg av kunstig intelligens. Forå oppnå hensikten med studien, samt å ta hensyn til forslag fratidligere forskning, ble Netflix valgt som studieobjekt. Det blegjennomført en kvalitativ studie med semistrukturerte intervjuer.Materialet som ble samlet inn ble analysert ved hjelp av tematiskanalyse. Resultatet viser at brukerens mentale modell ogmanglende informasjon fra Netflix påvirket deresinformasjonsbehov. Alle deltakerne uttrykte at informasjonen fraNetflix var mangelfull, samt at de ønsket mer informasjon.

La presente tesi teorica propone il MOPC index per misurare quanto i manager abbiano generato una comunità multinazionale di gestione aperta di un generico processo considerando congiuntamente l’affiliazione, la connettività interna, la forza e la multinazionalità. A tal fine ho impiegato il SAOM-Behavior valutando la collaborazione internazionale di processo ed annessa propensione come variabili multiple i cui valori e co-evoluzione dipendono dalla co-influenza tra le collaborazioni internazionali fasiche, tra le medesime e le rispettive propensioni fasiche e tra queste ultime. L’intensità relazionale dipende dal modello mentale condiviso, generatosi a livello di team internazionale, su una certa fase del processo mentre la propensione è funzione dell’orientamento e dell’attitudine alla collaborazione internazionale fasica. Il MOPC index è stato applicato alla comunità multinazionale di innovazione aperta e di gestione aperta introducendo due indici teorici: MOIC index e MOMC index. Infine ho teorizzato la catena del valore del manager (MVC) impiegando il processo innovativo e gestionale; considerando le collaborazioni internazionali sui due processi con annesse propensioni, si ho analizzato la collaborazione internazionale sulla MVC, la relativa propensione e la loro co-evoluzione. Cosi facendo, ho introdotto il MMC index per misurare la comunità multinazionale manageriale e, mediante questo, la multinazionalizzazione d’impresa da una prospettiva relazionale manageriale. / This thesis presents the theoretical MOPC index to measure how much the managers generate a multinational open process community by considering the affiliation, the internal connectivity, the strenghtness and the multinationality. I employed the SAOM-Behavior by evaluating the international process collaboration and the respective propensity as multiple variables whose value and co-evolution depend on the co-influence between the international collaborations phasic, between the same and the respective propensities phasic and between them. The intensity of these relationships depends on the International phasic team mental model sharing (TMMS) while the propensity’s one depends on the orientation and the attitude. Then the MOPC index has been applied to measure the multinational open innovation community and the multinational open management community by introducing the MOIC index and the MOMC index. Finally, I introduced the managerial value chain (MVC) as composed of the innovative and the management process. By integrating the international collaborations related to the two processes and their propensities It’s possible to measure the international MVC collaboration, the correlated propensity and their co-evolution. In doing so, I introduced the MMC index to determine the multinational managerial community’s degree and use it to evaluate the firm’s multinationalization by a managerial relational perspective.

The Civil Air Navigation Services Organisation, the International Federation of Air Traffic Control Associations, the International Air Transport Association and the Civil Air Navigation Services Organisation agree that professionals in the Air Navigation Services Provider Sector require successful organisational leadership to facilitate and manage transformation within the highly regulated Air Navigation Services Provider Sector. Detailed organisational leadership requirements and associated leadership training and development needs are, however, not specified by the Civil Air Navigation Services Organisation. An opportunity therefore existed to investigate leadership traits and behaviours within a specific context. This research project is contextualised within a safety-conscious, highly regulated and technology-driven industry (the South African Aviation Industry), a safety-critical sector (Air Navigation Services) and specifically the Air Traffic and Navigation Services Company. It was found that little academic research has been done to address the role of followers in the leadership process and to determine what followers expect and require from their leaders. The research problem statement, in response to this research necessity, is: “How can follower experiences and expectations of leadership behaviours in a safety-critical commercial environment be collected, analysed, understood, structured and utilised to aid leadership development?” An ethnographic research case study approach allowed the researcher to investigate the multifarious phenomena that constitute the current views (experiences and expectations) held by followers with regard to leadership behaviour qualities. A mixed methods approach was followed. Data collection was facilitated by means of individual interviews, focus group interviews, field notes and a structured questionnaire. Qualitative data were inductively analysed to identify the recurring patterns and common themes and quantitative data were deductively analysed to assess the nature of existing conditions and relevance. Data and method triangulation was implemented to determine whether multiple sources of data agreed, and to obtain better, cross-checked insights. Findings from this research study provided academic, industry, process and methodology insights into views held by followers regarding leadership and followership constructs. Definitions and perspectives held and reported by followers regarding leaders and leadership, characteristics of preferred and undesired leadership styles, relational and emotional bonds between followers and their leaders acknowledged the presence, value and influence of follower mental models. In this case followers contextualised leadership roles and responsibilities and suggested a transformational leadership style as a desired state. Findings also emphasised a need to appreciate the importance of the social exchange and social contingency theories of leadership in order to create a better understanding of leadership by emphasising the importance of context when studying leaders and leadership from a follower perspective. Obtained follower insights resulted in a structured leadership training and development needs analysis process framed within the specific context. Future research efforts in this regard may be aimed at determining the necessity to educate followers to critically appreciate and evaluate leadership performance and creating a better understanding of how followers’ mental models internally represent complex, dynamic systems and how these representations change over time. / Business Management / DBL

The Civil Air Navigation Services Organisation, the International Federation of Air Traffic Control Associations, the International Air Transport Association and the Civil Air Navigation Services Organisation agree that professionals in the Air Navigation Services Provider Sector require successful organisational leadership to facilitate and manage transformation within the highly regulated Air Navigation Services Provider Sector. Detailed organisational leadership requirements and associated leadership training and development needs are, however, not specified by the Civil Air Navigation Services Organisation. An opportunity therefore existed to investigate leadership traits and behaviours within a specific context. This research project is contextualised within a safety-conscious, highly regulated and technology-driven industry (the South African Aviation Industry), a safety-critical sector (Air Navigation Services) and specifically the Air Traffic and Navigation Services Company. It was found that little academic research has been done to address the role of followers in the leadership process and to determine what followers expect and require from their leaders. The research problem statement, in response to this research necessity, is: “How can follower experiences and expectations of leadership behaviours in a safety-critical commercial environment be collected, analysed, understood, structured and utilised to aid leadership development?” An ethnographic research case study approach allowed the researcher to investigate the multifarious phenomena that constitute the current views (experiences and expectations) held by followers with regard to leadership behaviour qualities. A mixed methods approach was followed. Data collection was facilitated by means of individual interviews, focus group interviews, field notes and a structured questionnaire. Qualitative data were inductively analysed to identify the recurring patterns and common themes and quantitative data were deductively analysed to assess the nature of existing conditions and relevance. Data and method triangulation was implemented to determine whether multiple sources of data agreed, and to obtain better, cross-checked insights. Findings from this research study provided academic, industry, process and methodology insights into views held by followers regarding leadership and followership constructs. Definitions and perspectives held and reported by followers regarding leaders and leadership, characteristics of preferred and undesired leadership styles, relational and emotional bonds between followers and their leaders acknowledged the presence, value and influence of follower mental models. In this case followers contextualised leadership roles and responsibilities and suggested a transformational leadership style as a desired state. Findings also emphasised a need to appreciate the importance of the social exchange and social contingency theories of leadership in order to create a better understanding of leadership by emphasising the importance of context when studying leaders and leadership from a follower perspective. Obtained follower insights resulted in a structured leadership training and development needs analysis process framed within the specific context. Future research efforts in this regard may be aimed at determining the necessity to educate followers to critically appreciate and evaluate leadership performance and creating a better understanding of how followers’ mental models internally represent complex, dynamic systems and how these representations change over time. / Business Management / DBL

Die Thematik der Strategieberatung in kleinen und mittleren Unternehmen (KMU) hat in der Managementforschung bisher wenig Beachtung gefunden und dies obwohl jenem Forschungsfeld hohe Relevanz attestiert wird. Die vorliegende Arbeit adressiert genau dieses Forschungsdesiderat. Im Rahmen einer explorativen, qualitativ-empirischen Studie wird beleuchtet, inwieweit KMU-Geschäftsführer (KMU-GF) Unternehmensberatung zur strategischen Unternehmensführung in Anspruch nehmen, ob diesbezüglich unterschiedliche Typen existieren und wodurch sich die entsprechenden Verhaltensweisen der KMU-GF begründen. Für die Analyse, weshalb KMU-GF Strategieberatung nutzen bzw. nicht nutzen, wird eine sozio-kognitive Perspektive eingenommen, die kognitive Strukturen sowie kognitive Prozesse als Auslöser von Verhalten untersucht und dabei auch die Rolle von Kontextfaktoren berücksichtigt. Ergänzend werden Einblicke in die Denk- und Verhaltensweisen von KMU-GF hinsichtlich der Themen Unternehmensberatung allgemein und strategische Unternehmensführung geboten.

Att köpa ekologiskt är ingen ny företeelse, men i takt med att både e-handel och efterfrågan på ekologiska varor konstant ökar så behövs det stöd för designers för att kunna möta dessa utmaningar. För att kunna designa e-handelswebbsidor med ekologiska valmöjligheter krävs förståelse för användaren och dess behov. Genomatt kartlägga målinriktade beteenden går det att påvisa när en användare är mottaglig för ett ekologiskt val på en e-handelswebbsida. En mental modell byggs utifrån användares målinriktade beteende och denna kan användas som stöd av designers för att förstå när en användare är mer mottaglig för ekologiska val på en e-handelswebbsida. Denna studie resulterar i en identifiering och kartläggning över när en användare är mer öppen för ekologiska val. / Buying ecologically not a new phenomenon, but as to both e-commerce and the demand for organic products is constantly increasing, so support is required for designers to meet these challenges. In order to design e-commerce websites with ecological options requires an understanding of the user and their needs. By mapping the targeted behaviors you can detect when a user is susceptible to an ecological choice for an e-commerce website. A mental model is built based onuser's targeted behavior, and this can be used to support the designers to understand when a user is more susceptible to ecological choices on an e-commercewebsite. This study results in the identification and mapping of when a user is more open to ecological choices.

For effective Human-Robot Interactions, robots have to achieve the same level of understanding as humans in every aspect. Humans are highly versatile, able to switch between frames of reference and consider multiple perspectives efficiently. Additionally, humans help and care for each other in the hope of contributing to a better society. When we talk about interacting with robots, the uncertainty around how to collaborate with them has become an emerging topic in the past few years. To bring social robots into humans’ lives, researchers need to understand the conditions and implications of robots’ actions on human responses and perceptions of robots. This project aims at understanding the link between a robot taking a human’s perspective and the human’s exhibition of prosocial behaviour toward the robot. To test our hypotheses, we have designed an activity where the participant picks an object from an array of objects in front of them, after listening to the robot’s descriptions of that object. Divided into three between-subject conditions, the robot took different perspectives to address the objects in each condition. After completing the tasks, participants could either help the robot collect speech data or move on with filling the final questionnaire and finishing the experiment. Our findings show that the participants were significantly more likely to help the robot when the robot took their perspective (human-centred) compared to both the control condition (object-centred) and when the robot did not take their perspective (robot-centred). Additionally, the results show that when the robot’s descriptions of an object were ambiguous, in the first instruction, 96% of the participants perceived the robot’s first instruction using an egocentric perspective. However, when the robot made such ambiguous instructions again later, participants perceived the instructions based on the mental model developed about the robot for that condition. / Robotar måste, i alla avseenden, uppnå samma nivå av förståelse som människor, i syfte till att skapa ett effektivt samspel. Människor är versatila, kan växla mellan olika referensramar och beakta flera perspektiv på ett effektivt sätt. Dessutom hjälper dem och även tar hand om varandra i hopp om att bidra till ett bättre samhälle. När man talar om att interagera med robotar har osäkerheten kring samarbetet blivit ett framväxande ämne under de senaste åren. För att få in sociala robotar i människors liv måste forskarna förstå förutsättningar för och konsekvenser av robotars handlingar gentemot människors reaktioner och uppfattningar om dem. Detta projekt syftar därför till att förstå kopplingen mellan en robot som intar en människas perspektiv samt människans uppvisande av prosocialt beteende gentemot roboten. För att testa hypotesen har en aktivitet designats där en robot ger instruktioner till en deltagare att välja ett visst föremål som den beskriver, utifrån en rad med olika objekt. Med tanke på att deltagarna endast tilldelas ett villkor av tre möjliga, tog roboten olika perspektiv för att adressera objektet i varje betingelse. Efter den slutförda uppgiften kunde deltagarna antingen hjälpa roboten att samla in tal-data eller gå vidare med att fylla i ett sista frågeformulär och avsluta experimentet. Resultatet visar på att deltagarna var mer benägna att hjälpa roboten när den tog deras perspektiv (människokoncentrerad) i jämförelse med både kontrollvillkoren (objektcentrerad) och när roboten inte tog deras perspektiv (robotcentrerad). Dessutom visar även resultatet att robotens beskrivning av ett objekt var tvetydliga. I den första instruktionen upplevde 96% av deltagarna att robotens instruktion hade ett egocentriskt perspektiv. När roboten gjorde ytterligare sådana tvetydliga instruktioner, När roboten gjorde ytterligare sådana tvetydliga instruktioner, uppfattades instruktionerna däremot utifrån den mentala modellen som utvecklades om roboten för just det villkoret.