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This study argues that ideological rather than material constraints are the major obstacles that limit full female participation in the Saudi Arabian labour force and hinder Saudi working women from combining their double roles as mothers and paid workers. As a developing country, Saudi Arabia is facing multiple problems. One of these challenges is the great shortage of human resources. In 1984/85, 59.8 per cent of the labour force in Saudi society was foreign. Female participation in waged employment is very low with only 5.1 per cent of women of working age participating in the labour force. This ethnography focuses especially on working mothers in Riyadh and is based principally on intensive interviews with fifty women holding posts in the full range of women's occupations in Saudi Arabia. After two general ethnographic chapters which outline Saudi women's lifestyle in the pre-oil and the modern periods, this thesis considers in detail women's activities in their paid employment and domestic roles. Special attention is given to Saudi ideologies which restrict women's participation in the labour force, in particular Saudi conceptions of male and female relations. One of the main arguments is that Islam in itself is not responsible for women's limited participation in the labour force, rather it is the interpretation of Islam which is heavily affected by socio-political factors in Saudi society. Many studies of working women in Western countries concentrate on the phenomenon of the "double day" that working women face when they undertake a paid job in addition to their domestic responsibilities. According to this view, material constraints constitute the major problem of working women. Authors arguing from this view point assume that the availability of domestic replacements would solve the major problems experienced by these working women. The present thesis argues that material constraints are not the main problem of working women in Riyadh. The influx of wealth has enabled many families to employ domestic help but, nevertheless, many working women still suffer from their conflicting double roles. According to Saudi cultural beliefs, nature determines the sexual division of labour. Women are assumed to be mothers and housewives, and men are assumed to be the breadwinners of their families. The concept of a woman's "career" does not exist in Saudi society. A women's career is her home and children. There are three types of cultural and attitudinal factors that challenge Saudi working women. Firstly, there is women's conception of themselves. Women always locate themselves within the dominant culture which is greatly affected by male representations. Secondly, people's attitudes towards women's work play an important role In helping or hindering women to combine their double roles. Finally, there is the issue of husbands' support for their working wives. Because Saudi Arabia is a male-dominated society, husbands play an especially significant role in their wives' lives. They can be a great source of support and help, or they can be a source of frustration.

I Sverige ses alkohol som socialt accepterat under såväl vardag som högtid, både jul och konferensresa skålas in med öl och brännvin. Dock går det inte att frångå det faktum att över 300 000 av landets invånare lider av ett alkoholberoende, vilket gör det till en av våra största folkhälsosjukdomar. En sjukdom som ofta inte syns, men förekommer framförallt på våra arbetsplatser. På arbetsplatsen ligger yttersta ansvaret hos cheferna; deras förmåga att upptäcka och agera när tecknen väl syns hos individen. Dessa tecken är inte alltid enkla att se vilket framgick i denna studie. Studiens syfte var att skapa förståelse för chefers upplevelser och erfarenheter av att hantera anställda med alkoholproblematik samt att utröna vad som påverkar chefers agerande när de ställs inför denna situation. För att uppfylla syftet genomfördes en kvalitativ, hermeneutisk intervjustudie. Deltagare i studien var chefer med erfarenhet av alkoholproblematik samt ledande aktörer inom alkoholarbete i näringslivet. Studiens huvudsakliga slutsatser är att alkohol är ett svårhanterligt ämne för chefer, grundat i rädslor och kunskapsbrist. Det framkom även att chefer upplever en svår balansgång mellan medmänsklighet och arbetsgivaransvar samt lagkrav.

Thesis (M.S.)--Rutgers University, 2007. / "Graduate Program in Industrial Relations and Human Resources." Includes bibliographical references (p. 56-64).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Rutgers University, 2008. / "Graduate Program in Industrial Relations and Human Resources." Includes bibliographical references (p. 228-235).

Although the Internet has become a global medium, which companies use to access individuals worldwide, it is argued in this thesis that cultural issues still need to be taken into account when designing Web sites. In fact, international marketers agree that culture in terms of consumers‘ values and beliefs remains a significant constraint for reaching international consumers. Professional analysts and designers generally agree that well-designed user interfaces improve the performance and appeal of the Web and help in reaching large numbers of consumers across cultures. Therefore, one way of improving the user-interface is by paying attention to users' culture, which means developing culturally adapted Web sites. The Web localisation literature addresses the users' ultural concerns by utilising some of the popular cultural models like those of Hofstede and Hall; however these tools are not appropriate for handling the cultural values affecting the online behaviour of consumers. Effective Web localisation can be achieved through an appropriate cultural framework that incorporates the cultural values that affect the online behaviour of consumers. This thesis introduces the electronic cultural adaption framework or E-CAF, as a structure for adapting local Web interfaces. The E-CAF, constructed for the travel domain, uses six cultural dimensions derived from the observation of behaviour and identifies unique cultural variables that affect online consumer behaviour. The E-CAF is constructed using grounded theory methodology and is then evaluated as a tool for adapting local Web interfaces. This includes discussing the applicability of the E-CAF as a tool for identifying online marketing strategies suitable for targeting consumers across cultures and using the E-CAF to assess and evaluate the cultural adaptation of three Egyptian local travel interfaces. Finally, the E-CAF is utilized as a means for developing questions that can help designers to collect the clients' designing requirements. This helps the designers to build an effective local interface based on an understanding of each client‘s special design requirements.

Packaging plays a key role in product success within the highly competitive food and drinks sectors of the Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) industry. However, relatively little has been written about packaging in the marketing management literature. The majority of published research focuses on the marketing communications aspects of packaging. As a result, whilst there is substantial literature revealing the significance of packaging in purchasing decisions and perceptions of the product, its role in product development and the creation of new opportunities has been largely overlooked. Against this background, the research examines the management of packaging development within the FMCG industry: in particular, the food and drinks sectors. The purpose of the study is twofold: to examine how the development of a new product’s packaging is managed and integrated into the new product development (NPD) process of firms; and to explore how firms in the industry manage the opportunities that new packaging development may provide. The research finds that in their packaging development, most firms focus on ‘skindeep’ issues, such as the development of the label, and aesthetic modifications to the body of the packaging, such as changing the colour of a bottle. The analysis reveals three distinct levels of packaging development and argues that the development of new packaging formats and genuine packaging innovation is being overlooked by firms. The framework developed from the research reveals that the orientation of packaging development (skin-deep, aesthetic body modifications, or technological format change) is influenced by internal packaging capability, perceptions of the production process, the role of buyers, and concerns over the impact of changes on the product’s retailing. This in turn impacts on the role of the consumer and suppliers in development. This study contributes to the existing literature by providing new insight into the relationship between packaging development and NPD. The framework generated contributes to the existing stage based models of NPD by revealing that previous research has largely failed to analyse packaging development at the level of technological and format change. The findings also have implications for firms, identifying a need to re-examine their packaging development activities, to ensure that these address all three levels; not merely ‘skin-deep’ packaging.

Archival research was conducted on the inception of preemployment psychological testing, as part of the background screening process, to select police officers for a local police department. Various issues and incidents were analyzed to help explain why this police department progressed from an abbreviated version of a psychological battery, to a much more sophisticated and comprehensive set of instruments. While doubts about psychological exams do exist, research has shown that many are valid and reliable in predicting job performance of police candidates. During a three year period, a police department hired 162 candidates (133 males and 29 females) who received "acceptable" psychological ratings and 71 candidates (58 males and 13 females) who received "marginal" psychological ratings. A document analysis consisted of variables that have been identified as job performance indicators which police psychological testing tries to predict, and "screen in" or "screen out" appropriate applicants. The areas of focus comprised the 6-month police academy, the 4-month Field Training Officer (FTO) Program, the remaining probationary period, and yearly performance up to five years of employment. Specific job performance variables were the final academy grade average, supervisors' evaluation ratings, reprimands, commendations, awards, citizen complaints, time losses, sick time usage, reassignments, promotions, and separations. A causal-comparative research design was used to determine if there were significant statistical differences in these job performance variables between police officers with "acceptable" psychological ratings and police officers with "marginal" psychological ratings. The results of multivariate analyses of variance, t-tests, and chi-square procedures as applicable, showed no significant differences between the two groups on any of the job performance variables.

The thesis deals with two factors that influence ability of a company to achieve competitive advantage thanks to its employees. These factors are satisfaction, that influences ability of a company to attract and retain good employees and motivation, that is prerequisite for their high performance. After introduction of main theories of work motivation and factors, that influence employee satisfaction, the theoretical knowledge is used on example of specific Czech production company.

The thesis focuses on the proposal of changes in a motivation system in the chosen company. The theoretical part explains basic terms, definitions and procedures that are connected to the analyzed topic. Second part of the paper introduces the company and analyzes the current state of a motivation system via company’s documents and a questionnaire. The last part includes the writer’s own suggestions of solutions resulting from the second part’s analysis.