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Sweden had in the early 1930's the lowest birth rate in the world. Population Commission which was established in 1935 concluded that one of the biggest social problems was the working women’s heavy workload. To deal with the low birth rate reforms and programs were founded both in order to help the women but also in order to support the inadequate motherhood. Government grants were set up to start the so-called vacation home for housewives where the government’s visions of the vacation homes were active rest and recreation.      Based on the Leisure Inquiry report regarding vacation homes for housewives - the purpose of this paper is to examine how the government visions regarding vacation homes for housewives were practiced and how the future of prevailing gender contract affected the holiday home. What activities and what form of education occurred on the vacation home Frykenstrand? Who visited the vacation home and how was Frykenstrand affected by egalitarianism and the state's growing need for labor?      Archive material from the Association of Värmland working women vacation homes have been used for the essay. According to the issues of this essay, the vacation home Frykenstrand is described through text analysis and quantitative method based on protocols, applications, guest books and correspondence. The state’s visions with the vacation homes are based upon the Leisure Inquiry report.      The survey shows that the state's visions regarding giving women rest and recovery were met. The intentions regarding education and training cannot be considered to be met on the vacation home Frykenstrand, nor was the vacation home used by women who might have helped increasing the birth rate. The vacation home was abolished probably affected by the gender contract when more women started work and received a statutory vacation.

Women with young children are a growing population experiencing homelessness. Transitional housing services provide shelter and educational programming aimed at fostering the development of skills necessary to attain and maintain basic needs. Adagio Health’s transitional home, Healthy Start House (HSH) served as a case study in which to explore the intersection of design, service and social innovation. The metrics of success outlined by the county for HSH include attaining permanent housing and employment or education. Using a co-creative process, exploratory and generative research uncovered that the service had no clear route to assist the women to develop core competencies to meet the county’s metrics of success. Rather than create a new extension of the current service, this design solution focuses on amplifying the resources and infrastructure already in place to improve the current service delivery. The solution includes an ideal plan for the HSH staff to work with the clients to comprehensively develop their core competencies, and an expanded view of how a money management system helps the clients meet the county’s metrics. We hypothesize, through this system, clients will re-enter society smoothly, armed with the skills and knowledge needed to provide for themselves and their children. While the design generated much enthusiasm from all stakeholders, the concept would benefit from further testing and iterations over a longer length of time to understand if it can, indeed, improve learning and performance outcomes and create sustained behavior change.

Spartėjant globalizacijos procesams, formuojasi atviros rinkos ir jose stiprėja konkurencija. Pasitikėjimas organizacija ir geras organizacijos įvaizdis tampa vienas esminių veiksnių, padedančių konkuruoti rinkoje. Sėkmingas organizacijos tikslų siekimas priklauso nuo visuomenės nuomonės apie ją. Visuomenės nuomonei formuoti pasitelkiama tikslingai nukreipta veikla, vadinama ryšiais su visuomene. Pagrindinės sąvokos, apibūdinančios ryšius su visuomene, yra patikimumas, pasitikėjimas, komunikacija bei abipusio supratimo siekimas. Ryšiai su visuomene yra vienas iš būdų, kuriais visuomenė prisitaiko prie pokyčių ir juos priima, suderina skirtingus ir konfliktuojančius požiūrius, vertybes, idėjas, institucijas ir individus. Ryšių su visuomene technologijos bei organizacijų įvaizdžio formavimo metodai aprašyti marketingo, komunikacijos ir kitų specialistų, tačiau praktinis jų pritaikymas analizuotas mažai. Taigi atsižvelgiant į problemos aktualumą, šiame darbe bus nagrinėjamos teorinės ryšių su visuomene veiklos priemonės bei analizuojamas jų praktinis taikymas pelno ir nepelno organizacijose. / Facing the rapidity of globalization processes, open markets form and competition increases. The trust of an organization and good image of an organization becomes one of the main factors, which helps to compete in the market. Successful pursuit of the aims of an organization depends on the public opinion. In order to form the opinion of the public, purposefully targeted activities are invoked named as the public relations. The main concepts, defining the public relations are credibility, trust, communication and endeavour for mutual understanding. The public relations is one of the means by which the society adapts to the changes and accepts them, coordinates different and feuding approaches, values, ideas and individuals. The technologies of the public relations and methods of image formation of an organization are described by the professionals of marketing, communications and other areas; however, their practical application is little analyzed. Therefore, considering the relevance of the question, theoretical means of the public relations activities shall be examined, and their application in profit and non-profit organizations shall be analyzed.

Muslims in South Africa live within the framework of a Western economy in which the notion of interest plays a pivotal role. This system does not seem to comply with the strict interpretation of Islamic law, since the Quran prohibits any dealings on the basis of interest and strongly condemns those who continue to deal in interest-based transactions, warning them of a “notice of war from Allah and His Apostle”. Muslims are therefore faced with the dilemma of either participating in the current prevailing economic system and thereby violating the Quranic injunctions prohibiting interest or Riba, or completely withdrawing from participation in this system and conducting their business transactions in accordance with Islamic injunctions. This study is an attempt to examine whether an Islamic banking enterprise within the greater Tshwane area could survive and even flourish in the long term if it were operating within the parameters of Islamic law, thus in the absence of the interest factor. The research methodology employed was that of qualitative research, and the study consists of both a literature and an empirical study. It became evident from the literature review that a bank’s survival within the Western economic order depends on the confidence that its depositors have in it. In an Islamic economic system the ethical and legal components distinguish it from other systems. The most striking feature of the Islamic banking environment is the so-called profit and loss sharing system (PLS). The literature study was complemented by an empirical study. Respondents were interviewed in three categories: Muslim businessmen, Islamic bankers and Islamic religious leaders. An analysis of data from the respondents revealed that they were of the opinion that there was a need for an Islamic bank in order to avoid any interest-based dealings and to operate strictly in accordance with Islamic law and principles. Based on the literature and field study a simple model of an Islamic banking enterprise was constructed which could function within the greater Tshwane area and within the South African economic context, but which would be based on Islamic Shariah principles. In constructing this model due cognisance was taken of the fact that it would prove to be a very difficult task to amend existing banking laws to provide for the easy entry and functioning of an Islamic bank. Based on the literature and empirical study it was concluded that to provide for the easy entry and functioning of an Islamic banking enterprise, it should not be structured or named as a bank but rather as a finance company which would then be able to offer most of the services that are offered by traditional banks but without having to comply with the strict regulations as applicable to traditional banks. The dissertation’s final conclusion and recommendation was thus that an Islamic bank should operate not as a bank but as a finance company, thereby accomplishing its pivotal role to enable Muslims to use these indispensable services successfully while complying wholly with Islamic Shariah law. / PhD (Business Management), North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2013

ABSTRACT The Impact and Implementation of Learning Intervention on Management and Organizational Practice in a Non-Profit Setting BY Keisha Liggett - Nichols 2013 Committee Chair: Ram Sriram, PhD Major Academic Unit: Business Administration The intent of this research is to explore the concepts of organizational learning as it relates to “double loop” learning. Specifically, this research will test the concepts of double loop theory proposed by Argyris, (1976) in a seminal piece, and the paradigm of Evidence-based management (EBM) in the context of a non-profit organization. The paper will review the transition from a single loop learning organization to a double loop learning organization utilizing EBM as a learning intervention for change. The non-profit organization used in this research is significant as it is a monitoring agency; an intermediary between Public Administration, counties, and private agencies. The paper will demonstrate through a single case study the limitations of single loop learning, and how interventions or processes that lead to organizational learning could facilitate transitioning to a double loop learning organization. The study expects to contribute to the literature by highlighting the value of double loop learning and the use of EBM as a learning intervention mechanism. This study will also underscore how double loop learning and EBM can add value to organizational processes.

In response to the continuing challenges of homelessness in Victoria, BC, a variety of homeless-serving agencies are active in the region. Community concerns about these services have given rise to the practice of developing Good Neighbour Agreements (‘GNA’) and forming Good Neighbour Groups (‘GNG’) with local community members to monitor the social services, mitigate conflict, and prevent undesired impacts on the neighbourhoods. Based in an interpretive description methodology using interviews and document analysis, the purpose of this research is to explore the involvement of the street community in the development of one GNA and subsequent governance activities of the associated GNG. Findings demonstrate that individuals from the street community generally have not been directly involved but instead represented by a local homeless-serving agency, a model of representation that has important limitations. Despite the lack of formal involvement, people from the street community continued to engage independently in neighbourhood matters, undertaking ongoing advocacy work that in turn helped to yield greater participation of the street community in the GNG. / Graduate / 0617 / 0452 / 0615 / crossgeoff@yahoo.ca

This thesis investigates the effect of profit sharing and employee share ownership schemes on employee job attitudes and behaviours by taking into account the critical role of participation in decision making. The data were obtained from a large British retail organization operating profit sharing (PS) and save-as-you-earn (SAYE) schemes. This is a quantitative study in which the data were gathered through a questionnaire. The unit of analysis is the individuals who responded to the survey, and the study is cross-sectional. To analyse the data a variety of statistical techniques, namely frequency, Pearson correlation, partial correlation, t-test, chi-square (X2), reliability, multiple regression, hierarchical regression, and path analyses, were conducted using SPSS. The sample comprised 1,000 employees subdivided into groups of managerial and non-managerial employees, and participants in schemes and non-participants in schemes. The administration of the questionnaire resulted in 450 returns (430 usable), an overall response rate of 45%. This study addresses four main research questions: (1)What are the effects of profit sharing and employee share ownership schemes (financial participation) on the job attitudes of individual employees in a large organization? (2) What are the effects of participation in decision making on employee job attitudes in a large organization? (3) What are the relative effects of financial participation in comparison to the effects of individual participation in decisions? (4) Does the combination of financial participation and participation in decision making produce more favourable effects on employee job attitudes than does participation in decision making on its own? The aim of this study was to construct a more advanced model of profit sharing and employee share ownership schemes by reviewing the theoretical and empirical literature and testing two theoretical frameworks, those developed by Long (1978) and Florkowski (1989). After reviewing the employee participation literature and testing Long's and Florkowski's models, it was found that both financial participation and participation in decision making have separate effects on employee job attitudes and behaviours, even if financial participation has a small (not statistically significant) impact on some attitudes and behaviours. Since financial participation shows a negligible effect on some job attitudes, and participation in decision making has a stronger effect on job attitudes than has financial participation, the new model is constructed on the assumption that both (a) the combination of financial participation and participation in decision making and (b) participation in decision making produce favourable effects on employee job attitudes, such as integration, involvement, commitment, satisfaction, motivation, perceived pay equity, and perceived performance-reward contingencies. The test of the new model shows that both (a) the combination of fmancial participation and participation in decision making and (b) participation in decision making produce favourable effects on employee job attitudes and behaviours, but the combination of financial participation and participation in decision making does not produce more favourable effects on employee job attitudes than does participation in decision making on its own. It should be noted that it is not known in this research whether financial participation changed employees' actual influence in decision making, as the study did not collect any data on this question. Therefore, there is the possibility that if the same study were conducted in organizations with financial participation schemes which increase employees' influence in decision making, the effect of the combination of financial participation and participation in decision making might be found to be stronger than that reported in this dissertation.

Objectives of this study were to characterize feed efficiency traits and examine phenotypic relationships with feeding behavior traits in bulls. Performance, feed intake and feeding behavior traits were measured in bulls (n = 5,165) representing 2 breeds (4100 Angus and 952 Red Angus). Intake and feeding behavior traits were measured for 70-d using a GrowSafe system while fed a corn silage based diet (ME = 2.50 Mcal/kg DM). BW was measured at 14-d intervals. Residual feed intake (RFI) was calculated as the difference between actual DMI and that expected from regression of DMI on mid-test BW0.75 (MBW) and ADG, and residual gain (RG) as the difference between actual ADG and that expected from regression of ADG on MBW and DMI. Residual gain and intake (RIG) was computed as the sum of -1 x RFI and RG, both standardized to a variance of 1. Results from the study indicate that RFI was correlated with DMI (r = 0.71, P < 0.0001) but not MBW or ADG, whereas, RG was correlated with ADG (r = 0.87, P < 0.0001) but not MBW or DMI. RFI was negatively correlated with G:F (r = -0.53, P < 0.0001) and RG (r = -0.40, P < 0.0001). Feeding bout (FB) frequency and duration were correlated with RFI (r = 0.30, 0.36; P < 0.001), but were not significant or weakly correlated (r < 0.10) with RG and G:F. Meal criterion and duration were both correlated (r = -0.13, 0.22; P < 0.0001) with RFI, but not with RG or G:F. Bulls with low RFI spent less time at the feed bunk (129 vs 151 ± 31.2 min/d) and had fewer FB events (79 vs 91 ± 23.4 events/d) than high-RFI bulls. Low-RFI bulls had longer (P < 0.001) meal criterion (9.9 vs 8.5 ± 6.6 min) indicating they took longer to initiate new meals, and had longer meal durations (223 vs 244 ± 43.5 min/d) than high-RFI bulls. Bulls have distinctive feeding behavior patterns that contribute to between-animal variation in RFI, but not associated with RG or G:F.

Practical inventory settings often include multiple generations of the same product on hand. New products often arrive before old stock is exhausted, but most inventory models do not account for this. Such a setting gives rise to the possibility of inter-generational substitution between products. We study a retailer that stocks two product generations and we show that from a cost perspective the retailer is better off stocking only one generation. We proceed with a profit scheme and develop a price-setting profit maximization model, proving that in one and two generation profit models there exists a unique solution. We use the profit model to show that there are cases where it is more profitable to stock two generations. We discuss utility and preference extensions to the profit model and present the general n-product case.