In this project the aim was to see if there was a way to approach features and qualities which seemed detached of the function, in order to let such features and qualities be used in a variety of programs and functions in design. I wanted to see if this might be possible to achieve and in that case how this would affect the design. I tried to fulfill the intention of the project by making an attempt to lower the influence of the program on the design. In the project the rooms of the design were shown in different states, how the rooms changed and how they were altered when programs were applied to them. I also tried to reflect on how that affected the suggested features and qualities that were assumed to be outside the function. The project was not made for a specific site but Stockholm has been the place that the project was intended to relate to. / Intentionen med det här projektet var att försöka hitta ett sätt att relatera till egenskaper och kvalitéer vilka tycktes vara fristående från funktionen, som gjorde att sådana egenskaper och kvalitéer kunde användas för olika program och funktioner i design. Jag ville försöka se om det fanns ett sätt att göra detta och i så fall hur det skulle påverka designen. Jag försökte uppnå intentionen av projektet genom att minska programmets inflytande på de rum som ritades i projektet. I projektet visas de olika rummen från projektet i olika stadier samt hur rummen förändrades och anpassades till programmen som applicerades i dem. Jag försökte också reflektera över hur de förändringar som gjordes påverkade det som antogs vara egenskaper och kvalitéer utanför funktionen. Projektets design och rum planerades inte för en specifik plats men jag har försökt att relatera projektet till Stockholm som stad.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate why CREM should be carried out within the office based companies in Shanghai. Besides, the current CREM practices and performances in the office based companies in Shanghai are examined as well. Design/methodology/approach - The CREM added value creating model for office based corporations in Shanghai is constructed based on literature review. Then, according to the model, the proposition as to why CREM should be carried out within the office based companies in Shanghai is developed. Later, two case studies, which are composed of online questionnaire, structured interviews, and secondary documentary review, are investigated to test the proposition. Findings - Although the result from the two-case study does not provide direct evidence to support the proposition that alternative added values listed in the model is the driving force of CREM implementation for Shanghai office users, CREM, or Corporate Office Estate Management, does help them to promote marketing and corporate branding, staff retention, as well as efficiency and cost control. Research limitations/implications – The research is based on two case studies, the logic of which is replication. Thus, it is not possible to draw any strong generalization. Future studies are needed to validate or contradict the findings in the research. Practical implications – The research process and result provides inspirations for the office occupiers in Shanghai, China, on how Corporate Real Estate Management (CREM) can contribute to the core business, and what specific added values CREM can create. Besides, the CREM added value creating model for office based corporations in Shanghai provides framework for CREM managers on how CREM can be strategically carried out. Originality/value – Since CREM is a brand new discipline in China, the research is the first one digging into Corporate Office Estate Management practices in Shanghai, with the incorporation of the CREM added value creating model. Keywords – CREM, office property, added value, Shanghai Paper type – Master degree thesis

Many organizations within service industries such as government agencies, banking, healthcare, and healthcare decide to structure their business with the back office – front office design; in this setting the back office handles tasks not involving the customer, while front office involves those activities that deal with the customer through some form of contact or receive input from them. When the time comes than an organization wishes to improve the back office area and achieve enhanced efficiency, and speed; it is commonly suggested that outsourcing will help introduce the intended gains. However, outsourcing is not always the right option for an organization, depending on the activities the back office performs and the organization’s size might not make it a supreme candidate for this. It is at this point that the organizations are left standing in the cold as no alternatives are suggested; therefore creating a push towards outsourcing that might end unsuccessfully. This thesis work focused on reviewing organizational design theories and proven keys of back office improvement to establish a basic set of guidelines which will help introduce improvement in a back office area as an attempt to provide an alternative outsourcing. The methodology consisted of a case study performed at a Swedish Mobile VoIP provide, as a complement both literature review and interviews were performed to help gather information. Literature review was mainly focused on getting the background and current state of the problem identified; the validity of using the guidelines were confirmed through a first set of interviews held at the organization. The resulting guidelines take back office configuration and design together with improvement opportunities, all points lead to finding that they can be mapped together. This combination is both effective for improvement and revisiting organizational design. The produced guidelines are as follows: 1. Reduce – definition of back office and back office activities (remove unnecessary activities or lessen their demand); 2. Redesign – decoupling decisions (activities kept in the back office should be broken into separate tasks only if results are not compromised, eliminating unnecessary interdependencies); and 3. Restructure – organizational arrangements (changes in physical placement can improve knowledge sharing and support an open communication). The results of implementing such guidelines were evaluated through a second set of interviews which were also held at the selected organization. The final evaluation of changes within the organization concluded in positive effects as was intended. Further work in the area is needed to help define a more complete and detailed set of guidelines, the ones resulting from this thesis work surely serve as a foundation.

Bibliography: p. 100-104. / Office automation systems have become an essential tool for the operation of the modern office. With the emphasis of a modern office being placed on efficiency and ease of communication, office automation systems have become the backbone of successful businesses. COSNET is a prototype office automation system designed and implemented at the Department of the University of Cape Town and runs on Personal Computers that are linked to a NCR UNIX TOWER, which acts as the host. This dissertation investigates the different facilities supported by some of the office automation systems compared in this thesis, and describes the COSNET features. This prototype office automation system supports many of the facilities that are supported by large office automation systems. COSNET allows the user to define any MS-DOS based editor or word processor, and uses a simple editor for the creation of mail. The electronic filing facility allows documents to be created, filed, retrieved and deleted, and thus provides the users with the necessary features for document exchange. A user may set access permissions to each of his documents and may grant other users either read or write access to a specific document. The mail facility lets the user read, file, forward, delete and print a message, and supports classification of mail. A calendar facility is used as an electronic diary and stores all the user's schedules. These schedules may be viewed in either daily, weekly and monthly display modes. Read and write access to the calendar can be set by the user, in order to allow other users to manipulate his schedules. Any MS-DOS based application software can be added to COSNET. This facility allows the COSNET user to configure the office automation system to simulate the office environment. COSNET thus supports most of the necessary features required by an office automation system.

BACKGROUND: Periodontitis is prevalent among adults 30 years and older and its prevalence increases with age. By 2040, there is an expected 50% increase in adults over the age of 65 years old in the US population. Therefore, it is essential to maintain good oral health and prevent tooth loss, pain, discomfort, and poor nutrition from improper chewing of food. Adults directly influence their periodontitis risk factors through at home oral care practices and smoking habits. Thus, the importance of home oral care practices and better choices in smoking habits may prevent the progression of periodontitis. The purpose of this study is to assess the association of at home oral care practices and smoking to periodontitis. The findings may be useful in future oral health education to emphasize the importance of oral hygiene care at home and smoking cessation. It may help dentists identify patients that will benefit from oral care instructions and smoking cessation and possibly aid in the development of prevention programs to combat the high prevalence of periodontitis in the foreseen growing population of the elders over the age of 65 in the U.S. OBJECTIVES: To assess the association of at home oral care practices to periodontitis and compare smokers and nonsmokers with respect to their oral care practices. We expect that people who regularly brush their teeth, floss, and use mouthwash twice or more per day, and who are nonsmokers will have less periodontitis. METHODS: Three categories of brushing: two to six times/week, once a day, or two or more/day in the past week were used. Additionally, three categories of flossing and rinsing: never, once to six times/week, or one or more times/day in the past week were also used. Odds ratio was calculated controlling for age, bone loss, gender, socioeconomic status, and smoking. Additionally, odds ratio was calculated for the oral care practices comparing smokers versus non-smokers. RESULTS: A total of 141 adults participated in the survey, 18% never flossed, 23% never rinsed, 6% brushed less than daily, and 35% had periodontitis. After controlling for variables, the lack of flossing was associated to periodontitis (odds ratio=1,88, 95% 1.00, p<0.0492) while rinsing and brushing were not associated with periodontitis. There were five times higher odds of periodontitis for a participant who never flossed compared to counterparts (95% CI 2.10-13.56). A dose response was not observed. After calculating for the odds ratio of the association of oral care practices to periodontitis among smokers versus non-smokers, the lack of flossing was positively associated with periodontitis such that smokers who never flossed had twice the higher odds of periodontitis compared to counterparts (odds ratio=4.20, CI 1.30-13.50, p<0.012). Participants who were smokers, with bone loss, and from low socioeconomic status had higher odds of having periodontitis. DISCUSSION: The lack of flossing was associated with higher prevalence of periodontitis. Smokers and especially daily smokers were more likely to engage in poor oral hygiene behaviors. Participants with bone loss, low socioeconomic status, and smokers were also associated with higher prevalence of periodontitis. Flossing at least once a week had a protective association to periodontitis. However, this was a cross-sectional study so a causal relation between the oral care practices and periodontitis cannot be established.

Netflix and other streaming services have grown immensely since they started offering online streaming. In this paper I present a correlation matrix using ticket sales at the domestic box office and the number of Netflix subscribers. They are shown to be negatively correlated with one another, supporting many previous researchers’ thoughts on the topic. I also show using two OLS regressions with data from movies released in 2006-2007 and 2017-2018 that being a part of a franchise has a stronger correlation with increased revenue in the latter model compared to the previous one. In the models one can also see that the general quality of a movie, as measured by IMDb rating, is associated with a higher increase in revenue in the latter model. I argue that this is due to consumers being inclined to watch what they perceive to be high-quality movies in the theaters in the latter model as they can conveniently watch movies of a poorer quality on their streaming service, an option that was not available to the same extent previously. I also argue that consumers are more willing to commit to going to the cinema for a franchise movie, especially in the Marvel cinematic universe, as they are often effects driven movies which are better experienced on a large screen. The budget variable is significant in both models, but the coefficient is much smaller in the second model. I argue that this is due to the fact that a higher budget is required for movies released in 2017-2018 to maintain the same level of revenue as in 2006 and 2007 due to the competition that have come from streaming services. However, I conclude that more research is necessary before drawing definite conclusions as the market for cinema is highly uncertain and difficult to estimate accurately.

La thèse analyse les conséquences de processus de bureaucratisation à l’œuvre au sein d’institutions publiques telles les préfectures. L’enquête a été menée auprès d’agents d’État du « Bureau des Étrangers », qui accueillent et se confrontent aux demandes administratives des usagers (les étrangers). Comment ces agents investissent-ils l’organisation bureaucratique ? Quelles sont les dynamiques de la rencontre avec l’altérité ? Sous une perspective pluridisciplinaire qui privilégie l’approche sociologique et psychosociologique, la thèse a cherché à élucider l’expérience des agents à partir de leur vécu et de leurs propos. Il apparaît que les agents vivent les contradictions institutionnelles entre rapports de domination et désinvestissement affectif. Autre résultat de la recherche, la mise au jour de la disqualification sociale et humaine à l’œuvre sous l’emprise des processus de bureaucratisation étudiés. / The thesis analyzes the consequences of bureaucratic processes at work in public institutions such as ‘’prefectures’’. The survey was conducted with the State agents of the "Foreign office", who welcome and face administrative requests from users (foreigners). How do these agents invest the bureaucratic organization? What are the dynamics of the encounter with alterity? From a multidisciplinary perspective that privileges the sociological and psychosociological approach, the thesis sought to elucidate the experience of the agents based on their personal experiences and their words. It appears that agents live institutional contradictions between relations of domination and affective disinvestment. Another result of the research is the discovery of social and human disqualification at work under the influence of the bureaucratization processes that are studied

An action-orientation within the workplace is often sought out by organizations as a source for competitive advantage. Organizational leaders are increasingly reliant on independently driven employees that will take action without being instructed to do so. Toward this effort, proactive personality has become increasingly popular within the literature as a personality trait associated with an employee's propensity to take charge of situations and demonstrate initiative to make a positive impact. In identifying potential variables that will moderate the effects of proactive personality, a highly relevant construct is empowerment. Proactive personality is thought of as a trait, whereas empowerment can be thought of as the contextual counterpart. In this study, I research both psychological empowerment as an employee interpretation of organizational conditions, such as feelings of self-efficacy, control, and flexibility for action (Arnold, Arad, Rhoades, & Drasgow, 2000) and structural empowerment as the influence of situational workplace context (Kanter, 1977). Despite the theoretical overlap between proactive personality and empowerment, very little has been done to integrate or investigate these variables together to evaluate their relative influences on important outcomes. Given that limited concentration has been focused on boundary conditions of proactive personality, employee political skill is hypothesized as a moderator that will encourage the attainment of important organizational outcomes (i.e., job task performance, job satisfaction) and minimize negative outcomes (i.e., occupational stress and strain) from proactive personality and empowerment. This study is a more complete investigation of proactive personality that not only provides a meaningful theoretical examination, but also informs applied practice. Despite a number of theoretical links between proactive personality and empowerment, the two constructs have been investigated in isolation from one another. Therefore, the relationship between empowerment and political skill is largely unknown. It is unclear whether empowerment and political skill are both necessary to realize optimal results or whether being high on both leads to exponentially better outcomes. This study included 252 nurses from union organizations in Oregon, Florida, and Missouri that registered and were invited to participate (53%). They were surveyed across two points in time, 176 participated at Time 1 and Time 2 and 76 participated in only Time 1. Results did not show support for my hypotheses that improvements would be observed for those high on any two research variables: proactive personality, empowerment, and political skill. However, results consistently support a compensatory model. In general, task performance, perceived effectiveness, and satisfaction with quality of care improved when nurses were high on either proactive personality or empowerment (either structural or psychological). Those high on either proactive personality or political skill had higher levels of task performance and satisfaction with quality of care. Similarly, those high on either structural empowerment or political skill had higher levels of task performance and satisfaction with quality of care. Only when a nurse was low on both variables in the model did they show reduced benefits. Several clear practical solutions are readily apparent based on study results. Given that empowerment can be manipulated within an organizational culture and proactive personality can be integrated with selection systems, the results are important for organizational leaders and organizational development consultants. Similarly, this research adds greatly to the literature on political skill, an area that is relatively new. By examining the moderating influence of political skill, this adds to the theoretical advancement of the three constructs while also informing practitioners regarding potential selection, training, and organizational design. Political skill has been seen as an attribute with the capacity to change over time with training, experience, and mentoring (Ferris, Perrewé, Anthony, & Gilmore, 2000). Therefore, the practical implications for organizations are clearly evident. Further, given that both proactive personality and empowerment have received limited evaluation into their boundary conditions, an evaluation of potential moderators helps advance into the understanding of the processes related to action within the workplace.

A field study was conducted to find whether open office architecture is related to employees' perceptions of their jobs and their work groups, and to their behavior in and around their work stations. Fifty-two employees in the administrative division of a large manufacturing operation volunteered to participate by answering a questionnaire and allowing their work stations to be analyzed for levels of visual access and visual exposure, the two independent variables. Access and exposure, at first theorized to be independent and interacting functions, were found to be too highly correlated in this open off ice setting to test as originally planned. The design was modified by combining the measures of access and exposure, thereby creating a new independent variable called visual information. Under the modified design, results supported a prediction that less visual information would correlate with more positive responses to survey items about employees' job characteristics, and a prediction that less visual information would correlate with higher rates of work station occupancy. But there was no support for a prediction that more visual information would correlate with more positive responses to survey items about employees' work groups, nor was there support for a prediction that more visual information would correlate with fewer numbers of personal items displayed at employees' work stations. Suggestions were made for more appropriate tests of the original design in order to determine whether visual access and visual exposure operate as independent and interacting dynamics.

Purpose. This study was designed to explore possible relationships between the levels of job satisfaction, the stages of adult development, especially as defined by Levinson, and the type and extent of formal educational preparation for pastoral ministry. The primary assumption was that higher levels of education enable the pastor to move through the progressive stages of adult development with a higher level of career satisfaction. Procedure.The data were obtained through a survey of the pastors of the western judicatories of the seven denominations which are in trustee relationship with Western Evangelical Seminary. A three-part questionnaire was developed, including the Ministerial Job Satisfaction Scale developed by J. Conrad Glass (1976), and the Assessment of Developmental Issues developed by J. Ta1ifero Brown (1985). Questionnaires were mailed, and 279 were analyzed. Summary of Findings and Conclusions. Analysis of Part I of the questionnaire provided a profile of this clergy sample, including data on age, sex, educational levels, involvement in continuing education, pastoral experience before and after completion of formal education, growth patterns of church and community, ordination status, worship attendances, pastoral position, career changes, desired retirement age, and career satisfaction. Data from Parts II and III were combined with the Part I profile to answer six research questions. The following findings and conclusions were identified: (a) the Master of Divinity was the degree of preference and resulted in higher levels of satisfaction than the M.A. from a seminary; (b) adult development is related to chronological age but not education; (c) chronological age, divided into Levinson's stages worked equally well as the ADIS scale in identifying the adult life cycle stage. Three concerns were expressed: (a) there is a need for adequate staffing, especially in smaller churches, both volunteer and professional; (b) good work was recognized by denominational supervisors, but it was not accompanied by adequate assurance of career advancement; (c) nearly one-fourth of the clergy felt their wives would rather not be married to a minister.