No / Changes in organisational forms are central to the way new technologies impact on the future of work and employment. Drawing on case¿study evidence of a call centre and its client relations and a multinational IT firm and its partnership with a government department, this paper explores the implications for skill and managerial control.

Background: The changing demands of the environment is leading to the development of new organisational forms. These organisations are characterised by flexibility, specialisation, delegation of authorities and development of competence. Small organisations that have started to adapt innovative constructions in order to be flexible are becoming of increasing importance in trade and industry but are given little attention in current research. Purpose: To make an in-depth study of Agora in order to increase the understanding about small organisations where the majority of the work force consists of self-employed actors. Realisation: We have made a case study on one company, namely Agora. Our empirical findings where collected through six in-depth interviews. Results: We have come to the conclusion that Agora cannot be seen as neither a network organisation nor an imaginary organisation but something in between: an imaginary network. Furthermore, we have identified three main forces that hold the company together: the shared values, the business concept of Agora and the leadership. There is a distinct and strong leadership that to a large extent is linked to the personality of the CEO and it is crucial for the maintenance of Agora.

<p>Background: The changing demands of the environment is leading to the development of new organisational forms. These organisations are characterised by flexibility, specialisation, delegation of authorities and development of competence. Small organisations that have started to adapt innovative constructions in order to be flexible are becoming of increasing importance in trade and industry but are given little attention in current research. </p><p>Purpose: To make an in-depth study of Agora in order to increase the understanding about small organisations where the majority of the work force consists of self-employed actors. </p><p>Realisation: We have made a case study on one company, namely Agora. Our empirical findings where collected through six in-depth interviews. </p><p>Results: We have come to the conclusion that Agora cannot be seen as neither a network organisation nor an imaginary organisation but something in between: an imaginary network. Furthermore, we have identified three main forces that hold the company together: the shared values, the business concept of Agora and the leadership. There is a distinct and strong leadership that to a large extent is linked to the personality of the CEO and it is crucial for the maintenance of Agora.</p>

Univerzita Karlova v Praze Filozofická fakulta Katedra pedagogiky Bc. Jitka Soldátová Spolupráce učitelů při proměně výuky Cooperation between teachers during education transformation Vedoucí práce: 2014 Doc. PhDr. Kasíková Hana, CSc. Abstract Cooperation between teachers during education transformation The topic of the thesis pertains to the collaboration of teachers in education transformation. It concerns itself with cooperation at the level of schools and with individual forms of teacher collaboration that lead to better teaching. It also deals with the roles and competences of teachers, the requirements for their work and factors that affect the inclusion of innovative elements in teaching. The transformation focuses on organisational forms and teaching methods. The empirical section presents the specific level of cooperation of teachers during the inclusion of new organisational forms and teaching methods at the Secondary and Vocational School in Milevsko. Keywords: cooperation, school, teacher, teaching, organisational forms of education, teaching methods červen 2014

Informations- und Kommunikationstechnologien (IKT) sind der Antrieb des modernen Innovationsprozesses. Für besseres Verständnis dieser Dynamik, analysiert diese Dissertation die Wechselwirkungen zwischen Innovation und Wettbewerb. Die Arbeit umfasst zwei Teile: Erstens wird die Frage behandelt, wie die Märkte organisiert werden können, um das optimale Marktergebnis zu erreichen. Zweitens werden die Rückwirkungen der innovativen Tätigkeit auf Wettbewerb und auf Organisation der wirtschaftlichen Tätigkeit analysiert. Betrachtet man den Einfluss von Wettbewerb auf Innovation, zeigt eine empirische Analyse, dass IKT-getriebene Innovationen in konzentrierten Industrien vorherrschen. Im Gegensatz dazu gedeihen Innovationen, die auf anderen Technologien basieren, in eher vollkommenen Märkten. Der Vergleich suggeriert, dass die IKT-getriebene Innovationen andere Charakteristika aufweisen als Innovationen, die auf anderen Technologien basieren. Betrachtet man die Rückwirkung von Innovation auf Wettbewerb, sind zwei Ergebnisse wert genannt zu werden. Erstens, obwohl profitabel von der Perspektive einzelner Unternehmen aus, sinkt der Industrieprofit, wenn eine produktvielfalt-steigernde Technologie durch alle Firmen übernommen wird. Des Weiteren sind die Entscheidungen der Unternehmen in Bezug auf die Technologieadoption nicht immer optimal aus Sicht der sozialen Wohlstandsmaximierung. Zweitens in Bezug auf Organisation der wirtschaftlichen Tätigkeit wird gezeigt, dass IKT sowohl zu mehr Wettbewerb als auch zu der Entstehung von hybriden Organisationsformen führen kann, was von den jeweiligen Charakteristika der Unternehmen abhängt. Obwohl diese Dissertation nur ein kleines Stück der Komplexität analysiert, wirft sie ein neues Licht auf die Zusammenhänge von Marktesstruktur und Innovation und ihre gegenseitigen Rückwirkungen. Interessanterweise sind die Ergebnisse weit entfernt von gewohnten Sichtweisen und in vielen Fällen entgegen der intuitiven Ausgangserwartung. / Information and communication technologies (ICT) are driving the modern innovation process. To better understand these dynamics, the current dissertation analyses the interactions between innovation and competition. The scope of this work can be divided into two areas: The first one deals with a question of how markets could be organized to produce the most optimal outcome. The second one analyses the feedback effects of innovative activity on competition and the organisation of economic activity. Regarding the impact of competition on innovation, an empirical analysis reveals that ICT- driven innovations dominate in concentrated industries, whereas innovations based on other technologies flourish in moderately competitive markets. This suggests that there are some features that make ICT-enabled innovations exceptional, compared to innovations based on other technologies. Concerning the impact of innovation, two findings are worth emphasising. First, as shown in a theoretical analysis, although profitable from an individual producer’s perspective, the adoption of a technology increasing product variety across the entire industry erodes firms’ payoffs. In addition, firms'' decisions with respect to the technology adoption are not always efficient from the social welfare point of view. Second, another empirical analysis included in this work reveals that ICT leads to more competition and facilitates the emergence of hybrid organization forms, subject to firm''s and industry''s characteristics. Although this dissertation reveals only a small piece of the complexity of the ICT-driven innovation process, it casts some new light on the importance of market structure for ICT- enabled innovation and the feedback effect of the technology on firms’ environment. Interestingly, the outcomes of this thesis show that these interactions are often far from straightforward and in many cases counterintuitive.

Η παρούσα διδακτορική διατριβή πραγματεύεται το θέμα της επιχειρησιακής στρατηγικής των Τεχνολογιών Πληροφορικής και Επικοινωνιών (ΤΠΕ) στις Μικρομεσαίες Επιχειρήσεις (ΜΜΕ), καθώς επίσης και τον τρόπο με τον οποίο οι ΤΠΕ επηρεάζουν στην πραγματικότητα την ανάπτυξη και την ανταγωνιστικότητα των ΜΜΕ. Ο λόγος που στρέψαμε το ερευνητικό ενδιαφέρον μας στις ΜΜΕ έγκειται στη κοινή παραδοχή ότι συμβάλλουν αποφασιστικά στην οικονομική ανάπτυξη, την παραγωγή, την ανταγωνιστικότητα, την απασχόληση καθώς επίσης στην αποκέντρωση και την κοινωνική συνοχή. Επίσης, λειτουργούν ως φυτώρια νέων επιχειρήσεων, καινοτόμων ειδών και εφαρμογών, ευέλικτων επιχειρηματικών σχημάτων, εξυπηρέτησης τοπικών αναγκών καθώς και χωροταξικής κατανομής θέσεων απασχόλησης και εισοδήματος. Από την άλλη, η αναγκαιότητα ύπαρξης μιας σύγχρονης τεχνολογικής υποδομής στο επιχειρηματικό περιβάλλον θεωρείται πλέον μία αυτονόητη αξία, καθώς συμβάλλει στην αύξηση της παραγωγικότητας και της ανταγωνιστικότητας μιας επιχείρησης, ενώ, ταυτοχρόνως της παρέχει την απαιτούμενη ευελιξία για να προσαρμόζεται στις ταχέως μεταβαλλόμενες συνθήκες της αγοράς. Για την βιβλιογραφική ανασκόπηση του θέματος βασιστήκαμε σε μεγάλο αριθμό επιστημονικών μελετών καθώς και στη μελέτη σχετικών ερευνών με το αντικείμενο της έρευνάς μας. Η συλλογή των πρωτογενών στοιχείων πραγματοποιήθηκε με τη μέθοδο των προσωπικών συνεντεύξεων και με τη χρήση δομημένου ερωτηματολόγιου στο χώρο εργασίας των ερωτώμενων. Από τις εκατό ΜΜΕ που προσεγγίσαμε, αποκρίθηκαν θετικά για συμμετοχή στην έρευνας μας οι πενήντα τέσσερις (54). Η επιλογή του δείγματος έγινε με τυχαία στρωματοποιημένη δειγματοληψία στους Νομούς Αττικής, Θεσσαλονίκης, Αχαΐας και Ηρακλείου. Η εμπειρική ανάλυση ανέδειξε σημαντικά στατιστικά στοιχεία για την χρήση των ΤΠΕ στις διάφορες κατηγορίες των ΜΜΕ και στους τέσσερις κλάδους οικονομικής δραστηριότητας που έλαβαν μέρος στην έρευνα μας. Επίσης, σημαντικές στατιστικές υποθέσεις ελέγχτηκαν για την εξακρίβωση της σχέσης-εξάρτησης μεταξύ των ΤΠΕ και των διαφορετικών κατηγοριών και των κλάδων των ΜΜΕ. Εν συνεχεία, η ταξινόμηση των ΤΠΕ καθώς και η δημιουργία των νέων οργανωτικών δομών (ΤΠΕ-Οργανωτικές δομές – οργανωτικές δομές που προέκυψαν ανάλογα με το είδος των ΤΠΕ που έχουν υιοθετηθεί από τις ΜΜΕ) μας έδωσαν την ευκαιρία για περαιτέρω στατιστικούς ελέγχους καθώς και την δυνατότητα δημιουργίας τριών υποδειγμάτων, εκ των οποίων, το πρώτο εξετάζει την πιθανότητα ανάπτυξη των ΜΜΕ μέσω των ΤΠΕ, το δεύτερο υπόδειγμα εξετάζει την επίδραση των ΤΠΕ-οργανωτικών δομών και των κλάδων οικονομικής δραστηριότητας στις επενδύσεις σε ΤΠΕ από τις ΜΜΕ και το τρίτο υπόδειγμα εξετάζει την επίδραση από την ύπαρξη συγκεκριμένης στρατηγικής υιοθέτησης και χρήσης των ΤΠΕ και των νέων ΤΠΕ-οργανωτικών δομών στις επενδύσεις σε ΤΠΕ από τις ΜΜΕ. / The present doctoral thesis deals with the subject of Strategic Management of Technologies of Information technology and Communications (ICT) in Small to medium-sized Enterprises (SME), as well as the way in which the ICT influence actually the growth and the competitiveness of SME. The reason, we turned our inquiring interest in the SME lies in the common admission that small and medium sized enterprises decisively contribute to economic development, production, competitiveness, employment, as well as decentralization and social coherence. They also function as the seedbed of new enterprises, innovative products and applications, flexible business forms, servicing of local needs and a zoning plan for the distribution of employment and income. On the other hand, the existence necessity of a modern technological infrastructure is considered as an obvious value in the enterprising environment, as contributes to the increase of productivity and the competitiveness of enterprise. At the same time, new technological inventions give the necessary flexibility to SME for adapting themselves rapidly to the altering conditions of markets. PhD combines a significant literature review of relevant journal publications with primary data collected from the various SMEs. A joint methodology of fully-structured questionnaire and in-depth interviews was selected as the primary research instrument in order to gain as broad a view as possible of the issues surrounding application of ICT. A total of 100 companies was selected and letters were sent out requesting an interview, while follow-up telephone calls by the researchers negotiated access to each business. Fifty-four SMEs were positive responded. A stratified random sample of SMEs was drawn among a spectrum of SMEs in the Prefectures of Attica, Thessaloniki, Achaia and Heraclion. The empirical analysis brought out important statistical elements in the use of ICT for the various categories of SME in the four sectors of economic activity. Also, important statistical hypotheses were tested for the verification of the relationship-dependence between the ICTs and SMEs. The classification of ICT and the creation of new organizational forms (ICT-organizational forms, which have been come from the type of ICT that have been adopted by the SME) offered us the opportunity for further statistical tests as well as the capability for the creation of three models. The first model examines the probability of small firm’s development through the effective-efficient use of ICT (The potential for development of the SMEs was evaluated through a model of binomial logistic regression). The second model examines the influence of ICT-Organizational Forms and Industry Sectors on ICT-Investments, and, the third model tests the influence of ICT-Organizational Forms & ICT-Strategy (SMEs, which have set up a specific strategy for the adoption and use of ICTs) on ICT-Investments in SME sector. (The influence of ICT-Organizational Forms was evaluated through a model of a two-way Analysis of Variance-ANOVA).

This thesis deals with co-operative teaching and the development of social, personnel and problem-solving competence at the first stage of primary school. The aim of this thesis is to find out how does the co-operative teaching contribute, as an organisational form, to the development of these key competences. The thesis is divided in theoretical and practical part. The theoretical part is based on a set of literature, which is presented at the end of the thesis. This part introduces competentional model according to RVP. It closer defines specific competences and deals with organisational forms of teaching. It describes the role of co- operative teaching in the development of key competencies, social, personnel and problem- solving competencies. In the practical part there is a qualitative-quantitative research implemented, which is divided into three parts. The first part is devoted to a qualitative survey, participatory observation of pupils in the 2nd year of elementary school. It is focused on planning, realisation, description and summarisation of series of co-operative teaching lessons, which evolve social and personal competences as well as competences to solve problems. The second part complements the participatory observation with a quantitative survey. These are questionnaires filled in...