Since the early 1990s, increasing academic attention has been devoted to party membership. Numerous studies have evidenced a long-term declining trend affecting almost all traditional parties in Western Europe (Mair and Van Biezen, 2001; Van Biezen et al. 2012b). Yet, in recent years, there have been some signs of a revival of party membership (Whiteley et al. 2019). What are the main factors accounting for fluctuations in party membership levels across Western Europe from the 1990s until 2014? This is the main question this dissertation seeks to answer. The main objective of this dissertation is to identify the factors that significantly affect the ability of political parties to recruit members in Western Europe. So far, the academic literature has mainly focused on micro- and macro-level determinants of membership fluctuations and have involved long-term explanations of shifts in party membership. Their general focus has been to ask why citizens join political and not so much why and in which conditions political parties are able to recruit members. The impact of meso-level and short-term factors on party membership variations has been largely underexplored. To shed new light on these issues, this study proposes to apply theoretical perspectives and empirical tools developed by sociological and economical organization studies. Four main theoretical perspectives have been developed by organizational theories to explain variations in organizations’ size and structure: the evolutionary system perspective (ES), the sociological neo-institutionalism (SI), transaction cost theory (TCT) and the resource-based view (RBV). Explanatory insights from each of these perspectives were identified and explored in each of the four empirical chapters of this dissertation. Overall, this dissertation evidences several transformations in party membership. By diversifying temporal perspectives, units of analysis and levels of observation, it shows that the decline of party membership levels is not as universal and as linear as it is often assumed. Membership levels are affected by electoral and organizational lifecycles. Not all parties have been affected by the general decrease in membership levels and some new parties have managed to attract an increasing number of members. Besides, parties that have given their members a greater say in their internal decision making have generally managed to attract new members. By looking at infra-national dynamics of party membership, this dissertation also shows the importance of regional and local context and the heterogeneity of membership trajectories within the same party. It underlines the importance of electoral mobilization at the local level and the importance of individual recruiters for the composition of the membership. By reflecting on the causes of party membership fluctuations, this dissertation sheds light on some important challenges for the future of our representative democracies. / Doctorat en Sciences politiques et sociales / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

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abstract: More underrepresented minority (URM) healthcare professionals are needed to improve health equity. Although holistic review in admissions has the potential to increase URM participation in health professions, recent data suggest that its impact varies substantially. The purpose of the dissertation research described here was to identify interventions to increase diversity among healthcare professionals and explore holistic review use in physician assistant (PA) program admissions to advance understanding of effective practices. PA programs were selected as an important prototype for exploratory studies since the extent of holistic review use in PA programs was unknown; at the same time, URM representation among PA students has decreased over the last 15 years. A critical review of the literature revealed that various holistic review practices have been used by several health professions programs to successfully increase URM enrollment and that organizational culture may be a factor that promotes success. Following this, 2017 Physician Assistant Education Association survey data were analyzed to assess the frequency of holistic review in PA programs and examine its association with URM matriculation. Results from 221 of the 223 PA programs accredited at the time showed that 77.5% used holistic review, and its use modestly correlated with proportion of first-year students identified as ethnic minorities (rs = .20, p < .01). Of particular interest, some programs using holistic review had substantially higher proportions of URM students than others. This finding laid the foundation for a qualitative multiple case study to explore the role of organizational culture as a hypothesized antecedent to effective holistic admissions processes. Survey study responses were used to select two PA program ‘cases’ that met criteria consistent with a proposed conceptual framework linking organizational culture that values diversity (or ‘diversity culture’) to holistic admissions associated with high URM enrollment. Directed content analysis of data revealed that diversity culture appears to be a strong driver of practices that support enrolling diverse classes of students. Overall, this mixed methods program of research advances understanding of holistic review, its utility, and the influence of organizational culture. The research generated important insights with ramifications for current practice and future studies within PA and across health professions programs. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Nursing and Healthcare Innovation 2019

Trust is an important asset in every profession, especially in those professions that are inherently dangerous. The majority of the scholarly research in the literature of trust and team's streams conceptualize trust as an antecedent of effective teams, where trust is necessary for teams to achieve their desired outcome. However, there has been little research that relates trust to high-performing teams, and no published research in academic journals describing how these high-performing teams build and maintain trust. Trust is essential to military teams and especially the elite Special Operation Forces teams. While reviewing the literature, a gap was found as it relates to the exploration of building and maintaining trust within high-performance teams. The research questions were as follows: How do you build trust and how do you maintain trust, within high-performance teams? This study systematically reviewed the empirical literature on the relationship between team performance and trust, specifically amongst high-performing teams. A grounded theory methodology was appropriate for this research because twenty-six special operation forces members were interviewed using semi-structured open-ended guided questions. The population consisted of special operation forces members with a minimum of eight years of experience and who had experience serving in combat. Data analysis followed the Percy, Kostere, and Kostere (2015) formulated step-by-step procedure for inductive analysis. The findings revealed five themes related to building trust: (a) proficiency (b) attitude, (c) humility, (d) values, and (e) motivation. There was also the reveal of four themes related to maintaining trust: (a) to suffer together is to grow together, (b) the willingness to experience failure, (c) self-discipline, and (d) resilience. To verify these themes, a set of follow-up questions were asked to see if the inverse themes would prevent trust, these were the themes that developed: (a) lack of self-discipline, (b) unreliability, (c) lack of motivation, and (d) arrogance. The operators shared what culture they felt their teams provided in order to facilitate trust, and these were the themes: (a) transparency, (b) communication, and (c) respect. All participants disclosed that they trusted their teammates and that they were willing to make the ultimate sacrifice for their team, the mission and this country. / Business Administration/Strategic Management

Career counselors in schools have for a long time reported a feeling that their work is not as important as teachers work. According to the Swedish Curriculum for the compulsory schools, all staff is responsible for viable counseling for pupils. Therefore, this study focuses on teachers, headmasters and a school executive director view of school career counseling, how they experience the fulfillment of curriculum goals and how it interferes/interacts with their work. To analyze the empirical material we collected from interviews, we used theoretical terms of organizational theory with focus on social structures, differentiation and integration. We also used the career theory of Super. In the study we found that most teachers and headmasters wished for a more integrated work plan with the school counselors. None of the interviewed thought that the curriculum about career counseling was fulfilled, but thought that more cooperation would increase the fulfillment. At the moment there is too much differentiation between the professions, we believe that starting the cooperation earlier, in University courses for teaching and counseling, could decrease the gap between them.

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Der Begriff Agilität bezeichnet innerhalb der Organisationslehre seit etwa 20 Jahren eine Form der flexiblen, schlanken, kundenorientierten Organisationsgestaltung und verbindet sich, um jeweils neu entwickelte Technologien erweitert, mit dem Charakter einer jungen, modernen Organisationsform. Verstärkt wird dieser Eindruck durch die Tatsache, dass vor dem Jahre 1991, als das Iacocca Institute entscheidend zur Verknüpfung des Begriffes Agilität mit der Organisationslehre und zur Verbreitung der mit der Agilität verbundenen Methoden beitrug, der Agilitätsbegriff innerhalb der Organisationsforschung kaum auftauchte. Erst seit den frühen 1990er Jahren sind zahlreiche Veröffentlichungen zu diesem Thema erschienen, eine anhaltende Tendenz, wie die Publikationen des aktuellen Jahres belegen. Für den Ursprung des Begriffes Agilität wird in den meisten Aufsätzen dementsprechend das Jahr 1991 angesetzt, nur einige wenige Quellen nennen ältere Aufsätze und noch seltener taucht der Hinweis auf, das der Agilitätsbegriff im Umfeld der Sozialwissenschaften bereits seit den 1950er Jahren bekannt ist, interessanterweise durch das Werk eines Wirtschaftstheoretikers. Die Herkunft des Begriffes Agilität im organisationalen Umfeld auszuleuchten und sich an die vielfältigen Darstellungen dieses Konzeptes anzunähern, ist das Anliegen der vorliegenden Arbeit. Das Agilitätsmodell in der seit den 1990er Jahren entwickelten Prägung ist eine Sammlung von Elementen verschiedener organisationstheoretischer Ansätze und enthält eine Vielzahl organisationaler Konzepte, die zudem fortlaufend erweitert und verändert wurden. Es würde den Rahmen der vorliegenden Arbeit sprengen, die Theorien und Konzepte aufzulisten, die dem Agilitätsbegriff eine grundsätzliche Prägung verliehen. Es werden jedoch einige Organisationstheorien und Konzepte, deren Elemente sich als Kennzeichen der Agilität wiederfinden, aufgezeigt, um darzustellen, dass agiles Denken existierte, bevor der Begriff „Agilität“ geprägt wurde. Die Agilität ist kein Konzept, das aus der Praxis heraus entstanden ist und anschließend zum Forschungsgegenstand der Wirtschaftswissenschaften wurde, vielmehr handelt es sich um einen Entwurf, der originär als theoretischer Lösungsansatz zur Behebung einer wirtschaftlichen Stagnation entwickelt wurde. Inwieweit dieser theoretische Ansatz in der Praxis tatsächlich auch Verbreitung finden konnte, ist eine interessante Fragestellung, die zum Thema mehrerer Forschungsarbeiten gewählt wurde. Die vorliegende Arbeit wird diesen Bereich jedoch nicht näher beleuchten. Vielmehr steht eine Sammlung und Strukturierung verschiedener in der Literatur vorhandener Auffassungen und Auslegungen des Agilitätsbegriffs im Mittelpunkt.

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