Thesis (doctoral)--University of St. Gallen, 2008.

Thesis (doctoral)--Universität St. Gallen, 2009.

A cross-sectional study of Manitoba TB Registry data was conducted using a set of performance measures based on the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention TB Performance Objectives and Targets framework. The study investigated all cases of TB diagnosed in Manitoba during the period of 2008 to 2010 (inclusive), and their contacts. Seven performance measures (PMs) were analyzed: treatment completion/cure, early diagnosis, HIV testing/reporting, paediatric cases, re-treatment cases, contact elicitation, and contact assessment. Ethnic-origin, age, sex, geographic, and treatment history groups were compared on these PMs through log-binomial and robust Poisson regression analyses, implemented through a generalized estimating equations (GEE) modelling approach. An updated epidemiological profile is provided, along with a baseline of performance in TB prevention, diagnosis, and care in Manitoba. Significant differences were found between Manitoba sub-populations in the PMs. The PM framework developed in this study provided valuable information for TB program planning and evaluation. / February 2016

Este estudo propõe um método de avaliação de desempenho de práticas típicas da produção enxuta em indústrias de manufatura. As práticas utilizadas no método proposto são práticas enxutas operacionais (por exemplo, gerenciamento visual e troca rápida de ferramentas), diferentemente de estudos anteriores que focavam principalmente em práticas enxutas gerenciais. O método foi desenvolvido e testado em um estudo de caso realizado em uma empresa fabricante de juntas homocinéticas. Essa empresa vem adotando a produção enxuta (PE) como estratégia de produção em nível corporativo desde 2002. O método é composto de oito etapas: (a) uma avaliação da sua aplicabilidade, a qual implica em verificar se os objetivos das estratégias de manufatura podem ser atingidos através da produção enxuta; (b) uma avaliação preliminar do quanto a cultura organizacional é consistente com os princípios da produção enxuta – essa avaliação é feita através da aplicação de um checklist baseado em requisitos estabelecidos pelas Normas SAE J4000 e J4001; (c) entrevistas com gerentes para verificar suas percepções sobre os pontos fortes e fracos na implementação da produção enxuta – nesse estudo de caso, sete gerentes foram entrevistados: (d) aplicação de um checklist para avaliar o desempenho de um grupo de práticas enxutas, baseado na percepção de gerentes – nesse estudo de caso, sete gerentes preencheram o checklist e a média de desempenho de cada prática enxuta foi calculada; (e) o desenvolvimento de um ranking para avaliar a importância de práticas enxutas, baseadas na percepção de alguns gerentes envolvidos na etapa anterior; (f) seleção de indicadores de desempenho que possam quantificar indiretamente o desempenho de práticas enxutas, considerando os indicadores utilizados na empresa e indicadores utilizados em estudos anteriores; (g) coleta de dados referentes aos indicadores selecionados na etapa anterior ; (h) seminário para discutir os resultados coletados em todas as etapas anteriores. Os passos (g) e (h) não foram aplicados nesse estudo de caso. De forma geral, os resultados demonstraram que práticas enxutas fortemente associadas com a estabilidade básica, tais como a padronização, apresentaram desempenho fraco. / This study presents a method for assessing the performance of typical lean production practices in manufacturing industry. The practices encompassed by the proposed method are related to operational lean practices (e.g. visual management and single minute exchange of dies and tools), differently from previous similar studies that focused mostly on managerial lean practices. The method was developed and tested in a case study undertaken in a manufacturer of automobile axiles. This company has been adopting lean production as its manufacturing strategy since 2002. The method involves eight stages: (a) an assessment of its applicability, which implies checking whether the manufacturing strategy targets might be achieved through lean production; (b) a preliminary assessment of the extent to which the organizational culture is consistent with lean production principles – this assessment is made through the application of a check-list based on the requirements established by SAE J4000 and J4001 standards; (c) interviews with managers to identify their perceptions on strenghts and weaknesses of lean production implementation – in the case study, seven managers were interviewed; (d) application of a check-list to assess the performance of a set of lean practices based on managers perceptions – in the case study, seven managers filled out the check-list and an average degree of performance for each lean practice was then calculated; (e) the development of a ranking to assess the importance of lean practices, based on the perceptions of some of the same managers involved in the previous stages; (f) selection of performance indicators that could indirectly quantify the performance of lean practices, considering both the existing indicators in the company and existing indicators proposed in previous studies; (g) data gathering concerning results of the selected indicators; (h) a seminar to discuss the data collected during all the previous stages. Stages (g) and (h) were not carried out in the case study. Overall, the results pointed out that lean practices that are closely associated with basic stability, such as standardization, performed poorly.

abstract: As global competition continues to grow more disruptive, organizational change is an ever-present reality that affects companies in all industries at both the operational and strategic level. Organizational change capabilities have become a necessary aspect of existence for organizations in all industries worldwide. Research suggests that more than half of all organizational change efforts fail to achieve their original intended results, with some studies quoting failure rates as high as 70 percent. Exasperating this problem is the fact that no single change methodology has been universally accepted. This thesis examines two aspect of organizational change: the implementation of tactical and strategic initiatives, primarily focusing on successful tactical implementation techniques. This research proposed that tactical issues typically dominate the focus of change agents and recipients alike, often to the detriment of strategic level initiatives that are vital to the overall value and success of the organizational change effort. The Delphi method was employed to develop a tool to facilitate the initial implementation of organizational change such that tactical barriers were minimized and available resources for strategic initiatives were maximized. Feedback from two expert groups of change agents and change facilitators was solicited to develop the tool and evaluate its impact. Preliminary pilot testing of the tool confirmed the proposal and successfully served to minimize tactical barriers to organizational change. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.S. Construction 2011

>Magister Scientiae - MSc / The industry of pension funds has become one of the drivers of today’s economic activity by its important volume of contribution in the financial market and by creating wealth. The increasing importance that pension funds have acquired in today’s economy and financial market, raises special attention from investors, financial actors and pundits in the sector. Regarding this economic weight of pension funds, a thorough analysis of the performance of different pension funds plans in order to optimise benefits need to be undertaken. The research explores criteria and invariants that make it possible to compare the performance of different pension fund products. Pension fund companies currently do measure their performances with those of others. Likewise, the individual investing in a pension plan compares different products available in the market. There exist different ways of measuring the performance of a pension fund according to their different schemes. Generally, there exist two main pension funds plans. The defined benefit (DB) pension funds plan which is mostly preferred by pension members due to his ability to hold the risk to the pension fund manager. The defined contributions (DC) pension fund plan on the other hand, is more popularly preferred by the pension fund managers due to its ability to transfer the risk to the pension fund members. One of the reasons that motivate pension fund members’ choices of entering into a certain programme is that their expectations of maintaining their living lifestyle after retirement are met by the pension fund strategies. This dissertation investigates the various properties and characteristics of the defined contribution pension fund plan with a minimum guarantee and benchmark in order to mitigate the risk that pension fund members are subject to. For the pension fund manager the aim is to find the optimal asset allocation strategy which optimises its retribution which is in fact a part of the surplus (the difference between the pension fund value and the guarantee) (2004) [19] and to analyse the effect of sharing between the contributor and the pension fund. From the pension fund members’ perspective it is to define a optimal guarantee as a solution to the contributor’s optimisation programme. In particular, we consider a case of a pension fund company which invests in a bond, stocks and a money market account. The uncertainty in the financial market is driven by Brownian motions. Numerical simulations were performed to compare the different models.

Este trabalho tem por objetivo desenvolver diretrizes para avaliar o uso dos princípios da produção enxuta (PE). Estes princípios foram identificados com base em uma revisão da literatura, enfatizando obras de autores clássicos do sistema da PE. As diretrizes foram testadas por meio de um estudo de caso em uma fábrica de pregos que faz parte de uma planta siderúrgica, que vem adotando a filosofia enxuta desde 2004. As etapas da avaliação dos princípios foram as seguintes: a) avaliar qualitativamente um conjunto de práticas da PE presentes no setor estudado; b) entrevistas com treze operadores para avaliar o seu conhecimento e uso dos princípios da PE; c) elaboração de um questionário para avaliar o uso dos princípios da PE no setor; d) aplicação do questionário junto a 44 funcionários; e) análise dos resultados e f) reunião de retorno dos questionários aos funcionários. No estudo de caso os resultados foram agrupados em quatro constructos: solução de problemas, funcionários e fornecedores externos, processo e filosofia. Os resultados mostraram que os operadores julgam conhecer e vivenciar os princípios da PE no seu dia-a-dia. Entretanto, alguns princípios, como “produzir em fluxo contínuo” e “puxar a produção”, não tiveram respaldo na etapa de observação direta do processo. De fato, embora os operadores tenham respondido nos questionários que usavam esses princípios com grande intensidade, isso não corresponde à realidade no chão de fábrica. / This work aims to develop guidelines to evaluate the use of lean production (LP) principles. These principles have been identified based on a review of the literature, emphasizing works of classic authors of the LP system. The guidelines were tested through a case study in a nail factory that is part of a steel plant, which has adopted the lean philosophy since 2004. The stages of assessment principles are as follows: a) to evaluate qualitatively a set of LP practices present in the studied factory; b) interviews with thirteen operators to assess their knowledge and use of the LP principles; c) development of a questionnaire to evaluate the use of the LP principles in the factory; d) application of the questionnaire to 44 members; e) result analysis and f) return the questionnaires results in a meeting with the employees. In the case study, results were grouped into four constructs: problem solving, staff and external suppliers, process and philosophy. The results showed that the operators assume they know and live the LP principles in their day-to-day. However, certain principles such as "to produce in continuous flow" and "pulled production", they had not support in the stage of direct observation of the process. In fact, although the operators have answered that used these principles with great intensity, that is not the reality on the factory floor.

Este estudo propõe um método de avaliação de desempenho de práticas típicas da produção enxuta em indústrias de manufatura. As práticas utilizadas no método proposto são práticas enxutas operacionais (por exemplo, gerenciamento visual e troca rápida de ferramentas), diferentemente de estudos anteriores que focavam principalmente em práticas enxutas gerenciais. O método foi desenvolvido e testado em um estudo de caso realizado em uma empresa fabricante de juntas homocinéticas. Essa empresa vem adotando a produção enxuta (PE) como estratégia de produção em nível corporativo desde 2002. O método é composto de oito etapas: (a) uma avaliação da sua aplicabilidade, a qual implica em verificar se os objetivos das estratégias de manufatura podem ser atingidos através da produção enxuta; (b) uma avaliação preliminar do quanto a cultura organizacional é consistente com os princípios da produção enxuta – essa avaliação é feita através da aplicação de um checklist baseado em requisitos estabelecidos pelas Normas SAE J4000 e J4001; (c) entrevistas com gerentes para verificar suas percepções sobre os pontos fortes e fracos na implementação da produção enxuta – nesse estudo de caso, sete gerentes foram entrevistados: (d) aplicação de um checklist para avaliar o desempenho de um grupo de práticas enxutas, baseado na percepção de gerentes – nesse estudo de caso, sete gerentes preencheram o checklist e a média de desempenho de cada prática enxuta foi calculada; (e) o desenvolvimento de um ranking para avaliar a importância de práticas enxutas, baseadas na percepção de alguns gerentes envolvidos na etapa anterior; (f) seleção de indicadores de desempenho que possam quantificar indiretamente o desempenho de práticas enxutas, considerando os indicadores utilizados na empresa e indicadores utilizados em estudos anteriores; (g) coleta de dados referentes aos indicadores selecionados na etapa anterior ; (h) seminário para discutir os resultados coletados em todas as etapas anteriores. Os passos (g) e (h) não foram aplicados nesse estudo de caso. De forma geral, os resultados demonstraram que práticas enxutas fortemente associadas com a estabilidade básica, tais como a padronização, apresentaram desempenho fraco. / This study presents a method for assessing the performance of typical lean production practices in manufacturing industry. The practices encompassed by the proposed method are related to operational lean practices (e.g. visual management and single minute exchange of dies and tools), differently from previous similar studies that focused mostly on managerial lean practices. The method was developed and tested in a case study undertaken in a manufacturer of automobile axiles. This company has been adopting lean production as its manufacturing strategy since 2002. The method involves eight stages: (a) an assessment of its applicability, which implies checking whether the manufacturing strategy targets might be achieved through lean production; (b) a preliminary assessment of the extent to which the organizational culture is consistent with lean production principles – this assessment is made through the application of a check-list based on the requirements established by SAE J4000 and J4001 standards; (c) interviews with managers to identify their perceptions on strenghts and weaknesses of lean production implementation – in the case study, seven managers were interviewed; (d) application of a check-list to assess the performance of a set of lean practices based on managers perceptions – in the case study, seven managers filled out the check-list and an average degree of performance for each lean practice was then calculated; (e) the development of a ranking to assess the importance of lean practices, based on the perceptions of some of the same managers involved in the previous stages; (f) selection of performance indicators that could indirectly quantify the performance of lean practices, considering both the existing indicators in the company and existing indicators proposed in previous studies; (g) data gathering concerning results of the selected indicators; (h) a seminar to discuss the data collected during all the previous stages. Stages (g) and (h) were not carried out in the case study. Overall, the results pointed out that lean practices that are closely associated with basic stability, such as standardization, performed poorly.

Este trabalho tem por objetivo desenvolver diretrizes para avaliar o uso dos princípios da produção enxuta (PE). Estes princípios foram identificados com base em uma revisão da literatura, enfatizando obras de autores clássicos do sistema da PE. As diretrizes foram testadas por meio de um estudo de caso em uma fábrica de pregos que faz parte de uma planta siderúrgica, que vem adotando a filosofia enxuta desde 2004. As etapas da avaliação dos princípios foram as seguintes: a) avaliar qualitativamente um conjunto de práticas da PE presentes no setor estudado; b) entrevistas com treze operadores para avaliar o seu conhecimento e uso dos princípios da PE; c) elaboração de um questionário para avaliar o uso dos princípios da PE no setor; d) aplicação do questionário junto a 44 funcionários; e) análise dos resultados e f) reunião de retorno dos questionários aos funcionários. No estudo de caso os resultados foram agrupados em quatro constructos: solução de problemas, funcionários e fornecedores externos, processo e filosofia. Os resultados mostraram que os operadores julgam conhecer e vivenciar os princípios da PE no seu dia-a-dia. Entretanto, alguns princípios, como “produzir em fluxo contínuo” e “puxar a produção”, não tiveram respaldo na etapa de observação direta do processo. De fato, embora os operadores tenham respondido nos questionários que usavam esses princípios com grande intensidade, isso não corresponde à realidade no chão de fábrica. / This work aims to develop guidelines to evaluate the use of lean production (LP) principles. These principles have been identified based on a review of the literature, emphasizing works of classic authors of the LP system. The guidelines were tested through a case study in a nail factory that is part of a steel plant, which has adopted the lean philosophy since 2004. The stages of assessment principles are as follows: a) to evaluate qualitatively a set of LP practices present in the studied factory; b) interviews with thirteen operators to assess their knowledge and use of the LP principles; c) development of a questionnaire to evaluate the use of the LP principles in the factory; d) application of the questionnaire to 44 members; e) result analysis and f) return the questionnaires results in a meeting with the employees. In the case study, results were grouped into four constructs: problem solving, staff and external suppliers, process and philosophy. The results showed that the operators assume they know and live the LP principles in their day-to-day. However, certain principles such as "to produce in continuous flow" and "pulled production", they had not support in the stage of direct observation of the process. In fact, although the operators have answered that used these principles with great intensity, that is not the reality on the factory floor.

Thesis (MTech (Business))--Peninsula Technikon, 2003 / This dissertation sets out to develop a Performance Management System for the Greater Stellenbosch Municipality. It is proposed for use as a unit of analysis. The system provides a framework for determining developmental priorities and identifying the appropriate resources. The system monitors progress and simultaneously serves as an instrument that maintains municipal accountability for the delivery of its core developmental functions. Intemationall)(, an infInite number of research projects in the fIeld of performance management and best practices for organisational performance have been undertaken for local authorities. This includes a range of terms extending from the 1950's, known as benchmarking, to the current context where the balance scorecard has been put ori the performance agenda. The emphasis for increased and accountable performance of local authorities is currently on the foreground, because local authorities are now responsible for executing duties in the form of developmental outputs. This responsibility found its framework in a range of legislative obligations as found ill: • Sections 152 and 153 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 (Act 108 of 1996), outlining the objects and developmental duties of municipalities; • Section 73 of the Municipal Systems Act, 2000 (Act 32 of 2000) that outlines the general duties of municipalities in relation to service delivery; • Chapters 4 and 6 of the Municipal Systems Act, 2000 (Act 32 of 2000) outlining, respectively, community participation and performance management procedures and systems, and • Schedules 4 and 5 parts B of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 (Act 108 of 1996) and Section 84 of the Municipal Structures Amendments Act (Act 33 of 2000) that outlines the service portfolio of municipalities on which service standards should be developed.