<p>Denna studie syftar på att ta reda på hur anställningsbarheten ser ut i förhållande till personlighet och sökbeteende. Studien vänder sig till tidigare studenter på det Arbetsvetenskapliga programmet på Högskolan i Halmstad. Finns det någon personlighetsprofil som är mer gynnsam i arbetssökningsprocessen? Hur ser kraven ut för tjänster inom yrkesområdet samt finns det något samband mellan personlighet, anställningsbarhet och beteende i sökprocessen.</p><p>Genom att granska platsannonser sammanställdes vilka krav som krävs för tjänster inom yrkesområdet. En enkätundersökning skickades till personer som gått utbildningen. Även intervjuer gjordes med respondenter för att få ett djup i studien.</p><p>Resultatet visar bland annat att det är egenskaper inom området samvetsgrannhet och extroversion som mest efterfrågas i platsannonser inom yrkesområdet. Över hälften av respondenterna som idag har arbete inom yrkesområdet har fått arbete genom sitt sociala kontaktnät. I intervjuerna framkom att respondenterna upplevt att personlighet är en viktig faktor som arbetsgivare tittar på vid rekrytering. Studien visar även att de som är arbetslösa är mer proaktiva än övriga. Dessutom finns ett tydligt samband mellan kön, familjesituation och geografisk rörlighet.</p><p>Att vara en strategiker samt utarbeta ett stort och brett socialt nätverk har i denna studie visat sig viktigt på vägen mot drömmen om ett arbete, medan däremot skillnader inom gruppen verkar sakna betydelse.</p>

Denna studie syftar på att ta reda på hur anställningsbarheten ser ut i förhållande till personlighet och sökbeteende. Studien vänder sig till tidigare studenter på det Arbetsvetenskapliga programmet på Högskolan i Halmstad. Finns det någon personlighetsprofil som är mer gynnsam i arbetssökningsprocessen? Hur ser kraven ut för tjänster inom yrkesområdet samt finns det något samband mellan personlighet, anställningsbarhet och beteende i sökprocessen. Genom att granska platsannonser sammanställdes vilka krav som krävs för tjänster inom yrkesområdet. En enkätundersökning skickades till personer som gått utbildningen. Även intervjuer gjordes med respondenter för att få ett djup i studien. Resultatet visar bland annat att det är egenskaper inom området samvetsgrannhet och extroversion som mest efterfrågas i platsannonser inom yrkesområdet. Över hälften av respondenterna som idag har arbete inom yrkesområdet har fått arbete genom sitt sociala kontaktnät. I intervjuerna framkom att respondenterna upplevt att personlighet är en viktig faktor som arbetsgivare tittar på vid rekrytering. Studien visar även att de som är arbetslösa är mer proaktiva än övriga. Dessutom finns ett tydligt samband mellan kön, familjesituation och geografisk rörlighet. Att vara en strategiker samt utarbeta ett stort och brett socialt nätverk har i denna studie visat sig viktigt på vägen mot drömmen om ett arbete, medan däremot skillnader inom gruppen verkar sakna betydelse.

The world today is confronted by the worst financial and economic crisis since the Great Depression of 1920’s. Due to the financial system being globalised and interdependent, the contagion effects of the financial crisis trickled down to Europe and ultimately triggered the recession of 2007-2009, which had far-reaching repercussions on cross-border economic activities. The severe international downturn had a significant effect on the Swedish economy and Swedish SMEs. Moreover, the recession has heightened economic uncertainty and combined with the existing challenges facing SMEs, created one of the most difficult business climates in decades, hence, a prevailing need for creating resilience. The purpose of this study is to examine how Swedish Internationalised SMEs remain resilient during times of recession. This will be studied through investigating what resources and capabilities were crucial for building resilience and how the SMEs changed their strategy during the recession to remain resilient. The study is conducted through a qualitative case study and an abductive approach in order to get a profound insight into the firm’s behaviour. The theoretical framework is founded on the area of strategy and resilience, by accounting for strategy formulation, the RBV, resilience and strategic change. Moreover, the empirical chapter presents the results of the data gathered from the six case companies and is structured according to the companies and the three research problems. In the analysis, the patterns emerging from the theoretical framework and the empirical data is analysed based on the three research problems through trying to understand the underlying reasons for the emerging patterns. The study conclude that Swedish internationalized SMEs remained resilient during the recession of 2007- 2009, through reconfiguring its critical resources and capabilities, and changing their strategy to adapt to the changes in the external environment caused by the recession.

Summary Title of the thesis: A comparison between an Australian and a Swedish company's internationalization process, within the food sector. Seminar date: 2011-10-12 Course/subject: International marketing, master thesis 15hp Authors: Sanna Ekborg, Paulina Haglund Supervisor: Svante Andersson Keywords: Internationalization process, Swedish and Australian company within the food sector, Gourmet Garden, Örneborgs Delikatesser, market choice,entry modes, reactive/proactive behaviour. Purpose:The purpose of our study is to describean Australian and a Swedish company within the food sector, and analyze which factors affect the differences and similarities in the companies' internationalization processes. Research method: The research is qualitative and the analysis is deductive. Empirical study: Our empirical study is based on two companies, Australian Gourmet garden and swedish Örneborgs Delikatesser. Our empirical data consists of indepth interviews with the CEO, Chief Operating Officer and marketing manager. Theoretical framework: Internationalization in the food industry, the Uppsala model approach, the network approach, international entrepreneurship and internationalization through innovation. Results: Our research has showed that there are differences in the internationalization process between the two companies. Our Australian company has a more proactive approach to internationalization, while our Swedish company has a reactive approach. it may be due to their different export traditions.

A Study to Develop Strategies for Proactive Water-Loss Management Hyun Jung Park Directed by Dr. Mary Beth Walker Water conservation is one of the important policy concerns. However, most water conservation practices have focused primarily on reducing use by customers. Since a large amount of water lost in supply systems causes water providers to lose money, resources, and reliability, and the current passive approach cannot deal with water losses effectively, a proactive approach is necessary for water-loss management. The goal of this study is to help policymakers and water utilities develop strategies that proactively solve water losses. To develop strategies for water-loss management, it is essential to identify key factors that determine the level of water losses as well as the factors that encourage the adoption of the innovative control practices. Using three different datasets and statistical methodology, this study analyzed the factors associated with water losses and utilities responses to the problems. Based on case studies, this study explored managers perceptions about the adoption of water-loss management and identified organizational characteristics that may influence managements decisions to adopt such strategies. Operational and Maintenance (O and M) factors had the most significant impacts on water losses. In particular, system size, represented by total production or population served, and infrastructure rehabilitation were crucial factors. The effects of some internal factors on water losses were predicted but those of several internal factors were rather unclear and relatively complicated. This study confirmed that utilities were more likely to be motivated to combat water losses if certain external conditions, such as higher water demand, limited resource availability, and institutional pressure exist. This study found several internal and external factors associated with the adoption of proactive water-loss management; however, internal factors seemed to dominate in the decision-making processes over such adoption. The utilities that have already adopted proactive water-loss management seem to be more amenable to adopt new practices because they have certain characteristics and their managers have more positive perspectives. The findings suggest several policy implications and recommendations for the water industry. Finally, this study discussed limitations of the study, and suggestions for further studies.

在快速變動的環境下，員工的工作任務、職責，以及工作關係，也產生經常性的變動，工作內容及工作績效的定義變得更為複雜與動態，組織愈來愈重視員工是否能夠有效地因應環境的變化。因此，適應性績效逐漸受到重視而成為許多學者關切的議題。相對於任務性績效以及輔助性績效，適應性績效是屬於新興的概念，其指涉的內涵以及與其他重要組織變數之間的關係，仍有許多值得探討與研究的空間。 Pulakos等學者雖然發展出工作適應性量表，但該量表尚存在諸多改進的空間，特別是關於因素結構以及建構效度的檢驗。本論文的第一個子研究，即是以更為嚴謹的量表發展程序建構適應性績效量表。透過因素分析，我們發現適應性績效可以分成應變面、學習面以及關係面等三個次構面，我們也驗證了適應性績效確實有別於傳統的任務性績效與輔助性績效而成為獨立的工作績效構面。 另外，關於預測適應性績效的前置變數也仍存有研究缺口。本論文的第二個子研究，即是探討人格特質對於適應性績效的預測力。目前為止，五大人格對適應性績效的預測力並不是很理想，而且也有不太一致的結果。本研究建議，因為適應性績效強調的是員工面對工作環境變動時所展現出來的因應與學習的行為，所以應該選用更能符合適應性績效特性的人格變數，我們特別針對目標導向及前瞻人格做探討，因其都與個人的學習以及對環境因應有關。 實證結果發現，目標導向中的學習導向，對於應變面、學習面、關係面等適應性績效都具有正向的影響。迴避導向對應變面、學習面適應性績效有負向的影響。而證明導向則是對關係面適應性績效負向的影響。至於前瞻人格與適應性績效的關係則沒有獲得實證支持。另外，研究結果也發現，工作自主性對於前瞻人格與應變面適應性績效的關係具有正向的干擾效果；而任務複雜度對於迴避導向與應變面適應性績效之間的關係也同樣具有干擾效果。 / Rapid technological developments, frequent organizational changes, and intensified global competition in the market place have increased the extent of turbulence and uncertainty in the workplace. Consequently, adaptive performance, a new topic in the field of job performance, has gained attention from academics and practitioners. Unlike task performance and contextual performance, the content and nomological network of adaptive performance is still unclear. Thus, the purpose of this study is to develop the scale of the adaptive performance, and explore the relationships among adaptive performance, goal orientation and proactive personality. We found that adaptive is a three-dimensional construct (i.e. the adaptive performance in task area, the adaptive performance in learning new skills, the adaptive performance in interpersonal relations). Our empirical data verified that adaptive performance is discriminative from task performance and contextual performance. Besides, we found that Learning Orientation is positively associated with the adaptive performance in task area, the adaptive performance in learning new skills, the adaptive performance in interpersonal relations. Avoidance Orientation is negatively associated with the adaptive performance in task area and the adaptive performance in learning new skills. Prove Orientation is negatively associated with the adaptive performance in interpersonal relations. As to relationship between proactive personality and adaptive performance, we did not found empirical support. Finally, we found that job autonomy moderates the relationship between proavtive personality and the adaptive performance in task area, task complexity moderates the relationship between avoidance orientation and the adaptive performance in task area.

Construction has a higher injury and fatality rate than most of the other industries. Given this situation, existing research has studied various issues and factors affecting construction safety management and has attempted to use all available methods to improve the construction safety performance. However, the construction accident rate remains among the highest in the United States and the world. The primary objective of this research is to advance autonomous proximity monitoring and hence provide a safer environment for construction workers. In particular, I seek to advance current evaluations of proximity warning technologies to a more robust engineering approach to the design and deployment of autonomous safety monitoring systems. The contributions of the research are demonstrated through specifications, deployments, and testing of proximity monitoring systems for crane loads and falling from height. My research advances current knowledge in three areas. First, I develop specifications for proximity safety monitoring in a sensed environment, built from existing guidelines and expert interviews. Second, I translate the specifications to computer interpretable rules and deploy them in a distributed computing environment. This demonstrates the feasibility of a systems approach and reusability of components to speed deployment. Third, I evaluate the accuracy of the specifications and systems under imperfect data. I further evaluate some approaches to dealing with imperfect data. Collectively, these advances move existing proximity warning research from evaluation of specific systems to an engineering approach to development and deployment of distributed systems with reusable components that explicitly treats imperfect data. / text

Childhood emotional, behavioural and learning problems are prevalent in elementary classroom settings. It is therefore imperative to evaluate pre-service teacher training in classroom management. Two studies were conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of a proactive behavioural management course taught at a Canadian teacher’s college. The first study examined a sample of 69 pre-service teachers at the start and completion of this course. Using random assignment, the second study compared 50 pre-service teachers who completed the course to 32 pre-service teachers who did not take the course. Participants completed questionnaires assessing their self-efficacy, teaching style, and teaching attitudes and partook in simulated classroom scenarios. Significant findings highlight the positive influence of this course on pre-service teachers’ self-efficacy, teaching style, emotions and reactions towards children, and their use of classroom management strategies. This research may further the development of pre-service teacher training in classroom management.

Childhood emotional, behavioural and learning problems are prevalent in elementary classroom settings. It is therefore imperative to evaluate pre-service teacher training in classroom management. Two studies were conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of a proactive behavioural management course taught at a Canadian teacher’s college. The first study examined a sample of 69 pre-service teachers at the start and completion of this course. Using random assignment, the second study compared 50 pre-service teachers who completed the course to 32 pre-service teachers who did not take the course. Participants completed questionnaires assessing their self-efficacy, teaching style, and teaching attitudes and partook in simulated classroom scenarios. Significant findings highlight the positive influence of this course on pre-service teachers’ self-efficacy, teaching style, emotions and reactions towards children, and their use of classroom management strategies. This research may further the development of pre-service teacher training in classroom management.

I conducted four studies that develop and test a safety-specific model of exit, voice, patience, and neglect (EVPN) in the context of young workers’ reactions to declining safety conditions (Hirschman, 1970). In the face of hazardous working conditions, contemplating exiting (i.e., quitting the job) or voicing concerns about the risks (e.g., reporting a safety issue to a supervisor) are proactive responses. Conversely, neglecting safety concerns (i.e., ignoring personal safety in the face of danger) is a passive response. Workers may also choose patience (i.e., taking a wait-and-see approach) about concerns. In total, 833 young people participated in four studies. Manuscript 1 (Chapter 5) is a focus group study that explores the types, frequency, temporal patterns, and consequences of the safety-related EVPN behaviours. The results showed (1) most participants favoured patience if and when they have concerns about workplace safety; (2) voice is reserved for serious safety concerns; and (3) exit is very uncommon and only used as a last resort. Manuscript 2 (Chapter 6) describes the development of age-appropriate measures for general turnover intentions (i.e., exit), and safety-specific voice, patience, and neglect. The reliability, dimensionality, and validity of these scales are demonstrated over three studies. Manuscript 3 (Chapter 7) used an experimental scenario approach in which safety conditions (high vs. low), financial reasons for working (high vs. low), and being injured (injured vs. not injured) are manipulated. The role of participant gender (male vs. female) was also examined. Participants assigned to the injury condition were more likely to exercise patience than those assigned to the non-injury condition. Low quality safety conditions were associated with higher turnover intentions. Finally, females reported higher voice than males. Finally, Manuscript 4 (Chapter 8) reports on findings from a short-term longitudinal design meant to replicate and extend the results from the previous studies. Support for Hirschman’s loyalty proposition was also found. Specifically, felt responsibility for improving safety was found to moderate the relationship between organizational loyalty and both exit and voice. The final chapter integrates these findings and discusses future research directions as well as implications for public policy, management practice, and theory. / Thesis (Ph.D, Management) -- Queen's University, 2010-08-18 13:19:15.634