The business environment of today is characterised by great risks for organisations as well as for individuals. New principles and ways of working that differ significantly from what was done even as little as a decade ago are required. To keep to traditional stances in the corporate environment may mean that existing competitive advantages may not be enough anymore to ensure success. This also applies to the financial services sector where there is currently a clear shift from a product focus to a client focus. In the light of changes taking place in the financial services sector, it is also necessary to think differently about the mediators (brokers) delivering related services since the delivery channels have also changed due to technological development. Competitive advantages lie in a client and market focus rather than a product focus, and a process focus rather than a functional focus. The client’s voice must be heard and it is possible that a successful person in this focus is different from a successful person in the old focus. For the sake of quality in service delivery and alignment in the same direction, it is necessary for management to have a shared mental model when looking at staff decisions concerning brokers. They must also be aware of their own thoughts about staff within the changing focus and they must realise the impact this can have on their decisions. The main objective of this study is to determine whether the managers under investigation have a shared mental model in terms of success criteria for brokers. In order to do this, it is necessary to first investigate the concepts mental model and shared mental model and the impact they may have in an organisational environment. The Repertory Grid technique was used for data collection. As a result of the wide variety of Repertory Grid techniques, together with the various ways of application, it is essential to be familiar with the techniques and modes of application in order to choose the most suitable technique and application method for a specific study. Kelly’s Personal Construct theory contains the assumptions underlying this technique and it is important for a researcher to be aware of these regardless of whether this is the theory s/he will be using since the underlying assumptions will definitely have an influence on the interpretation of the results. The data was presented as a qualitative description of each manager’s mental model in terms of the successful broker as well as a short description of the person’s construction system regarding success in their business environment. Conclusions were made from a synthesis of the results regarding the extent to which there could be referred to a shared mental model and its possible impact on decisions and efficiency in the work and business environment. The results confirmed that the objectives of this research project were met. It emerged that this management team does not effectively share a mental model and that this may impact negatively on their business decisions. Recommendations were made regarding the change or establishment of a client-focused mental model. Suggestions for future research regarding broker efficiency were also made. / Thesis (MA (Research Psychology))--University of Pretoria, 2002. / Psychology / unrestricted

The increasing number of travelers in urban areas has led to new opportunities for local government and private mobility providers to offer new travel modes besides and in addition to traditional ones. Multimodal travel provides an especially promising opportunity. However, until now the underlying reasons why consumers choose specific alternatives have not been fully understood. Hence, the design of new travel modes is mainly driven by obvious criteria such as environmental friendliness and convenience but might not consider consumers’ real or latent needs. To close this research gap, sixty in-depth interviews with urban travelers were conducted. To identify the perceptual differences of customers among different travel modes, the repertory grid technique as an innovative, structured interview method was applied. Our data show that urban travelers distinguish and select travel alternatives based on 28 perceptual determinants. While some determinants associated with private cars such as privacy, flexibility and autonomy are key indicators of travel mode choice, costs and time efficiency also play a major role. Furthermore, by comparing travel modes to an ideal category, we reveal that some perceptual determinants do not need to be maximized in order to fulfill customer needs optimally. A comparison of consumers’ perceptual assessments of alternative travel modes identifies specific advantages and disadvantages of all alternatives, and provides fruitful implications for government and private mobility providers.

This research investigates political risk in the context of service offshoring and the corresponding impact on risk management decisions. The first stage of the study uses the Repertory Grid Technique (RGT), to explore key post-contract political risks experiences within offshore outsourcing activities. Twelve key political risks affecting offshore outsourcing decisions are identified, and the moderating effect of offshoring activity types (BPO, ITO or KPO) on political risk exposure and impact perceptions is highlighted. The research also explores the conditioning effect of industry specific exposure to political risk and enhances the explanatory ability of the Transaction Cost Economics (TCE) constructs, offering a re-operationalization of the political risk component of external uncertainty. The second stage of the research introduces a series of hypotheses between offshoring flows and political risk profiles, and applies multiple regression to analyse political risk affecting offshore activities in low cost countries across contract-based offshoring engagements and FDI. The findings highlight that political risk is a genuine business concern for offshore contract-based outsourcing modalities, and identify concerns with Intellectual Property protection, Quality of Bureaucracy and Corruption as key considerations affecting location decisions in low-cost countries. The research further suggests a positive relationship between strong country level institutional and regulatory systems and high knowledge content in offshoring engagements. From a practical perspective, the research highlights the need for managerial tools to determine diversified firm and industry specific political risk impact on global service outsourcing engagements. The key practical contribution is the development of differentiated political risk typologies that can capture the nuances of external risks in offshoring, allowing for more accurate risk assessment of offshoring decisions.

Organizational learning causes organizational change. Different descriptive models have been proposed, but little research on variables influencing these processes has been done. Needs govern our behavior and motivate our acting. It has been shown that their identification and satisfaction effect value-creating and knowledge-intensive activities, such as innovation processes, strategy development, and product design. However, needs are usually implicitly anchored in organizations and people can hardly articulate them. Despite the fact that a focus on needs does not prescribe any concrete strategy, but extends opportunities to act, an initial consideration of needs often lacks. Consequently, their role as an influencing variable for organizational learning has not been investigated yet. Addressing this gap, this dissertation explores the nature of needs and how they can enhance organizational learning processes. It introduces a novel theory on needs for organizational practice which emphasizes the potential of a focus on needs. It argues why considering needs is beneficial for learning initiatives, such as vision or strategy development, in which various expectations which presumably emerge from shared needs have to be combined. Shared needs within a social system can trigger organizational learning and facilitate the design of new consensual satisfaction strategies (satisfiers). The theory allows for understanding the motivational forces of organizational learning and exploiting the postulated one-to-many relation between needs and satisfiers. Moreover, it points at influencing variables for the organizational transition from needs to need satisfaction and illustrates that by a knowledge perspective resulting in the concept of "need-based solution knowledge". This knowledge enables people to propose viable satisfiers in organizations. We introduce the methodological framework "Bewextra" that targets at the capacity to identify needs in organizations. It rests upon theories from various scientific fields and utilizes "learning from an envisioned future" as a core method. This enables to literally envision a desired future scenario in which all needs are intuitively fulfilled, and thereby allows for the creation of knowledge about needs. The research follows the action research paradigm which proposes a combinational interplay between rational and empirical research processes, in which various (qualitative) research methods are used. Besides theoretical considerations, the dissertation reports about four research projects in which the theories and methods were applied, reflected, and refined. More specifically, it presents how "Bewextra" was implemented and adjusted and demonstrates that a combination of conventional learning from the past and "learning from an envisioned future" enhances the outcome of organizational learning in various domains. Moreover, it investigates the differences between organizational strategies, that emerge with reference to needs, and strategies, that are developed without explicitly considering needs.

Design is hard and needs to be supported by software. One of the ways software can support designers is by providing analogical reasoning. To make analogical reasoning work well, the software makers need to know how to create a knowledge representation that will facilitate the kind of analogies that the designers want. This thesis will inform software makers by experimenting with two kinds of knowledge representations, called device-centric (DC) and environment-centric (EC), and to try to determine the relative benefits of using either one of them for analogical matching. We performed computational experiments, using Structure Mapping Engine for matching, to determine the quantity and quality of analogical matches that are produced when the representation is varied. We conducted a limited human experiment, using questionnaires and repertory grids, to determine if any of the computational results were novel, and to determine if the human similarity ratings between devices correlated with the computer results. We show that design software should use DC representations to produce a few focused matches which have high average weight. It should use EC representations to produce many matches some of high weight and some of low weight. Based on our human experiment, design software can use either DC or EC representations to produce novel matches. Our experiments also show that human matches correlate most strongly with a combined DC and EC representation and that their similarity reasons are more EC than DC. This suggests that designers tend to think more in EC terms than in DC terms.

<p>The present study concerns ways to describe, judge and discuss aesthetic qualities of designed textile patterns. Specific aims were to study how colours and compositions used in Old Amish Quilts can be systematically described, to study how simple and complex patterns in printed textile fabrics are perceived and expressed verbally and to study judgements, concepts and values in relation to designed textile patterns as expressed by schoolchildren, consumers, teachers of textile handicraft and designers.</p><p>The study design is qualitative in order to collect concepts used by subjects from different user groups when describing textile patterns and of the reasons for their judgements of the designed patterns. A modified Repertory Grid Method was used. Describing colour design and composition using graphic models was also attempted.</p><p>The experience of aesthetic qualities in designed patterns is complex and not possible to describe using clear-cut concepts. Descriptions and choice of words are part of different language games outside the field of textile design and their contents are found in a dynamic interplay between a number of experiential contexts. The dominant inner contexts of individuals, basic perceptual patterns of apprehension, direct experiences of the surrounding world, and influences from the cultural context all give different and complex structures of attention. Different structures of attention lead to different perceptual choices and different descriptions, judgements, notions and values concerning designed printed patterns.</p><p>The present study shows that subjects make their judgements on the basis of formal, functional, cultural and emotional contents. These content categories are related to the multiple contexts of different dimensions of experience. For judgement and communication in the process of design and in design education, mutual understanding calls not only for concepts and notions in the field of design, but also consideration of conditions of experience and communication in life.</p>

The present study concerns ways to describe, judge and discuss aesthetic qualities of designed textile patterns. Specific aims were to study how colours and compositions used in Old Amish Quilts can be systematically described, to study how simple and complex patterns in printed textile fabrics are perceived and expressed verbally and to study judgements, concepts and values in relation to designed textile patterns as expressed by schoolchildren, consumers, teachers of textile handicraft and designers. The study design is qualitative in order to collect concepts used by subjects from different user groups when describing textile patterns and of the reasons for their judgements of the designed patterns. A modified Repertory Grid Method was used. Describing colour design and composition using graphic models was also attempted. The experience of aesthetic qualities in designed patterns is complex and not possible to describe using clear-cut concepts. Descriptions and choice of words are part of different language games outside the field of textile design and their contents are found in a dynamic interplay between a number of experiential contexts. The dominant inner contexts of individuals, basic perceptual patterns of apprehension, direct experiences of the surrounding world, and influences from the cultural context all give different and complex structures of attention. Different structures of attention lead to different perceptual choices and different descriptions, judgements, notions and values concerning designed printed patterns. The present study shows that subjects make their judgements on the basis of formal, functional, cultural and emotional contents. These content categories are related to the multiple contexts of different dimensions of experience. For judgement and communication in the process of design and in design education, mutual understanding calls not only for concepts and notions in the field of design, but also consideration of conditions of experience and communication in life.

of disertation Rhythmic gymnastics (RG) is the only Olympia sport of girls and women and it is characterized by precision, fluency and elegance of movement that emphasizes feminine beauty and grace. At present, there is no coherent concept of long-term sports training of talented gymnasts in Czech RG. The outflow of athletes is evident especially during prepubescence. Basic RG preparation aims gradual development of motor abilities, practice of sports (gymnastics) skills and the beginning of specialized techniques based on the principle of comprehensive movement base. This period (in rhythmic gymnastics between 7-9 years of gymnasts) for further performance growth is very substantial, in terms of content and in terms of training forms and influence of trainers (coaches). Defining the content of movement and gymnastic activities determines the path of development athletes and also defines (for caoches) performance criteria in each age category. The aim of disertation was to verify correspondence between published scientific theories and trainers experience of coaching using the Repertory Grid Technique. Along the way sixteen semi-structured interviews with selected experts was achieved interpersonal and intrapersonal data. Experts in the preparation of RG agreed on the fact that in practice a set of...

Title: The Gymnastics objects analysis in preparation of physical education teachers with focus on Artistic gymnastics. Thesis objective This thesis was aimed to determine the content of Artistic gymnastics as a part of physical education teaching study programme. To achieve the primary objective two other sub-objectives were established. These were examined in two research phases: 1. the school documentation analysis in respect of: a) objectives, results and contents of Artistic gymnastics study plans b) distribution of individual Gymnastics objects (Artistic gymnastics in particular) and their frequency in a lesson plan 2. to learn and define requirements posed upon the personality of a high school physical education teacher. Methods The research continued in two phases. The first phase was to analyse the school documentation and explore the focus on contents of Artistic gymnastics study plans, its range and required results. To find the answer on relevance and necessity of particular competences of Artistic gymnastics graduates the repertory grid method was used in the second phase of research. The repertory grid provided large quantity of information questioning a group of 15 experts divided in three sub-groups based on their experience with gymnastics teaching. Results With respect to...

This research investigates political risk in the context of service offshoring and the corresponding impact on risk management decisions. The first stage of the study uses the Repertory Grid Technique (RGT), to explore key post-contract political risks experiences within offshore outsourcing activities. Twelve key political risks affecting offshore outsourcing decisions are identified, and the moderating effect of offshoring activity types (BPO, ITO or KPO) on political risk exposure and impact perceptions is highlighted. The research also explores the conditioning effect of industry specific exposure to political risk and enhances the explanatory ability of the Transaction Cost Economics (TCE) constructs, offering a re-operationalization of the political risk component of external uncertainty. The second stage of the research introduces a series of hypotheses between offshoring flows and political risk profiles, and applies multiple regression to analyse political risk affecting offshore activities in low cost countries across contract-based offshoring engagements and FDI. The findings highlight that political risk is a genuine business concern for offshore contract-based outsourcing modalities, and identify concerns with Intellectual Property protection, Quality of Bureaucracy and Corruption as key considerations affecting location decisions in low-cost countries. The research further suggests a positive relationship between strong country level institutional and regulatory systems and high knowledge content in offshoring engagements. From a practical perspective, the research highlights the need for managerial tools to determine diversified firm and industry specific political risk impact on global service outsourcing engagements. The key practical contribution is the development of differentiated political risk typologies that can capture the nuances of external risks in offshoring, allowing for more accurate risk assessment of offshoring decisions.