<p>Motiverade och engagerade medarbetare anses idag vara en av de viktigaste faktorerna för att skapa goda resultat inom företag och organisationer. Genom hela historien så har en ledares uppgift varit att inrikta människornas självbevarelsedrift på gemensamma mål, att uttrycka och att försvara en vision som fyller de ledda med hopp. Mediamakarna i Sverige AB, beläget i centrala Stockholm, startades av tre personer vid namn Richard Ehlesjö, Fredrik Sandblad och Sammy Jeridi. Som delägare i företaget arbetar de efter egen modell där öppen kommunikation anses vara extremt betydelsefullt. Med tanke på att de är relativt oerfarna som ledare ställer jag mig frågande till huruvida ledarna har en tillräcklig kompetens och personliga egenskaper för att leda sig själva samt att motivera ett säljteam till framgång.</p><p>Hur motiverar Mediamakarna säljarna till att prestera det yttersta och hur gör man för att få självmotiverade säljare? Anser cheferna att de har de egenskaper som gör dem till bra ledare som nyttjar varje ledares positiva egenskaper på rätt sätt? Dessutom ska jag granska företagets rollfördelning. Syftet med uppsatsen är att förstå vilka metoder cheferna använder för att skapa och framförallt bibehålla hög motivation hos säljpersonalen. För att förstå relationen mellan ledning och säljare är min avsikt också att studera ledarstruktur och roller.</p><p>Jag har intervjuat tre personer. För att intervjuerna skulle bli så bra som möjligt intervjuades den person med mest kunskap och ansvar inom det ämne jag skriver om. Det hermeneutiska förhållningssättet kommer att användas därför att de lämpar sig mer gentemot min forskning. Jag tolkar respondenternas åsikter med hjälp av min förståelse. Jag skall använda mig av en mer kvalitativ metod gentemot kvantitativ eftersom jag kommer att söka förståelse samt meningen med företeelsen av rapportens syfte.</p><p>Efter avslutande studier där jag främst granskat olika motivationsfaktorer hos Mediamakarna anser jag att de har en god struktur men att de bör fokusera på vissa specifika områden som kan skapa eventuella framtida problem. Jag tycker att de har en god syn på motivation där de främst vill bevara inre motivationsintressen kontra yttre sådana. Vad man däremot kan göra är att belöna de säljare som verkligen presterar bra med sådana ”belöningar som främjar den inre företagskulturen” i högre utsträckning så att de i sin tur är trogna gentemot företaget och på sikt kan bli viktiga aktörer när företaget expanderar. När det gäller huvuduppgifterna som en ledare bör ha så tycker jag att Mediamakarna uppfyller kraven. Visionerna och målen som är uppsatta tillsammans med säljarna betyder att den största pressen inte kommer från ledarna utan från säljarna själva. En säljare känner då att han kan utgå från sin egen förmåga och inte hela tiden bli jämförd med andra vilket bidrar till en ökad positiv energi istället för ett ökande tryck på axlarna. Synsättet ökar, enligt mig, förståelsen gentemot varandra och underlättar för ledarna att förmedla en gemensam vision som ska finnas hos respektive säljare.</p><p>Jag tycker att Fredrik och Rickard klarar av att vara ett föredöme utåt. De har, med tanke på sin ringa erfarenhet som ledare, lyckats etablera sig i en hård bransch där det gäller att synas och att skapa kontakter. Det Fredrik dock bör tänka på är att fortsätta med att sätta upp klara riktlinjer vad som är ledare kontra kamrat, vara rättvis och undvika favoriseringar. När det gäller rollfördelningen inom organisation ser jag i nuläget att det inte är några större problem. För att tillsätta en analytiker samt en riktig verkställare så måste Mediamakarna börja att fokusera mer på grupptänkandet. Ledningen har en viktig fråga framför sig, hur man ska bli ”bredare” i sitt urvalsmönster av säljare. De får inte vara rädda för att anställa ”udda” säljare som skiljer sig från den nuvarande säljgruppen. Ju större karaktärsbredd desto lättare är det att hitta den saknade ”pusselbiten” och göra gruppen mer dynamisk.</p> / <p>Motivated and absorbed co-workers is today considered as one of the most important factors in creating good results within companies and organisations. A leaders aim has always been, throughout the whole history, to concentrate human instinct of self-preservation towards common interests, to express and defend a vision which enhance co-workers with believe. Mediamakarna i Sverige AB, founded by Richard Ehlesjö, Fredrik Sandblad and Sammy Jeridi wants to emphasise open communication as something significant within their organisation. Considered their relative inexperienced qualities of leadership, I’m making inquiries about their qualifications and characteristics managing themselves and motivating a sales team to success. How is Mediamakarna motivating salesmen to perform their outmost and how to receive self- motivated members?</p><p>Considering the management, are they of that opinion having sufficient quality of being good leaders and do they use each others skills in a right, positive manner? Furthermore, I will revise the company’s role of structure. The purpose with this article is to understand what kind of methods the management are using to create and above all preserve a high level of motivation among the salesmen. To understand the relationship between management and salesman my purpose is also to study management structure and roles. I have had interviews with three persons. To receive maximum extent, I interviewed the person with the greatest knowledge and responsibility within each field. The hermeneutic approach will be used because it suits my study field. I interpret the respondents opinions with my comprehension. I’m using a more qualitative approach compare to a quantitative one seeing that I will be in search of comprehension and intention of the purpose of the report.</p><p>After completed studies at Mediamakarna, I consider the company having a good structure but also that the management must focus on certain specific fields that may lead to future complex of problems. My opinion is that they have an agreeable view regarding motivation where they foremost want to preserve internal motivation versus external ones. What the company can do is to reward those salesmen that perform on a constant high basis with ”such rewards that encourage the inner culture of company” in a higher extent that they in return are faithful towards the company and in the future can be major assets when the company expands. Regarding the main tasks a manager must have, I think that Mediamakarna fulfils the requirements. The vision and goals that are constructed together means that the great amount of pressure are not from the management but from the salesmen themselves. One salesman might then feel that he can emanate from his own capacity and not be judged on a constant basis which create a positive energy instead of a increasing pressure on the shoulders. In my point of view it increases the understanding towards each other and make it easier for the management to supply a common vision that must be found in each salesperson.</p><p>I’m finding Fredrik and Rickard being good examples of external acting. They have, in regard to their slight experience, manage to establish themselves in a tough line of business where you have to be visible and create contacts. Fredrik must however continue to follow his guiding principles – manager versus friend, to be impartial and avoid favouritism. Concerning the role division within the organisation I can’t in this moment see any major problems. To appoint an analysts and a performer, Mediamakarna must focused and intensify more on how to create dynamic groups. The management has an important task how to become more wider in the recruiting of salesperson. They can’t be afraid of appointing ”odd” salesmen that are separate from the current sales group. The more traits of character in a group the easier it might be to find the missing piece of a puzzle and accordingly make the group more dynamic.</p>

Motiverade och engagerade medarbetare anses idag vara en av de viktigaste faktorerna för att skapa goda resultat inom företag och organisationer. Genom hela historien så har en ledares uppgift varit att inrikta människornas självbevarelsedrift på gemensamma mål, att uttrycka och att försvara en vision som fyller de ledda med hopp. Mediamakarna i Sverige AB, beläget i centrala Stockholm, startades av tre personer vid namn Richard Ehlesjö, Fredrik Sandblad och Sammy Jeridi. Som delägare i företaget arbetar de efter egen modell där öppen kommunikation anses vara extremt betydelsefullt. Med tanke på att de är relativt oerfarna som ledare ställer jag mig frågande till huruvida ledarna har en tillräcklig kompetens och personliga egenskaper för att leda sig själva samt att motivera ett säljteam till framgång. Hur motiverar Mediamakarna säljarna till att prestera det yttersta och hur gör man för att få självmotiverade säljare? Anser cheferna att de har de egenskaper som gör dem till bra ledare som nyttjar varje ledares positiva egenskaper på rätt sätt? Dessutom ska jag granska företagets rollfördelning. Syftet med uppsatsen är att förstå vilka metoder cheferna använder för att skapa och framförallt bibehålla hög motivation hos säljpersonalen. För att förstå relationen mellan ledning och säljare är min avsikt också att studera ledarstruktur och roller. Jag har intervjuat tre personer. För att intervjuerna skulle bli så bra som möjligt intervjuades den person med mest kunskap och ansvar inom det ämne jag skriver om. Det hermeneutiska förhållningssättet kommer att användas därför att de lämpar sig mer gentemot min forskning. Jag tolkar respondenternas åsikter med hjälp av min förståelse. Jag skall använda mig av en mer kvalitativ metod gentemot kvantitativ eftersom jag kommer att söka förståelse samt meningen med företeelsen av rapportens syfte. Efter avslutande studier där jag främst granskat olika motivationsfaktorer hos Mediamakarna anser jag att de har en god struktur men att de bör fokusera på vissa specifika områden som kan skapa eventuella framtida problem. Jag tycker att de har en god syn på motivation där de främst vill bevara inre motivationsintressen kontra yttre sådana. Vad man däremot kan göra är att belöna de säljare som verkligen presterar bra med sådana ”belöningar som främjar den inre företagskulturen” i högre utsträckning så att de i sin tur är trogna gentemot företaget och på sikt kan bli viktiga aktörer när företaget expanderar. När det gäller huvuduppgifterna som en ledare bör ha så tycker jag att Mediamakarna uppfyller kraven. Visionerna och målen som är uppsatta tillsammans med säljarna betyder att den största pressen inte kommer från ledarna utan från säljarna själva. En säljare känner då att han kan utgå från sin egen förmåga och inte hela tiden bli jämförd med andra vilket bidrar till en ökad positiv energi istället för ett ökande tryck på axlarna. Synsättet ökar, enligt mig, förståelsen gentemot varandra och underlättar för ledarna att förmedla en gemensam vision som ska finnas hos respektive säljare. Jag tycker att Fredrik och Rickard klarar av att vara ett föredöme utåt. De har, med tanke på sin ringa erfarenhet som ledare, lyckats etablera sig i en hård bransch där det gäller att synas och att skapa kontakter. Det Fredrik dock bör tänka på är att fortsätta med att sätta upp klara riktlinjer vad som är ledare kontra kamrat, vara rättvis och undvika favoriseringar. När det gäller rollfördelningen inom organisation ser jag i nuläget att det inte är några större problem. För att tillsätta en analytiker samt en riktig verkställare så måste Mediamakarna börja att fokusera mer på grupptänkandet. Ledningen har en viktig fråga framför sig, hur man ska bli ”bredare” i sitt urvalsmönster av säljare. De får inte vara rädda för att anställa ”udda” säljare som skiljer sig från den nuvarande säljgruppen. Ju större karaktärsbredd desto lättare är det att hitta den saknade ”pusselbiten” och göra gruppen mer dynamisk. / Motivated and absorbed co-workers is today considered as one of the most important factors in creating good results within companies and organisations. A leaders aim has always been, throughout the whole history, to concentrate human instinct of self-preservation towards common interests, to express and defend a vision which enhance co-workers with believe. Mediamakarna i Sverige AB, founded by Richard Ehlesjö, Fredrik Sandblad and Sammy Jeridi wants to emphasise open communication as something significant within their organisation. Considered their relative inexperienced qualities of leadership, I’m making inquiries about their qualifications and characteristics managing themselves and motivating a sales team to success. How is Mediamakarna motivating salesmen to perform their outmost and how to receive self- motivated members? Considering the management, are they of that opinion having sufficient quality of being good leaders and do they use each others skills in a right, positive manner? Furthermore, I will revise the company’s role of structure. The purpose with this article is to understand what kind of methods the management are using to create and above all preserve a high level of motivation among the salesmen. To understand the relationship between management and salesman my purpose is also to study management structure and roles. I have had interviews with three persons. To receive maximum extent, I interviewed the person with the greatest knowledge and responsibility within each field. The hermeneutic approach will be used because it suits my study field. I interpret the respondents opinions with my comprehension. I’m using a more qualitative approach compare to a quantitative one seeing that I will be in search of comprehension and intention of the purpose of the report. After completed studies at Mediamakarna, I consider the company having a good structure but also that the management must focus on certain specific fields that may lead to future complex of problems. My opinion is that they have an agreeable view regarding motivation where they foremost want to preserve internal motivation versus external ones. What the company can do is to reward those salesmen that perform on a constant high basis with ”such rewards that encourage the inner culture of company” in a higher extent that they in return are faithful towards the company and in the future can be major assets when the company expands. Regarding the main tasks a manager must have, I think that Mediamakarna fulfils the requirements. The vision and goals that are constructed together means that the great amount of pressure are not from the management but from the salesmen themselves. One salesman might then feel that he can emanate from his own capacity and not be judged on a constant basis which create a positive energy instead of a increasing pressure on the shoulders. In my point of view it increases the understanding towards each other and make it easier for the management to supply a common vision that must be found in each salesperson. I’m finding Fredrik and Rickard being good examples of external acting. They have, in regard to their slight experience, manage to establish themselves in a tough line of business where you have to be visible and create contacts. Fredrik must however continue to follow his guiding principles – manager versus friend, to be impartial and avoid favouritism. Concerning the role division within the organisation I can’t in this moment see any major problems. To appoint an analysts and a performer, Mediamakarna must focused and intensify more on how to create dynamic groups. The management has an important task how to become more wider in the recruiting of salesperson. They can’t be afraid of appointing ”odd” salesmen that are separate from the current sales group. The more traits of character in a group the easier it might be to find the missing piece of a puzzle and accordingly make the group more dynamic.

Group role assignment (GRA) is an important task in Role-Based Collaboration (RBC). The complexity of group role assignment becomes very high as the constraints are introduced. According to recent studies, considerable efforts have been put towards research on complex group role assignment problems. Some of these problems are clearly defined and initial solutions are proposed. However some of these solutions were unable to guarantee an optimal result, or the time complexity is very high. In fact, many real world collaboration problems concern many types of constraints. Therefore, to make them practical, the accuracy and efficiency of the algorithms should be improved. Role is the center of a role-based collaboration mechanism. Role plays a very essential part in the whole process of a collaboration system, without the roles, there would be no collaboration. One important function of the role is that it defines the features or requirements of a position which can be used to filter or access the candidates. The definition of roles greatly influences the evaluation results of candidates, which in turn influence the RBC algorithms significantly. Based on previous research, the role-based evaluation is associated with multiple attribute decision making (MADM). Role-based evaluation methods can be adopted from MADM methods. Selecting an appropriate method for a specific problem is difficult and domain oriented. Therefore, a dynamic evaluation model which can be expanded by domain experts and adapted to many cases is required. At present, there is limited research related to this requirement. This thesis first focuses on two complex role-based collaboration problems. The first being group role assignment problems with constraints of conflicting agents, and the iv second an agent training problem for a sustainable group. Practical solutions to these problems are proposed and resolved by IBM ILOG CPLEX. Simulations are conducted to demonstrate the performance of these solutions. From which I compare the solutions’ performances with the initial solutions, and indicate the improvement of these proposed solutions. Secondly, this thesis clarifies the difficulties of connecting evaluation methods with real world requirements. In order to overcome these difficulties, I introduce an additional parameter, propose a dynamic evaluation model, and provide four synthesis methods to facilitate the requirements of a co-operation project which is funded by NSERC (Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada). The contributions of this thesis includes: clarifying the complexity of two complex role-based collaboration problem; proposing a better solution and verifying its efficiency and practicability; discussing the difficulties of connecting evaluation methods with real world problems; introducing an additional parameter to improve the accuracy of evaluation to some problems; proposing a role-based evaluation model to meet the requirements of adaptive and expandable.

This thesis describes the critical game flow and dynamic role assignment based on potential fields in robot soccer game and actions taken depending on role assignment. Role assignment is a standard problem of multi-agent game system like robot soccer and it can be realized by many techniques. In this thesis, game flow is described dynamically in terms of critical zones which is formed by potential fields based on the field environment as hills and valleys.

No description available.

Formation planning and control for multi-agent robotic systems enables tasks to be completed more efficiently and robustly compared to using a single agent. Applications are found in fields such as agriculture, mining, autonomousvehicle platooning, surveillance, space exploration, etc. In this paper, a complete framework for formation path planning for holonomic ground robots in an obstacle-rich environment is proposed. The method utilizes the Fast Marching Square (FM2) path planning algorithm, and a formation keeping approach which falls within the Leader-Follower category. Contrary to most related works, the role of leader is dynamically assigned to avoid unnecessary rotation of the formation. Furthermore, the roles of the followers are also dynamically assigned to fit the current geometry of the formation. A flexible spring-damper system prevents inter-robot collisions and helps maintain the formation shape. An obstacle avoidance step at the end of the pipeline keeps the spring forces from driving robots into obstacles. The framework is tested on a formation consisting of three Unitree Go1 quadruped robots, both in the Gazebo simulation environment and in lab experiments. The results are successful and indicate that the method is feasible, although further work is needed to adjust the role assignment for larger formations, combine the framework with Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM) and provide a more robust handling of dynamic obstacles.

Left hemisphere damage is a frequent cause of aphasia. Analyses of deviant linguistic behaviors provide valuable information about the functional architecture of language. Correlating specific language difficulties with damage to the brain helps shed light on the relationships between language and the neural substrate. The aim of this Ph.D. thesis is to contribute to the understanding of the neural correlates of sentence comprehension, based on behavioral and neuroimaging evidence from aphasia. A substantial amount of research based on lesion-symptom mapping has been devoted to this issue, but several issues remain to be clarified. To consider just an example, lesion-symptom mapping studies have systematically linked the posterior regions of the left hemisphere to sentence comprehension. Surprisingly, however, the same studies failed to provide similarly strong evidence for prefrontal regions, contradicting the results of previous neuropsychological investigations that clearly supported the critical role of these regions in sentence processing. To date, there are enough controversial issues on sentence processing as to warrant reconsideration of available evidence. The present project focused on the neural correlates of the mechanisms involved in thematic role assignment and in the processing of morphosyntactic features. This is because both sets of mechanisms are critical for sentence interpretation both in comprehension and in production. The first step of the project consisted of a systematic literature review and meta-analysis of lesion-symptom investigations of sentence processing (study 1 – Chapter 1). The literature search yielded 43 studies eligible for review, of which 27 were used in the meta-analysis. The main goal was to identify the correlates of thematic role assignment and of morphosyntactic processing. Thematic role assignment errors correlated mainly with damage in the left temporo-parietal regions, and morphosyntactic errors mainly with damage in the prefrontal regions. However, careful consideration of the reviewed and meta-analyzed studies shows that conclusions are biased under several aspects. Data on thematic deficits are based almost exclusively on sentence comprehension, and data on morphosyntactic deficits on sentence production. Furthermore, even the very few studies that evaluated both impairments did so in distinct linguistic contexts, or in different response modalities. In addition, studies that focused on one set of mechanisms did not consider the possibility that performance on their dimension of interest was influenced by damage to the other. For example, studies focusing on thematic comprehension administered thematic foils, but not morphosyntactic foils. Therefore, the neurofunctional correlates emerging from the meta-analysis and the review may offer a biased and/or partial view. As a first attempt at overcoming these limitations, a lesion study on native speakers of Italian with post-left stroke aphasia was conducted (study 2 – Chapter 2) to clarify the neural substrates of morphosyntactic and thematic processes in comprehension. Experimental stimuli consisted of simple declarative, semantically reversible sentences presented in the active or passive voice. In an auditory sentence comprehension task, participants were asked to match a sentence spoken by the computer to the corresponding picture, that had to be distinguished from a thematic, a morphosyntactic or a lexical-semantic foil. Thirty-three left brain-damaged individuals (out of an initial sample of 70) were selected because they fared normally on lexical-semantic foils, but poorly on morphosyntactic (n=15) and/or thematic (n=18) contrasts. Voxel-based Lesion Symptom Mapping (VLSM) analyses retrieved non-overlapping substrates. Morphosyntactic difficulties were uninfluenced by sentence voice and correlated with left inferior and middle frontal damage, whereas thematic role reversals were more frequent on passives and correlated with damage to the superior and middle temporal gyrus and to the superior occipitolateral cortex. Both correlations persisted after covarying for phonological short-term memory. When response accuracy to passive vs active sentences in the presence of thematic foils was considered, portions of the angular and supramarginal gyrus were retrieved. They could provide the neural substrate for thematic reanalysis, that is critical for comprehending sentences with noncanonical word order. However interesting and strong, these results were obtained by considering just one sentence type (declaratives) and by relying on basic neuroimaging data. To go beyond these limitations, the final step of the project relied on more comprehensive behavioral analyses and more advanced neuroimaging techniques (study 3 – Chapter 3). The SCOPRO (Sentence Comprehension and PROduction) language battery was developed, that focuses on thematic and morphosyntactic processes and allows assessing these processes in a variety of reversible sentences in both comprehension and production. SCOPRO was administered to 50 neurotypical subjects (to assess applicability and establish cutoff levels) and 27 aphasic participants (native Italian speakers with left post-stroke aphasia). Of the latter, 21 were included in an MRI-based lesion-symptom mapping study. Results obtained in comprehension tasks were correlated with neuroimaging data (structural T1 and DWI). Lesion maps, disconnectome maps, tract disconnection probability and personalized deterministic tractography data demonstrated the involvement of grey and white matter. Thematic role reversals correlated to cortical damage in the left angular gyrus. They also correlated to cortical damage in the left supramarginal gyrus when controlling for single-word processing in a voxel-based disconnectome-symptom mapping analysis. Thematic errors were associated also with underlying white matter damage. Correlating the probability of tract disconnections and personalized deterministic tractography with thematic role performance involved the left arcuate fasciculus. The posterior segment was associated with thematic role reversals, even after controlling for morphosyntactic and single-word processing. The anterior segment was linked to accuracy on thematic roles when single-word processing was used as a covariate. The long segment also correlated with the level of thematic role performance, but the correlation was no longer present when morphosyntactic performance was used as a covariate. SCOPRO can be used not only to assess language processes in a broad sense (e.g., morphosyntactic vs thematic), but also to look into more detailed issues. Contrasting accuracy on declarative and comparative sentences is an interesting case in point. Both sentence types express reversible relations, but only declaratives require thematic role mapping. Hence, contrasting results between the two could help distinguish the correlates of role mapping from those of reversibility per se. The supramarginal gyrus was damaged in participants who fared poorly in both declaratives and comparatives but, interestingly, the aphasics with selective thematic difficulties had suffered damage to the posterior division of the middle temporal gyrus and to the angular gyrus, whereas those with selective difficulties on comparatives presented with lesions in the parietal and central opercular cortex. Clearly, these results are preliminary and require further investigation. It is unanimously accepted that sentence processing involves a large-scale network including frontal, temporal and parietal cortices and the underlying white matter pathways. The main contribution of the present project is that it allows articulating more detailed hypotheses on the role played by some components of the network during sentence comprehension. Results tie left frontal regions to morphosyntactic processing, posterior temporal regions to the retrieval of verb argument structure, and a posterior-superior parietal area to thematic reanalysis. Preliminary observations also suggest that different neural substrates could be involved in processing reversibility as such and when more specifically implemented in thematic roles. Further studies exploiting detailed behavioral tools like the SCOPRO battery and sophisticated neuroimaging techniques in larger samples will lead to a better understanding of language functions and their processing in the brain.