Thesis (M.A.)--Boise State University, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 97-102).

D.Tech. Organisational Leadership. Business School. / The development of a quality framework for services in a shared services environment was the focus of the study. The shared services model has recently become an attractive organisational structure with many conglomerate multinational corporates. Shared services can be defined as a concentration of internal support services, professionally managed as an internal services business unit rendering the necessary services to the organisation’s business units. The shared services concept is not about centralisation. It is based on the existence of an internal supplier-customer relationship, where the power of the demand and nature of the services rest with the various business units. The literature has shown that the benefits of the shared services model include a reduction in the operating costs, improvements in efficiency of the corporate and in a higher level of internal customer satisfaction. Many practitioners have documented the fact that a reduction of operating costs stems from the elimination of duplicated services and providing service offerings at a greater economy of scale. In addition, business units can concentrate their efforts on the improvement of sales, thus lowering the percentage of the cost of sales. Efficiencies are improved by acquiring better technologies made possible by proportioning the costs to the various business units. The customer satisfaction levels of services from shared services centres have not materialised as per the literature. In recent research, shared services customers reported that they were dissatisfied with the quality of services and felt that there is a need for intervention to improve the quality of the services. One of the popular interventions for improving quality is a quality model.

published_or_final_version / Electrical and Electronic Engineering / Master / Master of Philosophy

Sustainable Built Environments Senior Capstone / This case study examined the potential of creating collaborative co-working spaces at the University of Arizona. Through qualitative research on the effectiveness of co-working spaces already in place at three different universities across the nation, this study identified key features that could successfully be implemented at the University of Arizona. These features were a co-working space built around a student organization centered on collaboration and innovation. The latest in technological resources to aid in project execution and learning. Lastly, a partnership with a local makerspace providing students of all backgrounds and interests to collaboratively work on building physical items in a space they might not have had previous access to. While research was limited to university affiliated websites and articles on co-working spaces, scholarly articles on this specific subject where not found to further back conclusive findings and recommendations.

Conventional street design has given drivers priority over the street. This has resulted in overall declination of the public realm. This study explored the topic of shared space, defined as an approach in which the street is designed in a way that pedestrians, drivers and other street users have equal entitlement and priority throughout the entire space. The research draws upon the literature on shared space; and case studies comprised of secondary source descriptions, key-informant interviews and on-site observation. Ensuing findings suggested that vehicles were more willing to share the streetscape with pedestrians when vehicular speeds were reduced and there was integration between sidewalk and roadway. These findings led to development of a set of principles that informed recommendations for the conceptual redesign of Toronto’s Downtown Yonge Street as a shared space.

With the renewed emphasis in recent years on profitability as the the key corporate metric, "forgotten" functions such as finance, human resources, procurement and IT are back in the spotlight. They are not only being viewed as sources of cost efficiency, which has been the traditional focus, but also as tools for corporate strategy and competitive advantage. But turning these functions into strategic value drivers can be as difficult as spinning straw into gold. Indeed companies have adopted a variety of approaches, form simple cost reduction and consolidation to discrete outsourcing and offshore strategies. However inconsistent approaches have led to equally inconsistent results. Benefits are available, but, in many instances, they are less than ideal and frequently short lived. In this paper, we will evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of the newly implemented Anglo Coal Financial Shared Services Centre to determine if the inherent benefits of introducing a shared services environment is being realised. We will benchmark the current "AS-IS" state of the SSC to best practice in order to assess the gap and recommend a set of possible initiatives that, if implemented, will help improve the performance of the SSC. A broad, systematic approach was used in the diagnosis of the SSC that incorporated the three primary elements of a system - the processes, the technology that enables the processes and the people that drive the process. The research methodology is divided into two phases. Face-to-Face interviews were utilised to assess the process and technology aspects while a rating questionnaire was used to evaluate the people aspects. The study then makes several recommendations to help correct the most critical findings on process, technology and people of the study. / Thesis (MBA)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2006.

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of parent or caregiver shared-reading interventions on Hispanic prekindergarten students’ language and literacy scores. In addition, this study investigated the effects of shared reading interventions on Spanish-speaking parents’ home literacy behaviors with their children. Teacher perceptions regarding the effectiveness of the intervention were also examined. The present mixed-methods study was similar to research conducted by Jiménez, Fillipini, & Gerber (2006) and Whitehurst, Falco, Lonigan, Fischel, DeBaryshe, Valdez- Manchaca, & Caulfield (1988) in that shared reading strategies were conducted with parents or caregivers and their children. Differing from previous research, the current study utilized an experimental pretest-posttest control group design, sessions were conducted over a 20-week period, students’ language and literacy scores were examined in both English and Spanish, and Hispanic preschool children and their parents or caregivers served as participants. Statistically significant results were found in students’ oral language scores in English and Spanish. The treatment group scored higher in both languages. Statistically significant results were also found in several aspects of parent or caregiver home literacy behaviors. Parents or caregivers in the treatment group reported reading more to their children in both English and Spanish. The treatment group also reported reading with greater frequency and for greater periods of time with their children. Additionally, children in the treatment group asked to be read to more often and possessed a greater enjoyment for being read to during sessions. Finally, parents or caregivers in the treatment group indicated that they held a greater enjoyment for reading, at the end of the intervention. Teachers in the study perceived the program to be a success and attributed positive changes within the parents or caregivers and children to the intervention.

Leaders are often called upon to make sense out of complicated situations and give direction to others, and the situations have increased in both number and complexity. A solution to this problem has been identified in sharing leadership and engaging the potential of entire organizations. Therefore the purpose of this literature review is to map and identify interesting areas about shared leadership. Investigating if shared leadership can help organisations become more efficient in a world of growing complexity. Focusing on why organisational actors should consider a shared leadership approach. Critically examine the potential outcome from shared leadership and how an organisation could move towards adopting a shared leadership approach, including steps, conditions and actions that would be required. Literature about shared leadership and similar concepts has increased extensively, causing dissension in the area. Aiming to explore, understand and express what the literature says about shared leadership we adopted the systems view with an inductive and qualitative approach. Realising that shared leadership most commonly is practiced and studied in teams we adopted this scope and went deeper into the social process and conditions for creating shared leadership in teams. Shared leadership was found to solve demands for increased knowledge, skill and ability among modern leaders. Preferably implemented successively by vertical leaders into cross-functional teams conducting knowledge work. Tasks to simple or time to urgent however makes shared leadership ineffective, while misaligned perceptions and purposes between team members might diminish trust and neglect shared leadership. This review then makes valuable implications for future research, suggesting deepened empirical research in the implication of shared leadership.

Införande av en HR Shared Service-organisation syftar till att omfördela HR-funktionens personalarbete och separera det administrativa personalarbetet från det strategiska. Med hjälp av ny teknologi kan HR administration flyttas över till HR/IT-system och HR-arbetet kan i större utsträckning ske via självservice som hanteras av ledare och medarbetare i organisationen. Den senaste tidens forskning kring HR Shared Service och det nya sättet att leverara HR-service visar att gamla sampels- och handlingsmönster fortfarande lever kvar mellan ledare och HR-medarbetare. Uppsatsens syfte är att undersöka hur HR Shared Service har införts på ett Telekom företag och vilka konsekvenser det fått för ledarna på företaget. Den empiriska undersökningen har genomförts med en kvalitativ metod i form av 11 intervjuer med ledare och projektdeltagare för införandet av HR Shared Service-organisationen. Tre deltagande observationer genomfördes med avseende på hur ledare söker information på HR-portalerna. Actor Network Theory (ANT) är ett perspektiv som används för att analysera hur människor och teknik sammanbinds i ett nätverk vid teknologiska och organisatoriska förändringar. Resultaten visar att införandet av Shared Service-organisationen har medfört en positiv utveckling för ledarna efter ett antal år. Förkortade handläggningstider och lättillgänglig information och support gav en effektivisering i det administrativa arbetet. Vidare framkommer att informationen på HR-portaler inte alltid är anpassad efter ledarens behov, vilket ger en osäkerhet i ledarskapet. Gamla samspelsmönster mellan ledare och HR Managers har i stor utsträckning omdirigerats till HR Shared Service. För att ledaren ska kunna utföra sitt HR-arbete och ledarskap på ett tillfredsställande sätt måste HR-service vara lättillgänglig, HR/IT-system lätta att använda samt att innehållet på HR-portaler ska vara verksamhetsanpassat. Det handlar om en kontinuerlig översättningsprocess mellan HR och ledare för att öka förståelsen för ledarens och verksamhetens behov både ur ett socialt och tekniskt perspektiv.

The aim of this study is to create an increased understanding of shared leadership and how it takes shape in the relationship between first-line managers in human service organizations. Shared leadership is seen as a complement to the traditional one-man leadership and briefly means that two managers share the role that usually is held by a single leader. The study has a qualitative approach based on semi-structured interviews with managers in human service organizations. The interviews mention the mangers thoughts and experiences about shared leadership and gain approval in the hermeneutic science field. The study is analyzed based on symbolic interactionism where perspectives from the theoreticians Mead and Goffman are used. The relationship between the two managers is also analyzed using Foucault's meaning about the concept of power. The results show that shared leadership, on a voluntary basis, has great potential to create satisfaction, personal development, and provide higher quality of decision-making. Communication is seen in the result as one of the most important factors to a successful shared leadership. To share leadership implicate a requirement of clear power structures. The power structure lays groundwork for the shared leaderships success or failure.