Currently, new knowledge domains and professions emerge as a consequence of societal changes that transform that conditions for work and work integrated learning. Integration work directed to newly arrived immigrants is one example of such a new professional knowledge domain. In civic orientation, which is the empirical case in this study, quality, standardization and dialogue are explicit strategies that impact the planning, organization and decision-making in everyday work. The interest in this thesis concerns the professional knowledge that is developed in activities aiming to provide heterogeneous groups of immigrants an orientation in the Swedish society. By making activity systems the prime unit ofanalysis and scrutinizing the ways in which integration workers make use of a stipulated course material and interactions in a specific context, the aim is to contribute to the understanding of the pedagogical and communicative knowledge that is developed in practice. The analytical approach takes its point of departure in a socio-cultural perspective on workplace studies. Three separate studies have been carried out in which the empirical data consist of observations,interviews, video recordings, field notes and documents from various integration offices.The results show that different perspectives on knowledge and culture becomes relevant in local discourses on quality in integration work. What distinguishes the integration workers professional knowledge concern seeing and understanding the heterogeneity of immigrants' cultural backgrounds and bridging boundaries.Culture function as an organizing element in work that makes it possible to make distinctions and organize a contextually relevant content that can be elaborated together with the members in the groups. Such work imply transformation of procedures and it is shown that the integration workers develop their knowledge from specific situations to understand the significance of textually mediate dimeanings in other situations. Knowledge is developed as the integration workers move between different situations and activities. It is concluded that the meaning-making involved in bridging between different cultural contexts relies on extensive knowledge in and about the recognition of the other and of interactions based on equal grounds. Negotiating agreements with the members of the groups about how common possibilities and responsibilities can be understood is central for respecting heterogeneity in the process and is at the core of the integration workers professional knowledge. Considering the future development of integration work, cumulative structures are needed that recognize and support the development of the integration workers professional knowledge within as well as between organizations and other related fields of practice and in relation to higher education.

Purpose: Since the perception of what characterizes a modern building changes with time, it’s important for companies in the housing business to be updated on how the market and customer preferences change. For companies, with long-run standardized production systems, to not lose market shares as a result of the inability to change the exterior appearance of the product a new building should be produced to meet the customers’ requirements. The aim of the study is to create an aesthetically modernized building and study how it changes the production process and affect the cost of production. Method: The methods used in the study consist of qualitative data collection in the form of in-depth analyzes of literature studies, semi-structured interviews and collection of documents. Through the use of these methods a theoretical background and empirical data have been compiled into a result. Findings: The elements that are considered as modern according to literature and customer preferences are horizontal panels, well thought out window placement with abundant glass surfaces and details that affect the aesthetic appearance. To introduce these elements to production the standard needs to be reviewed and more alternatives added. The findings show that with exterior changes, in regards to modernity, does not increase the cost of production more than that the company, for which the study was conducted, is able to keep the total price lower than competitors. Implications: Higher flexibility in the production process needs to be introduced to meet the demand of the market. The work that’s considered to be flexible today may mean standards tomorrow. The conclusion is that companies should keep their standardized production patterns with elements of flexible work. A more detailed study in a technological solution may be followed by this study. Limitations: The study has been conducted in cooperation with a company in the catalogue home industry where only exterior changes for a single storey house are taken into consideration of the study. A further limitation is that a detailed cost calculation is excluded. Keywords: standardization, prefabrication, construction elements, production systems, customer segments, modernization.

With the increasing emergence of multinational companies and the increased popularity of these companies, the question of the organization of their activities becomes interesting for the HR community worldwide. These companies are renowned for deliberate management structure of human resources and their effective use. For effective use of employees’ skills and knowledge the company has to constantly motivate them by intrinsic and extrinsic motivational tools. Motivational tools which use a company may be different depending on specific features of the country that the office is located. The purpose of this research is the study of how multinational companies organize the motivational system in different countries taking into account cultural characteristics and needs of the personnel in the offices of a particular country. On the basis of data derived from interviews with 12 representatives of 6 companies (4 of them Swedish companies, Oriflame, SCA, Volvo, IKEA, and two American companies, IBM and Deloitte, that have representative offices in Sweden and in Russia) it was revealed that modern multinational companies use similar motivational tools that partly standardized to keep the specifics of the company, and partly adapted to the local requirements.

Les Organisations de Développement de Standard (ODS) sont généralement perçues comme des acteurs-tiers neutres facilitant l'élaboration de norme de jure. Pourtant, la compétition entre concurrents et les manœuvres stratégiques y ont aussi leur place. Notre recherche pose la question de l'utilisation par un leader de la coopétition dans le hors-marché comme stratégie de contrôle de son marché. L'étude examine particulièrement les comportements de Microsoft pendant le processus de normalisation d'OOXML entre le mois de mai 2007 et le mois d'août 2008. La méthode utilisée est principalement qualitative et s'appuie sur l'étude exploratoire d'un cas unique. Nous analysons les interactions entre marché et hors-marché à travers l'étude des modes relationnels (compétition, coopétition et coopération) que le leader mobilise au sein de l'ODS français (Afnor). Nos résultats montrent en particulier que le recours à la coopétition dans un contexte normatif constitue une stratégie gagnante pour le leader. La nature de cette coopétition est transitoire sur le hors-marché et permet un retour à un comportement de recherche de rente monopolistique sur le marché. / Standard Development Organizations (SDO) are generally perceived as neutral third party actors facilitating the development of de jure standards. However, competitions between competitors and strategic manoeuvring also have their place. Our research questions the use by a leader of coopetition in the non-market as a strategy to control its market.This study particularly examines the behaviour of Microsoft during the standardization process of OOXML between May 2007 and August 2008. The method used is primarily qualitative and is based on the exploratory study of a unique case. We analyze the interactions between the markets and the non-markets by studies of relational methods (competition, coopetition and cooperation) that the leader engages with the French SDO (Afnor). Our results show in particular that the use of coopetition in a normative context is a winning strategy for the leader. The nature of this coopétition is transient on the non-market and allows a return to the behaviour of seeking monopolistic rent on the market.

The purpose of this thesis is to explore how culture influences the perception of entrepreneurship, in the context of immigrant entrepreneurs in a non-core region in Sweden. Our theoretical framework consists of previous research about the entrepreneurial process, and cultural differences on national, local and business level. A conceptualization of the entrepreneurial process is combined with a three-layer theoretical framework of culture. Namely a national, a local and a business culture. The source for this empirical research are Balkan immigrants that came to Sweden during the 1990s because of the Balkan war, and are now entrepreneurs in Karlskrona, Sweden. The research method used in this thesis is interpretivistic with an abductive research approach. The empirical data was gathered through in-depth interviews. The empirical results have helped us understand that the perception of the entrepreneurial process distinguishes itself depending on culture. The main findings in our research imply that the Balkan entrepreneurs in Karlskrona, Sweden, feel that they became entrepreneurs because of non-satisfaction within social conditions. And that the Balkan entrepreneurs have adapted more to the Swedish culture in their way of working as entrepreneurs. They believe that adaption is the key to entrepreneurial success when creating value and developing a firm. However, the Balkan entrepreneurs feel that they are still under influence by the Balkan culture as well. This thesis contributes with an insight on how the entrepreneurial process is influenced by culture.

A travers la création d'un cadre juridique attractif et sécurisé, l'OHADA a permis d'augmenter de manière considérable les investissements étrangers en Afrique de l'Ouest. Les usages, règles juridiques créées et pratiquées par les professionnels, compliquent le processus d'uniformisation souhaité par l'organisation. Compte tenu de cette complexité, liée notamment à la diversité économique et sociale africaine, le législateur OHADA a entrepris de lutter contre ces usages à travers la mise en place d'un Droit écrit. Si les résultats de cette initiative sont mitigés, on peut se demander si elle est opportune. / Through the creation of an attractive and securised legal framework, the OHADA gave a significant raise to foreign investments in West Africa. As rules created and practised by professionnals, usages make the standardization process hoped by the organization more complex. Considering such intricacy, especially related to the africain economic and social diversity, the OHADA legislator started to struggle against these usages by creating staturory rules. The results of such initiative are mixed. One would even question wether it is relevant.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Statistics / Gary L. Gadbury / Since their commercial introduction in 2005, DNA sequencing technologies have become widely available and are now cost-effective tools for determining the genetic characteristics of organisms. While the biomedical applications of DNA sequencing are apparent, these technologies have been applied to many other research areas. One such area is community ecology, in which DNA sequence data are used to identify the presence and abundance of microscopic organisms that inhabit an environment. This is currently an active area of research, since it is generally believed that a change in the composition of microscopic species in a geographic area may signal a change in the overall health of the environment. An overview of DNA pyrosequencing, as implemented by the Roche/Life Science 454 platform, is presented and aspects of the process that can introduce variability in data are identified. Four ecological data sets that were generated by the 454 platform are used for illustration. Characteristics of these data include high dimensionality, a large proportion of zeros (usually in excess of 90%), and nonzero values that are strongly right-skewed. A nonparametric method to standardize these data is presented and effects of standardization on outliers and skewness are examined. Traditional statistical methods for analyzing macroscopic species abundance data are discussed, and the applicability of these methods to microscopic species data is examined. One objective that receives focus is the classification of microscopic species as either rare or common species. This is an important distinction since there is much evidence to suggest that the biological and environmental mechanisms that govern common species are distinctly different than the mechanisms that govern rare species. This indicates that the abundance patterns for common and rare species may follow different probability models, and the suitability of the Pareto distribution for rare species is examined. Techniques for classifying macroscopic species are shown to be ill-suited for microscopic species, and an alternative technique is presented. Recognizing that the structure of the data is similar to that of financial applications (such as insurance claims and the distribution of wealth), the Gini index and other statistics based on the Lorenz curve are explored as potential test statistics for distinguishing rare versus common species.

Thesis advisor: Robert J. Starratt / This thesis is a descriptive and analytical study of the complete works of Michael Fullan as a scholar of educational change. Fullan is one of the foremost individuals who have helped established the field of educational change and who continues to push the field forward. This dissertation investigates, articulates and interrogates the intellectual and strategic contributions of Fullan in the scholarly field of educational change. This is a critical description and examination of the historical events and trends that influenced his research and to which he was responding. It provides insight into a significant area of practice and research in educational administration by looking at the development of a field through the intellectual contributions of one of its most important authorities. The main purpose is to highlight the development and cogency of Fullan's ideas in the field of educational change through an examination and exploration of his intellectual underpinnings. This study was grounded in the qualitative research tradition, particularly rooted in a conceptual framework of hermeneutics. The task was to search for an understanding rather than explanation and for interpretation rather than prediction. Thus, in this study the researcher was the primary instrument for data collection and analysis. Data was using collected various artifacts, namely: books, journal articles, scholarly papers, technical reports, conference papers, dissertations about Fullan, web-site reports and/or papers, newspaper articles and publicity material. More specifically, Fullan's writings were primarily accessed through various venues: the internet (especially his website: http://www.michaelfullan.ca/), college libraries and professors who use his books. One person-to-person interview was conducted to clarify. Data was critically analyzed and reported thematically and chronologically in order to position Fullan's works within those historical periods and to identify the development and evolution of his theory of change. Findings indicate several periods of education reform: innovation and diffusion, school effectiveness and school improvement, restructuring and reculturing, large-scale reform and post-standardization. Fullan's assessments of each period revealed that he has been more influential in the large-scale reform period than the others. Themes unfolding highlighted the importance of stakeholders (students, teachers, principals, parents and community, district administrators, consultants) and concepts (process, objective and subjective assumptions, moral purpose, relationships, knowledge, sustainability, complexity/chaos & evolutionary theories, systems, paradoxes, coherence and theory of action. Connections to key thinkers in sociology, educational change and mentors as well as Fullan' unique approach to the change process among various other change process models, definitions and perspectives were highlighted. Development and evolution of Fullan's theory of education is underscored by the influence of early mentors in sociology as well as decades of emphasis on certain critical issues within the literature: namely, the absence of the implementation perspective (1970s), meaning-making (1980s), capacity-building (1990s), systems-leading (2000s) and a more recent post-standardization era. Critical and positive commentaries on particular Fullan's works reveal multiple and often opposing values, assumptions and purposes of education that characterize scholar's experiences and advocacy. The paper concludes with a brief personal and critical reflection on Fullan's educational change literature highlighting strengths, weaknesses and the future challenges for scholars in the field. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2009. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Educational Administration.

Background: The service sector has grown immensely during the last decades and the demand for services is increasing. For professional service firms (PSFs) that want to internationalize and move to other markets, it is important to know how to attract customers and how to accommodate their needs. Therefore, it is important to know what aspects of the marketing mix to consider and how these elements can be standardized or adapted in regard to different markets and needs. It is vital to know what factors influence how the elements should be standardized or adapted in order to be able to flourish as a service firm in international markets.  Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to explore the factors that influence the standardization or adaptation process within the marketing mix consisting of the 7Ps. Additionally, investigating to what extent each of the components of the marketing mix has been standardized, adapted or used both approaches. This thesis aims to contribute with knowledge and understanding behind these decisions as to why the marketing mix has been standardized or adapted in certain components.  Method: This study makes use of a single case study for which an exploratory approach is implemented with use of a mixed methods approach. The study uses an interpretivist philosophy and an inductive approach. Primary data was collected through interviews and a survey, while secondary data came from the company website and marketing material.  Conclusions: This study came to the conclusions that the components of product, place and people are adapted, promotion and process are standardized, and physical evidence and price is considered to be a mix. There are different factors that influence the marketing mix components, where customer preferences are considered to have the highest influence.

Este trabalho propõe criar uma metodologia para a padronização de atividades de células de manufatura e de montagem. A metodologia compreende a seleção de algumas ferramentas de produção enxuta e de uma aplicação das mesmas. O desenvolvimento da metodologia ocorre em conjunto com a aplicação, caracterizando desta forma uma pesquisa-ação, uma vez que conceitos e ferramentas são revisados e adequados durante as aplicações. A metodologia é baseada no evento kaizen e sua aplicação tem duração de dois meses. O evento kaizen é utilizado na primeira semana e as demais semanas são dedicadas para acompanhamento das ações de melhorias. As duas últimas semanas são dedicadas à avaliação de resultados. Publicações na literatura científica relacionadas à padronização são poucas, por esta razão pode-se afirmar que este trabalho tem uma contribuição academicamente relevante com o tema e que empresas podem conhecer os requisitos básicos para aplicação da metodologia, podendo explorar seus benefícios. Um dos passos importante da metodologia é a definição das melhores práticas. A participação dos operadores na validação da distribuição das atividades para cada operador e na definição do ritmo de produção é um dos requisitos para o sucesso da implementação. Um processo padronizado permite distinguir uma situação normal de uma anormal. Desta forma ações corretivas podem ser definidas e implementadas. Esta metodologia apresenta um método simples para definição da capacidade instalada e de utilização de operador e máquina de uma célula de manufatura. A aplicação acontece em uma empresa de autopeça. Durante a aplicação, conceitos de manufatura enxuta são disseminados e as pessoas são instigadas a encontrar os desperdícios dentro do processo a ser padronizado. Esta metodologia é resultado de mais de quatorze aplicações e uma delas é utilizada neste trabalho para descrever a metodologia de padronização. / This research proposes to build a methodology for standardization activities of a manufacturing process. The methodology consists of a selection of tools from lean manufacturing systems and of application method. The development of this methodology occurred in parallel with his application, when conceptions and tools are revised and adapted. The standardization methodology is based on kaizen event and whole application takes two months. The kaizen event is used at the first week, when the bets practice are defined and implemented. The rest of the schedule is used for follow up and improvement action implementation. The two last week are dedicated for results analyzes. At science literature, publications about manufacturing activities standardization are not much available. Considered that, it might affirm this research has academic contributions for the theme and organization can find some basic requirement for standardization work application. One of the important phases of the methodology is to define the best practice. The labor participation is one of the requirements for implementation successes. Their participation at the validation of task operator distribution and cycle time definition, ensure the maintenance of standardized work. A standardize process enable distinguish one normal condition of abnormal one. Then corrective action can be defined and implemented. This methodology presents a simple method to define the real install capacity andthe labor and machine utilization of the manufacturing cells. The application occurs at assembly supplier company. During the application, lean manufacturing concepts are disseminated and the people are instigated to find the waste into the process. This methodology is result of more than fourteen applications and one of then is used in this dissertation to describe the methodology.