Tato práce je zaměřena na základní procesy tvorby znalostí v podnicích a veřejných institucích. V teoretické části jsou popsané pohledy moderní vědy na data, informace a znalosti, proces tvorby a řízení znalostí z hlediska knowlege managementu. V praktické části jsou podrobněji probrány otázky tvorby a řízení znalostí na přikladu reálne organizace, a podrobněji analyzovany problemy spojené neefektivní praci se znalostí a mozností zlepšeni .

La problématique de la thèse est relative à la gouvernance d’entreprise. Elle s’interroge sur la collégialité et la subsidiarité comme principes d’action. Les deux notions ont tout d’abord été abordées sous l’angle de leur clarification, resituées notamment dans le contexte socio-historique de leur émergence. Une enquête par questionnaire est effectuée auprès de salariés de l’organisation ayant servi de support aux études de terrain, un Groupe industriel. Une enquête complémentaire, réalisée auprès d’une organisation externe au Groupe a enrichi les résultats. Le traitement via l’analyse factorielle des correspondances met en évidence des différences significatives entre les éléments clefs des définitions théoriques de la collégialité et de la subsidiarité et ceux associés à ces notions par des acteurs des organisations étudiées. Deux études de terrain ont été conduites : la réalisation d’une monographie d'une filiale, est basée sur des collectes d’informations continues pendant dix ans, et une observation de terrain relative à une organisation en mode projet. Cette dernière est complétée par une étude par questionnaire, sur la mise en œuvre au quotidien de la collégialité et de la subsidiarité. La mise en perspective des deux études montre principalement que l'utilisation de la collégialité contribue à une création de valeur économique et sociale. Elle souligne également l'importance du dirigeant en tant que figure d'autorité et sa responsabilité première quant à l'établissement d'un niveau de confiance initial qui s’avère indispensable pour la mise en œuvre effective de la collégialité au sein des équipes. Enfin, nous confirmons que la collégialité et la subsidiarité utilisées comme un principe-dual pour l'action contribuent à la prise en compte, par les acteurs, de la complexité de l'environnement de l'organisation dans une perspective de développement durable. / The issue of this thesis is relating to business governance. It enquires about corporate management and subsidiarity as principles for action. As a first step, both concepts were addressed with a view to their clarification, and situated in the socio-historical context in which they emerged. A questionnaire-based inquiry was made among employees of the reference business selected for on-site studies, namely an industrial group. The results were enhanced by a supplementary inquiry carried out in a business outside the group. The processing, made through the factorial analysis of correspondences, highlights significant differences between key elements of the theoretical definitions of corporate management and of subsidiarity, as well as those associated to them by agents of the businesses under study. Two on-site studies were conducted: the writing up of a monograph on one branch of the group, based on continuous information collecting over a ten years period, and one on-site survey relating to a business in its project phase. This survey was complemented with a questionnaire-based survey about the day-to-day implementation of corporate management and subsidiarity. Considering both studies from a common angle mainly reveals that using corporate management contributes to creating economic and social value. Furthermore, the importance of the manager as an authoritative character is highlighted, as well as his primary responsibility in establishing the initial level of confidence that proves to be indispensable for the effective implementation of corporate management inside the teams. Finally, we confirm that corporate management and subsidiarity, when used as a dual-principle, contribute to the taking into account by the actors of the complexity of the business’s environment in a sustainable development perspective.

As the environmental awarenesshas increasedin recent decadessohas the society’s demand forenvironmentalresponsible companies(Ammenberg, 2004).One way for companies to take responsibility and work with environmental issues is to implement anenvironmental management system(EMS). EMSserves as a tool for companies to systematically work with environmental issues and develop the company's environmental efforts. ISO 14001 is theEMSaccording to whichthat the majority of companies today choose to get certified(Brorson & Almgren, 2007). The introduction and operation of the ISO 14001 requires significant financial and human resources and it can therefore be questioned whether the environmental managementsystem is adaptable forall companysizes.The purpose of this studyis to examine whether EMScan provide environmental and economic benefits for companies of all sizes and ifthe conditions to get certifiedaccordingto ISO 14001 is the same for large and smallcompanies.A literature study was made to collect information on company'simplementation of ISO 14001. Furthermore, as a complementto the literature study,an empirical investigationincluding e-mail correspondence with four consulting companies thatoffer services for companies that want to get certifiedaccordingto ISO 14001was made. The result of the study showsthat there are different conditions for large and small companies to get certified to ISO 14001, and these differencesis mainly because large companies have morefinancial and human resources.There are disagreementsin the literature whether ISO 14001 is designed for both large and small companies, where critics argue that the EMS primarily are adapted for large companies, and then transferred to small companies.The more positive arguments to ISO 14001 arethat the EMS is flexible and therefore adaptable, in similarity with the arguments put forward by the informants.Despite the factthat all of the informants replied that ISO 14001 is designed for both large and small companies, two of them also claimthat there are some difficulties for small companieswhen implementing and working with the EMS.

The phenomenon of industries developing into group organizations has become more and more popular. Most group industries are working actively and hard to expand their market shares and profits by diversifying their investments. Because of having a complete self-developed system, some group companies think their practical experience of business flow paths in system development can be used as reference resources for other companies. These group companies, therefore, encourage their information units to shift the models of ¡§entrepreneurial venture Spin-off company¡¨. According to the past experience and impressions of cooperating with the spin-off companies, some subsidiaries of the group companies have developed a strategy to outsource their information system to spin-off companies. This is a case study with long-term observation in the field. We use the theory of Aspiration-Level Adaptation (Cyert & March, 1963) as a basis to explain the process of decision adaptation while the subsidiary of the group company seeks for software outsourcing from a spin-off company. The outsourcing of the subsidiary of the group company was determined by the inter-trust relationship between the subsidiary and spin-off company as well as the past working performance. The decision index is quite simple. But when the performance of the outsourcing information spin-off company cannot meet the subsidiary¡¦s expectations, the subsidiary will adjust its behaviors and decisions toward the spin-off company by its past experience. The subsidiary will also set up a suitable outsourcing management and control mechanism. Thus, we can see that the information outsourcing process is a continual process of aspiration-level adaptation, and the outsourcing company will adjust its decision according to the degrees that the spin-off company meets its expectancy level.

Problems and issues at project level have been the main concern of the construction management studies and construction professionals. Consequently, the long-term strategic issues at corporate level remained uncovered in construction companies. The complex and unique characteristics of the industrial context of construction also limited the adoption of strategic management concepts by the companies. Recently, however, changing business environment, increasing competition in construction arena and higher client expectations have been the drivers for a shift in perception of strategic thinking experienced by construction executives. It is realized that setting long-term strategies is the roadmap towards gaining sustainable competitive advantage by the firm. The focus on strategic management raised the question about the strategic information sources for construction industry. Unless the required information is provided to the professionals as an input, decisions of high quality are unattainable outputs. This indispensable need for information increased the awareness of the companies about information technology and consequently strategic information systems which have great significance in shaping the competitive strategy of the organization. Although the significance of strategic thinking and information systems are realized by construction companies, it is still a complex task to design a strategic information system since the information needed to make the critical strategic decisions are widely spread and lost among the other data related to daily activities. The main objective of this thesis is to develop a generic IT-supported strategic management tool integrating the scattered information which can aid the decision making process of construction executives. Strategic fields within the context of construction industry are extracted from previous researches and discussed by experts in order to reach the right information sources which are to be stored in a database and accessed by the users through interfaces. The applicability of the developed strategic information system is tested by a Turkish construction company on real construction projects. Finally, the benefits, shortcomings and potential future developments for the tool are discussed by referring to the case study.

No description available.

Accurate placement of pesticide droplets on to crop and weed surfaces is a key step in controlling pests and weeds in agricultural production systems. Droplets impact on plant surfaces, depositing pesticides that give protective coverage on crops and destructive coverage for insect or fungi pests and weeds. Coverage is complex and is determined by a multitude of interactions between factors such as size and density of spray droplets, relative humidity and turbulence of the air through which the droplets travel, and the physical characteristics of the target plant leaves, branches and stems that go to make up the architecture of their canopy. There are, however, concerns over the effect of pesticides on the environment and public health. This thesis combines three dimensional (3-D) computer modelling techniques, physical measurements of droplet movement and impact on a canopy in a wind tunnel and risk management techniques to maximise the effectiveness of pesticides and enable risks to public health and the environment from agricultural spraying activities to be minimised. L-studio, a Windows based software environment for creating simulation models of plant architecture was used in this study. A particle trajectory model, based on the combined ballistic and random-walk approach proposed by Mokeba et al. (1997) and Cox et al. (2000) was used to model spray droplet movement. Algorithms were included in the spray model to account for evaporation of droplets, entrained air and movement of air around the spray, collection efficiency, and droplet splash. Existing functional-structural plant models of cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) and sow thistle (Sonchus oleraceus L.) and a static empirical model of immature grass weeds have been combined with the spray model. An environmental program has been used to take the location of the leaves in 3-D space from the plant model and determine if spray droplets will impact on them. Wind tunnel measurements were made to determine initial droplet properties (droplet size, velocity, trajectory, density and fluid properties) and droplet impact characteristics (retention and splash). The results from these measurements were then used to define parameters within the spray model. Additional experiments to measure spray drift and spray deposition on various plant surfaces within the wind tunnel were used to evaluate the combined spray and plant architecture model. The combined spray and plant architectural model developed and evaluated in this thesis has provided a new method to study the influence of plant architecture on spray distribution. This work has shown that 3-D plant architecture can influence the amount of spray depositing on leaf surfaces. Deposition on plant surfaces was also found to increase with decreased wind speed and reduced release height. Droplet size did not have a significant influence on spray deposition onto broadleaf plants such as cotton or sow thistle. There was however, a tendency for fine sprays to give a higher deposit on small, narrow grass leaves. Spray drift was found to increase with decreasing droplet size, increasing the range of droplet sizes generated by a nozzle, decreasing sheet velocity (initial velocity of droplets), increasing wind speed, increasing (difference between dry and wet bulb temperature), decreasing liquid density and increasing release height. The combined spray and architectural model has also enabled the study of how effects such as droplet splash and retention can influence the distribution of the spray. In this study it was found that there was little difference in modelled spray drift, amount of spray on the ground or amount of spray on the cotton plant between situations where most droplets splash on impact and where no droplet splash on impact. Although the total amount of spray retained on the plant surface was similar for both situations, it was found that there were more droplets on the plant under the splash scenario leading to better coverage of the spray over the plant. These results indicate that the majority of the smaller splash droplets were re-distributed onto other parts of the plant rather than becoming lost as spray drift or ground deposit. Decision trees have been used in this thesis to characterise the benefits and risks from pesticide applications. Results from model simulations and/or physical measurements are used to estimate the relative proportion of the spray depositing on plant surfaces, depositing on the ground and drifting away from the treatment area. These deposition results give a measure of pesticide exposure that can be incorporated into the risk management framework to investigate the influence of various application scenarios. The applicability of this approach is shown by the example of endosulfan sprayed on cotton to control Helicoverpa spp. The decision tree model can be used to quickly compare different scenarios, such as deciding which application method should be used. It can be used to effectively aid spray decisions to maximise the effectiveness of pesticides and minimise risks to public health and the environment from agricultural spraying activities.

Thesis (MCur.(Advanced Medical and Surgical Nursing Science)--Faculty of Health Sciences)-University of Pretoria, 2007.

Thesis (M.S. in Management of Technology)--Vanderbilt University, May 2005. / Title from title screen. Includes bibliographical references.

The aim of this diploma thesis is look at ways of optimising business processes in a specific company acting as an insurance intermediary. The thesis consists of a theoretical part which defines the basic concepts of the issue. The analytical part maps the current state of the business processes in the company, which serves as the foundation of a proposal for their optimization with the use of a CRM system.