Thesis PlanB (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Stout, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references.

The author's Habilitationsschrift--Universität Regensburg, 1984, presented under the title: Vorindustrielle Bauwirtschaft vom 16. bis zum 18. Jahrhundert in der Reichsstadt Nürnberg und ihrem Umland. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 280-295) and index.

Thesis (Ph. D., Adult and Organizational Learning)--University of Idaho, May 2008. / Major professor: Martha Yopp. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 77-84). Also available online (PDF file) by subscription or by purchasing the individual file.

Thesis (Ph. D., Education)--University of Idaho, December 3, 2008. / Major professor: James A. Gregson. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 314-330). Also available online (PDF file) by subscription or by purchasing the individual file.

No description available.

Commentary on skilled trades occupations in Canada has been framed by two main paradigms: The dominant policy discourse has applied human capital theory to the dynamics of the skilled labour supply, often concentrating on intractable “problems” such as low apprenticeship participation and completion rates and an extreme gender imbalance in the trades. Sociological research has portrayed trades occupations as positions of structurally reproduced social disadvantage. This study adopts an alternate, neo-Weberian framework centred on the theory of economic social action. Social structure is treated in strictly nominalistic terms, and social action is rooted in the interest-oriented behaviour of socially embedded individuals. The study, undertaken in a large public-sector shipyard, involved both a pen-and-paper survey (N=509) of skilled trades workers and ten focus group interviews with 49 respondents from labour and management. The research questions addressed indicators of structural (dis)advantage and reproduction, as well as the specific mechanisms of social action operating within the study environment. The population shows a very distinct profile in terms of gender, ethnicity, and educational investment. Data on earnings, job security, and working conditions dispel any suspicion of economic disadvantage. Although a high proportion of incumbents have family connections to the skilled trades, an analysis of their siblings’ occupations refutes the supposition of structural determinism through the family. Instead, it is argued that both the social profile of the workforce and the high density of family and network connections reflect the use of “bridging” and “bonding” social capital strategies by study population members. The operative mechanisms include formal elements of the organization’s hiring practices, as well as institutionalized group norms and workplace culture. Through a “separatist” discourse that invokes notions of both “trade stigma” and “trade pride,” incumbents ascribe a particular set of cognitive and moral attributes to trades workers, which also contribute to defining the formal and informal membership requirements for their occupations. By approaching occupations as sites of economic social action, this research concludes that some of the intractable “problems” in Canada’s apprenticeable trades reflect individual behaviours that are enabled and incited by institutional features integral to the present skilled trades system. / Education, Faculty of / Graduate

Considering the vital part which the construction industry plays in the economy of South Africa, as well as the objectives of the reconstruction and development thereof, the failure of contractors, despite all the interventions to identify and eradicate the root of the problem, is a matter of great concern. In November 2000, the Construction Industry Development Board Act (2000) was promulgated which led to the inception of the cidb with a mandate to implement an integrated strategy for the reconstruction, growth and development of the construction industry. The matter of contractor development has been widely studied and investigated since the inception of the cidb in 2000. However, the purpose of this study was to focus on the business problems faced by Grade 5 to 7 CE / GB Potential Emerging Contractors, with regard to construction organisations that make the move from small to medium businesses. The intention was to contribute to the successful transition from small to medium businesses by means of structured initiatives. In order to achieve this, a new business strategy must be adopted. It was therefore necessary to extensively consider the surface and core competencies required for making the transition. Liquidity problems that the transition entails were explored, as well as contractor misconceptions with regard to contractor development. In the course of the study, unethical practices and entitlement issues experienced in the built environment and the effect of this on contractor success were explored. The study aimed to recommend a structured framework for co-ordination between assistance, mentorship, contractor needs, client departments, cidb NCDP best practice guidelines and the most important of all, self-empowerment. This study further endeavoured to find possible solutions regarding the assistance requirements, as well as self-empowering objectives for emerging contractors taking the challenging step from small to medium business and by implication, becoming sustainable contractor enterprises in Grades 6 to 8. Political imperatives need to be weighed against the high unemployment rate. The Gross Fixed Capital Formation (GFCF) indicates that there are not enough sustainable contracting opportunities to allocate to Contractor Development Programmes (CDPs). This is aggravated by the tendency that too many hopeful aspirant entrepreneurs, lacking construction surface and core competencies, are seeing the built environment as an easy industry to enter. Just less than 50% of cidb registered contractors exited the register of active contractors during the last ten years ending 2nd quarter 2015. 45% exited during the last five years. This indicates that there is a serious sustainability problem in the built environment. Considering the GFCF contractor opportunities there are too many cidb registered contractors. However, enterprise failure is not only an Emerging Contractor (EC) problem, but occurs across the board. A dangerous notion that the large national construction firms should no longer qualify for public contracts can have disastrous implications for an already embattled industry. Large national firms are the trend setters in the built environment, which coach the much needed construction surface and core competencies. If upgrading is the measure of success the current CDP statistics do not confirm that the strategic objectives of the National Contractor Development Programme (NCDP) are being achieved. All contractors, including black owned contractors, are faring substantially better than their EC counterparts participating in CDPs. Upgrading should carry less weight and sustainability and high performance should become the focus. A serious lack of construction surface and core competencies was identified. If contractor development is the objective the structure of the cidb grading system should be reviewed. It is recommended that the broad CDP hierarchical structure should streamlined and partly privatised to focus on the core strategic objective of contractor development.

This study examines the symbolic meaning of education in trades culture. It explores how trades culture in this context is infused with status, and how education is an element of how tradespeople experience status in everyday working life. Education is connected with status in two ways. First, education is associated with prominent status markers, specifically wealth, mental work, and textual authority. Second, in light of these associations, tradespeople see education as having nothing to do with their own lives and work. Trades education does not count as education the same way university does. In its status associations, and perceived irrelevance to trades life, education is a symbol of an elite, prestigious, "insiders" world, of which the trades play little part. This study is located within the interpretive tradition of social inquiry most influentially first articulated by the anthropologist Clifford Geertz. The perspective on status which frames the interpretation owes much to Michael Walzer's philosophical explorations of equality and distributive justice. The empirical basis of the interpretation is drawn from an ethnographic study of a single trades setting in the non-union sector of the building industry. The main participants in the study were a crew of carpenters and other tradespeople building an expensive custom-designed family home. Fieldwork took place between October 1992 and October 1993. Site visits took place several times per week for three to four hours per visit, and involved watching, talking, listening, taking notes and photographs, and helping with routine work tasks. Field observations were augmented by interviews with crew members and other tradespeople. During the interpretive stage of the research process, "backstage tales" and "textual authority" came to be seen as key cultural vehicles for the expression of status in everyday practice. The findings of this study suggest that the exclusive status associations of education in the trades are important to recognize for at least two reasons. First, they are counter to the prevailing discourse about education which emphasizes a direct, positive link between education, economic growth, and employment. Second, the status associations of education connect it not necessarily with knowledge and learning, but with a blockage in the flow of ideas. Because their status is lesser, tradespeople's work is not esteemed, and their conceptual input is seldom recognized, sought or credited. From the vantage point of trades culture, education does not look like the tool for economic success it is often portrayed as being. This perspective is important to take into account, if educational objectives are to be egalitarian, realistic, and able to achieve their desired ends. / Education, Faculty of / Educational Studies (EDST), Department of / Graduate

No description available.

This dissertation consists of two essays on the execution cost of financial markets. In the first essay, we study impacts of new block trading rules on two kinds of large trades, block trades (BTs) and splitting order trades (STs). We find some results with policy implications. First, targets traded in the block trading market are illiquid. The proportion of BTs (STs) is the decreasing (increasing) function of stock liquidity. Second, large orders are mainly executed by STs except for illiquid stocks, but investors prefer to trade in block trading market at times when trade size is large, probability of informed trading is lower and price volatility is mild. Third, under the new system, the conditional execution costs of BTs (STs) decline (do not decline) and the percentage of BTs (STs) increases (decreases).Fourth, BTs are uninformed with motivations of tax minimization, general trades and ownership transfer trades, while STs are information based. BTs for tax minimization (general trades) incur the lowest (highest) execution costs. Uninformed BTs incur higher execution costs than informed STs, reflecting ¡§premiums of trading with the specific counterparty¡¨ of BTs. Finally, simulation analyses confirm that the block trading market functions well especially for illiquid stocks. In the second essay, we attempt to provide evidence regarding the welfare effect of pre-trade transparency affected by investor and order types. In order to understand the effect of transparency on welfare, we need to explore investors¡¦ behavior adjustments (aggressiveness and order size adjustments) reacted to transparency. We find both individual and institutional investors are more willing to supply liquidity after transparency enhancement. Individual investors behave more aggressively and submit larger order as they supply and demand liquidity, while institutional investors are relatively conservative and submit smaller order in an open environment. We measure welfare of investors in terms of implementation shortfall, which is weighted average of price impacts and opportunity costs. Our main result is, on average, institutional and individual investors who demand immediacy benefit from pre-trade transparency, especially for institutional investors, while traders who supply liquidity are worse off except institutional investors. Intraday analysis further notices individual investors providing liquidity near the end of day lose most from transparency enhancement, while institutional and individual investors demanding liquidity win most in close interval.