Touting, as practised by conveyancers in the four Northern provinces of South Africa, is reaching alarming proportions. Owing to the institutional nature of the attorneys' profession, rules and regulations are applied to establish and manage the ethical behaviour of members of the profession. The question arises as to whether there could be an alternative way of management with a value system and ethical conduct as the underlying principles. According to the organisational behavioural science, the alternative method is to manage an organisation by means of value driven leadership style. The research questions of this study are: 1. Which teleological and deontological values will be suitable as elements of a shared value system for the attorneys' profession? In order to reach this goal, the following objectives are established: 2. To obtain exhaustive knowledge of the concepts 'values' and 'value-driven' by means of a literature study and empirical research in order to understand the phenomenon touting, as practised in the attorneys' profession. This objective was reached through an investigation of the concepts values and value-driven. The focus was particularly on the following aspects: J the development of the concept values J the principles of values and ethics 4 the division and classification of the concept values 4 the role and application of the concept values in management science and J values and leadership Based on the results of the limited availability sample, the empirical findings were that the respondents are ethically sensitive. It is evident that touting is a deliberate and unconstitutional disregard of instrumental and terminal values, and that the promotion of self-interest leads to the detriment of the principal, the profession and the public. 3. To establish the shared values of the attorneys' profession from the perspective of the deontology and teleology. This objective was reached through a literature study into the concepts value driven and shared values. From this investigation, it is evident that a relationship no doubt exists between terminal and instrumental values on the one hand and teleological and deontological values on the other hand. The investigation further found that specific effective teleological and deontological values are contained in the sources of knowledge of the attorneys' profession. These values can be used to develop a shared value system for the attorneys' profession. The results of the study, based on a limited availability sample indicate that the majority of respondents could not identify the critical value, namely to guard against self-interest. The absence of this value implies touting within the context of this investigation. 4. To identify and describe the ways and means of the transformation of the attorneys' profession from a rule-and-regulation orientation to a value-driven orientation with regard to ethical behaviour. In order to reach this objective, an empirical investigation was undertaken into the perceptions of respondents of a specific availability sample in regard of the existing rules applicable to ethical behaviour and their perception of the Law Societies of South Africa. The empirical investigation in regard to the perceptions show that a substantial portion of the respondents perception of the Law Societies of South Africa is negative - founded on the reality experience that the Law Societies of South Africa is not capable of cracking down on touting. The literature study demonstrates that the attorneys' profession is a learning organisation with an institutional culture. Transformation from a rule-and-regulation orientation to a value-driven orientation in regard to values and ethics, among others, requires a transformation of way of thinking in regard to basic assumptions concerning values and ethics. In summarising, it can be stated that this investigation produced evidence that effective teleological and deontological values are contained in the sources of knowledge of the attorneys' profession, that can be used to create a shared value system for the profession. / Thesis (M.B.A.)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2005.

Touting, as practised by conveyancers in the four Northern provinces of South Africa, is reaching alarming proportions. Owing to the institutional nature of the attorneys' profession, rules and regulations are applied to establish and manage the ethical behaviour of members of the profession. The question arises as to whether there could be an alternative way of management with a value system and ethical conduct as the underlying principles. According to the organisational behavioural science, the alternative method is to manage an organisation by means of value driven leadership style. The research questions of this study are: 1. Which teleological and deontological values will be suitable as elements of a shared value system for the attorneys' profession? In order to reach this goal, the following objectives are established: 2. To obtain exhaustive knowledge of the concepts 'values' and 'value-driven' by means of a literature study and empirical research in order to understand the phenomenon touting, as practised in the attorneys' profession. This objective was reached through an investigation of the concepts values and value-driven. The focus was particularly on the following aspects: J the development of the concept values J the principles of values and ethics 4 the division and classification of the concept values 4 the role and application of the concept values in management science and J values and leadership Based on the results of the limited availability sample, the empirical findings were that the respondents are ethically sensitive. It is evident that touting is a deliberate and unconstitutional disregard of instrumental and terminal values, and that the promotion of self-interest leads to the detriment of the principal, the profession and the public. 3. To establish the shared values of the attorneys' profession from the perspective of the deontology and teleology. This objective was reached through a literature study into the concepts value driven and shared values. From this investigation, it is evident that a relationship no doubt exists between terminal and instrumental values on the one hand and teleological and deontological values on the other hand. The investigation further found that specific effective teleological and deontological values are contained in the sources of knowledge of the attorneys' profession. These values can be used to develop a shared value system for the attorneys' profession. The results of the study, based on a limited availability sample indicate that the majority of respondents could not identify the critical value, namely to guard against self-interest. The absence of this value implies touting within the context of this investigation. 4. To identify and describe the ways and means of the transformation of the attorneys' profession from a rule-and-regulation orientation to a value-driven orientation with regard to ethical behaviour. In order to reach this objective, an empirical investigation was undertaken into the perceptions of respondents of a specific availability sample in regard of the existing rules applicable to ethical behaviour and their perception of the Law Societies of South Africa. The empirical investigation in regard to the perceptions show that a substantial portion of the respondents perception of the Law Societies of South Africa is negative - founded on the reality experience that the Law Societies of South Africa is not capable of cracking down on touting. The literature study demonstrates that the attorneys' profession is a learning organisation with an institutional culture. Transformation from a rule-and-regulation orientation to a value-driven orientation in regard to values and ethics, among others, requires a transformation of way of thinking in regard to basic assumptions concerning values and ethics. In summarising, it can be stated that this investigation produced evidence that effective teleological and deontological values are contained in the sources of knowledge of the attorneys' profession, that can be used to create a shared value system for the profession. / Thesis (M.B.A.)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2005.

This study has been carried out at Geodesign Latitud 57 AB and its purpose is to present possibilities of how the company’s business model can be adapted in order to deliver additional customer value. The study presents the importance of adapting businesses according to customer needs and not having presumptions of what customers’ value in a company’s value offering. In order to conduct the study properly, the two concepts of business models and customer value were investigated thoroughly, as well as methods of how customer value can be measured and how a company’s business model can be adapted according to customers’ value preferences. Geodesign Latitud 57 AB is a Swedish company which develops and sells temporary flood barrier systems. The market for the company’s products has only just started to develop and the company’s primary customers are currently Swedish and international administrative authorities, communes and larger electrical power companies. Geodesign have been active on the market for over 20 years but it is not until recently that flood fighting has received increased attention. The difficulties of getting their products sold has created a need for the company to further understand what customers value when they purchase temporary flood barrier systems and how the company’s business model can be adapted to better suit customer needs. This study has both a qualitative and a quantitative approach. The authors of the study have taken into account previously conducted studies regarding the identification of customer value preferences and adaptation of business models. Geodesign’s business model was mapped by interviewing the company’s employees. The customers’ value preferences were identified by using an analytical hierarchy process (AHP), supported by qualitative questions in order to fully understand what customers value in a temporary barrier system offering. The study presents a model for business model adaptation according to customer value preferences, Step by step, the model specifies how to understand what customers value in a company’s offering, how to map the company’s current business model, how to analyse how the current business model is suitable for delivering the customers’ needs, and finally how to generate ideas of how the company can adapt its current business model in order to create additional customer value. The model for business model adaptation is generalizable and useful for other companies that wish to create additional customer value. The study resulted in a number of ways in which Geodesign can adapt their current business model in order to create additional customer value. The authors of the study suggest four ways in which Geodesign can adapt its current business model: Improve the usability of the temporary barrier systems Offer training and education on site in the customers’ geographical areas and make use of the company’s key resources. Emphasize valuable information in marketing channels. Introduce routines for continuous evaluation after the temporary barrier systems have been used during floods. By adapting the company’s business model in these ways, the company will improve relations to their customers and users, receive continuous input regarding what the customers and users value, and create additional value through their value offerings. / Föreliggande studie har genomförts på företaget Geodesign Latitud 57 AB och syftar till att presentera förslag på hur företagets affärsmodell kan anpassas för att leverera ytterligare kundvärde. Studien belyser vikten av att anpassa företagets verksamhet efter kundernas behov och att inte ha förutfattade meningar om vad kunderna anser vara värdefullt i företagets erbjudande. För att kunna genomföra studien undersöktes begreppen affärsmodell och kundvärde, hur kundvärde kan mätas samt hur en affärsmodell kan anpassas efter kunders värdepreferenser. Geodesign Latitud 57 AB är ett svenskt företag som arbetar med att utveckla och sälja temporära barriärsystem mot översvämningar. Marknaden för temporära barriärsystem är relativt ung och kunderna utgörs framförallt av stater, myndigheter och större elbolag såväl nationellt som internationellt. Företaget har varit verksamma i över 20 år men det är först på senare tid som översvämningar och höga vattenstånd har fått en mer betydande plats på deras kunders och potentiella kunders agenda. Svårigheterna i att få deras produkter sålda har gjort att företaget ser ett värde i att undersöka vad kunderna efterfrågar i ett erbjudande kring mobila barriärsystem och hur deras affärsmodell kan anpassas för att bättre möta kundernas behov. Studien är såväl kvantitativ som kvalitativ och genomförandet av studien har stöttats av tidigare vetenskapliga undersökningar som handlat om att kvantifiera kundvärde och anpassa företags affärsmodeller. Företagets affärsmodell kartlades genom intervjuer med företagets anställda. Kundernas värdepreferenser identifierades genom en Analytisk Hierarkiprocess (AHP) som stöttades av kvalitativa intervjufrågor för att på djupet undersöka vad kunderna ser som värdefullt i ett erbjudande med temporära barriärsystem. I studien presenteras en arbetsmodell som stegvis beskriver hur ett företags affärsmodell kan förändras utifrån marknadens kunders värdepreferenser. Arbetsmodellen är noga specificerad och beskriver tillvägagångssättet för att identifiera vad kunderna värderar i erbjudandet, kartlägga företagets nuvarande affärsmodell, analysera hur väl dagens affärsmodell uppfyller vad kunderna värderar och slutligen generera idéer för hur företaget kan anpassa sin nuvarande affärsmodell för att skapa ytterligare kundvärde. Arbetsmodellen är generaliserbar och användbar i andra branscher och för företag som vill skapa ytterligare kundvärde. Studiens resultat visar att det finns möjliga anpassningar som Geodesign kan genomföra i sin affärsmodell för att skapa ytterligare kundvärde. Studiens författare föreslår fyra sätt som Geodesign kan anpassa sin nuvarande affärsmodell på: Förbättra användarvänligheten hos barriärsystemen Erbjud träningstillfällen i kundens geografiska område och utnyttja nyckelresurser Framhäv rätt information i marknadsföringskanaler Inför rutiner för uppföljning av användningen av barriärsystemen Genom att anpassa företagets affärsmodell på dessa sätt kommer företaget att få förbättrade kundrelationer, kontinuerlig input om vad kunderna på marknaden värderar och ett ökat kundvärde i företagets värdeerbjudande.

The environment is abundant with visual information. Each moment, this information competes for representation in the brain. From billboards and pop-up ads to smart phones and flat screens, in modern society our attention is constantly drawn from one salient object to the next. Learning how to focus on the objects that are most important for the current task is a major developmental hurdle. Fortunately, rewards help us to learn what is important by providing feedback signals to the brain. Sometimes, in adolescence for example, reward seeking can become the pre-potent response. This can ultimately lead to risky and impulsive behaviors that have devastating consequences. Until recently, little has been known about how rewards operate to influence the focus of attention. In this document, I first demonstrate the robustness of various behavioral paradigms designed to measure reward processing in vision. I found that even mundane rewards, such as images of money, are effective enough to prime the attentional system on the basis of value. Remarkably, this effect extended to images of Monopoly money. This observation suggests that whole classes of visual stimuli, such as food, pornography, commercial logos, corporate brands, or money, each with its own reward salience value, are likely vying for representation in the brain. This work has implications for the growing digital economy as it suggests that novel value systems, such as the digital currency Bitcoin, could eventually become as psychologically relevant as physical currency provided sufficient use and exposure. Likewise, this work has implications for gamification in the industrial setting. Next, I examined the sensitivity of the system to make optimal economic decisions. When faced with an economic choice normative theories of decision-making suggest that the economic actor will choose the response that affords the greatest expected utility. Contrary to this account, I developed a new behavioral paradigm (reward contingent capture) and reveal that the attentional homunculus is a fuzzy mathematician. Specifically, I found that low-level attentional processes conform to the same probability distortions observed in prospect theory. This finding supports a unified value learning mechanism across several domains of cognition and converges with evidence from monkey models. Then, I demonstrate the influence of rewards on high-order search parameters. I found that images of money can implicitly encourage observers to preferentially adopt one of two search strategies – one that values salience versus one that values goals. Together, my results expose two distinct ways in which the very same rewards can affect attentional behavior – by tuning the salience of specific features and by shaping global search mode settings. Lastly, I draw from my empirical results to present a unified model of the manifold role of rewards on visual attention. This model makes clear predictions for clinical applications of rewarded attention paradigms because it incorporates a dimension of complexity upon which learning processes can operate on attention. Thus, future work should acknowledge how individual traits such as developmental trajectory, impulsivity, and risk-seeking factors differentially interact with low- and high-level attentional processes. In sum, this document puts forward the notion that rewards serve a compelling role in visual awareness. The key point however is not that rewards can have an effect on attention but that due to the nature of visual processing, reward signals are likely always tuning attention. In this way we can consider reward salience an attentional currency. This means then that deciding where to attend is a matter of gains and losses.

Within the design community, a growing number of researchers have shown interest in extending the value context to include design, such that designers focus on maximizing the 'value' of the product or service, rather than simply satisfying a set of requirements. Thus, by applying a value-driven approach to design, the design community hopes to show that the magnitude of cost and schedule overruns may be reduced, or even eliminated. However, a common criticism of value-driven approaches is that they are difficult to implement, and not sufficiently pragmatic to be used for large scale engineering problems. Further, some argue that less rigorous methods appear to provide reasonable results in practice, and so rigor is not necessary. To reconcile these disparate viewpoints, it must be shown that value-driven approaches contribute to the design process, and can be implemented in practice at a reasonable cost. In response, I propose that the cause for the lack of practicality in value-driven approaches is attributable to the lack of well established and verified methods and tools. This dissertation presents research that attempts to address this deficiency by first developing a better understanding of effectiveness for methods that seek to enable value-driven design. This investigation leads to a concise set of desired characteristics for methods for guiding the development of value-models which then motivate the creation of a Systematic Method for Developing Value Models (SMDVM). To evaluate the SMDVM, it is applied to the design and retrofit of buildings for energy efficiency. A simulation workbench is developed as a tool to automate the development and analysis of value models for building design and retrofit contexts. The workbench enables architects, engineers, and other practitioners to easily incorporate uncertainty into analyses of building energy consumption, as part of a value-driven approach to design and retrofit.

The research presented in this thesis develops an improved design methodology for designing complex systems. While traditional methods have been able to create complex systems, their success is usually overshadowed by long delays and expensive overruns. The method developed within this research is known as Value Seeking System Design (VSSD) and builds upon the foundations of the System Engineering (SE) and Value Driven Design (VDD) approaches. Creation and implementation of the new design environment is provided, including a method on how to create the value model for any complex system. Key conclusions from this work include a need to redefine the process in which stakeholder needs are currently defined and captured as well as a need to create an improved value model. Defining all stakeholders’ needs as requirements constrains the designer to a rigid solution space, which may not include the “best” solution for the stakeholder. Similarly not including the social aspects within a value model causes the designer to make poor value trades. To overcome these problems the VSSD technique incorporates desirements and their associated design desirability functions within the design process to create a non-rigid solution space while the value model has been redeveloped to easily incorporate the performance, economic and social aspects of a design, to allow a more accurate and balanced value trade off analysis to occur. Benchmarking the VSSD approach against the current state of the art methods (SE and VDD) highlighted the advantages of adapting a value approach to complex system design compared to traditional requirement based techniques. Additionally while all three approaches were capable of designing complex systems the VSSD approach was demonstrated to be an improved design methodology as it possessed the benefits inherent within both the SE and VDD approaches without suffering from their limitations.

A great deal of attention has been devoted by researchers to examine different aspects of the relationship between marketing orientation (MO) and competitive advantage, mostly within causal relationship style research. However, the mechanisms and intermediate variables underlying this relationship remain vague and poorly investigated. Drawing upon mixed method research utilising qualitative and quantitative techniques, this study aims to offer further insight into this relationship within Jordan’s telecommunications market, focusing on customer satisfaction and customer retention as two prominent performance indicators in this market. Hence, this research set out to investigate the mechanisms and interrelationships that link marketing orientation and organisational performance, the issue that seems to be highly justified in the matured and competitive market where consumers have more choices, switching cost are decreasing and retention of the market base is becoming more and more difficult. As a case study undertaken in Jordan’s telecommunications market, the main four telecommunications operators in the market were represented. Quantitative data analysis was used to determine the variations between the main operators in the market regarding their adopted levels of marketing orientation. On the other hand, the qualitative technique - namely semi-structured interviews - represents the main instrument the study utilises to gain an in-depth insight into the relationship between marketing orientation (MO) and organisational performance. This qualitative tool enabled the researcher to construct a rich picture of the mechanisms and ways by which firms manage the different attitudinal dimensions of customer satisfaction and the behavioural dimensions of customer retention. Results of the research confirm significant variations between high- and low-marketing orientation telecommunications operators with regard to the approaches, drivers and mechanisms by which firms manage their capabilities to achieve customer satisfaction and customer retention. Thus, two different patterns were indicated which were associated with the adopted level of marketing orientation of these firms. The most important finding to come out of the research was that genuine marketing orientation is an integrated attitudinal-behavioural perspective. Hence, any deficiencies or even ignoring of any aspect will weaken a firm’s overall value creation capability, the main mission of the marketing-oriented firm. In addition, internal culture emerged as a critical success factor for marketing-oriented firms. It serves as the glue that ensures a firm’s values are adhered to, and also allows a clearer understanding of a firm’s vision and mission, which in turn resulted in the fact that these firms are more capable to translate their attitudes into practice on the ground. Moreover, the role of marketing orientation was substantial as it worked as a supportive environment that stimulates a firm’s capabilities to integrate and coordinate its resources and competencies into new ones in such a way as to enhance its overall performance as well as to achieve congruence with the changing business environment. The importance of this research stems from its nature and approach in studying the relationship between marketing orientation and organisational performance. The main issue being evaluated is different from the bulk of marketing orientation works that have focused on examining different aspects of marketing orientation and organisational performance within causal relationship-style research, and mostly within a short-run view. In contrast, this study is concerned with gaining in-depth understanding of this relationship through evaluating its mechanisms and interrelationships, the aspect that was treated as a black box in prior research.

Despite the federal government’s $1.5 billion investment between 1993 and 2010 to fund 164 separate community-based systems of care, there has been an extremely limited attempt to measure the impact of system of care. The impetus for this research is the struggle for how the value based concept of system of care is communicated within a community. While child mental health services researchers have published a number of randomized control trials to explore individual level supports for youth served in a system of care community, researchers have struggled to devise a way to measure system of care philosophy diffusion. While system of care is a system level intervention, this study explored the role of the system of care value: family voice as it pertains to direct practice for children and families. The goal was to assess whether specific direct practices regularly associated with system of care (i.e., wraparound or home-based services) lead to greater family voice or if the mere presence of a high-functioning system of care community leads to equal family voice for all receiving community-based services. The primary finding was a relationship between the perception of family functioning and perceived empowerment/self-efficacy. This finding suggests that as functioning improves, so does a caregiver’s perception of their personal empowerment/ self-efficacy. While the framing of this study was to “unpack” the system of care value of family voice, the findings do not support any clear cut explanation for how family voice is promoted or communicated to families. Based on the findings, it appears as if families feel more empowered as their child improves. Additional research needs to be done on the application of family voice within the practice setting to better understand how to best instruct staff to infuse family voice in their daily practice.

This study begins with the question: "Is there a place for a Christian ethical code of conduct in the diverse and complex business world of today?" In chapter 2 I explain the context wherein one should understand this question. If you look at the history of South Africa you will see that there was discrimination that took place over a long period of time on the basis of race, religion and gender and that makes this issue a very sensitive one. The reason why it is so sensitive is if there were to be a Christian ethical code of conduct in the workplace could it lead to discrimination again? That is not allowed to happen under the current Constitution of South Africa. But the other side is also true, if you don?t have a Christian ethical code won?t you loose the beautiful things Scripture gives us on how to treat all people equally and fairly within the workplace? This study will show that according to the Constitution of South Africa it is possible to have a Christian ethical code of conduct as long it does not exclude any employee. In chapter 3 we have a look at Scripture that gives us guidelines on how to treat all people and also people in the workplace. Here are some examples: * the way employees should be handled; * the number of working hours the employees should be working; * the remuneration of the employees – is it fair; * how the Shareholders? / Stakeholders? interests are looked after; * the manner in which the business is being managed; * the Constitutional business environment; * the international law that transcends borders where macrobusinesses do business. In chapter 4 we look at the Christian ethical perspective in the business. We look at the role of the economy and the core values to manage a business. In chapter 5 we end with an example of a workable Christian ethical code of conduct and we compare two large business codes of conduct. / Thesis (Th.M. (Ethics))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2011.

This study begins with the question: "Is there a place for a Christian ethical code of conduct in the diverse and complex business world of today?" In chapter 2 I explain the context wherein one should understand this question. If you look at the history of South Africa you will see that there was discrimination that took place over a long period of time on the basis of race, religion and gender and that makes this issue a very sensitive one. The reason why it is so sensitive is if there were to be a Christian ethical code of conduct in the workplace could it lead to discrimination again? That is not allowed to happen under the current Constitution of South Africa. But the other side is also true, if you don?t have a Christian ethical code won?t you loose the beautiful things Scripture gives us on how to treat all people equally and fairly within the workplace? This study will show that according to the Constitution of South Africa it is possible to have a Christian ethical code of conduct as long it does not exclude any employee. In chapter 3 we have a look at Scripture that gives us guidelines on how to treat all people and also people in the workplace. Here are some examples: * the way employees should be handled; * the number of working hours the employees should be working; * the remuneration of the employees – is it fair; * how the Shareholders? / Stakeholders? interests are looked after; * the manner in which the business is being managed; * the Constitutional business environment; * the international law that transcends borders where macrobusinesses do business. In chapter 4 we look at the Christian ethical perspective in the business. We look at the role of the economy and the core values to manage a business. In chapter 5 we end with an example of a workable Christian ethical code of conduct and we compare two large business codes of conduct. / Thesis (Th.M. (Ethics))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2011.