This study examined whether Australian public relations and communication practitioners enact an organizational conscience role through their involvement in the organizational value-setting process. Thirty communication practitioners from 26 large organizations in Melbourne and Sydney were interviewed between May 2004 and May 2005 to ascertain and discuss their involvement in organizational value setting. Using semi-structured in-depth interviews to gather data and then applying a multiple perspective approach in its thematic data analysis, the research found that most respondents were involved in organizational value setting albeit at different stages of the process. In analysing the nature of the respondent's involvement in the process along with individual and organizational factors, three roles emerged namely, the agent of critical conscience, the agent of concertive control, and the agent of corporate compliance. However the results suggest that most respond ents enacted primarily the concertive control and corporate compliance agency roles. The study also found that the predominant managerial/functionalist perspective constrains practitioners from enacting the conscience leadership role. In exploring the practitioners' ability to influence organizational members, findings support recent studies that membership in the dominant coalition does not necessarily give public relations/communication practitioners power and influence. Rather, direct access to the CEO, expertise, performance and personality were found to be the key ingredients to the individual communication practitioners' organizational influence. Findings also reveal that public relations/communication practitioners preferred to participate but not drive the organizational value-setting process. In using a multiple perspective approach to study public relations roles, this study provides empirical basis for identifying potential leadership roles for public relations/communication practitioners and for suggesting an extension of the manager-technician role typology. The study calls for public relations/communication practitioners to enact a critical conscience agent role as part of finding a meaningful, ethical and socially responsible practice. This study proposes that critical thought and dialectical inquiry be embedded within the public relations/communication practitioner's role and public relations education.

Thesis (M. Phil.)--University of Hong Kong, 2006. / Title proper from title frame. Also available in printed format.

<p><strong>Date</strong>                                   </p><p>2009-09-07</p><p><strong>Program</strong>                           </p><p>MIMA – Master of International Marketing</p><p><strong>Course Name</strong>                   </p><p>EFO705 Master Thesis</p><p><strong>Title</strong>                                   </p><p>From Core Values to Customer Satisfaction: Ericsson in Kazakhstan</p><p><strong>Authors</strong>                             </p><p>Dalila Aitpayeva (Västerås), Dejan Mandic (Göteborg)</p><p><strong>Supervisor</strong>                        </p><p>Joakim Netz </p><p><strong>Problem                           </strong></p><p>How can a company deploy its core values into customer relations to increase customers’ satisfaction?</p><p><strong>Purpose</strong>                             </p><p>The purpose of this study is to explore how company’s core values can interact with customer’ expectations and as embedded in the customer relation make impact on the customer satisfaction.</p><p><strong>Method                            </strong><strong>  </strong></p><p>Inductive research was used for data collection and analysis because the study is explorative in nature and therefore based on interviews and document analysis. Interviews were conducted with Ericsson’s managers and their customers in Kazakhstan.<strong> </strong></p><p><strong>Findings                             </strong></p><p>Findings resulted from this study indicate that strong direct relationship exist among core values of service providers and expectations of their customers.<strong>        </strong><strong></strong></p><p><strong>Conclusion                         </strong></p><p>Ericsson’s core values: professionalism, respect, and perseverance are constantly integrated in Ericsson daily business operations. Commitment to its customers, willingness to share knowledge and continuous offering of new technologies are best examples of that integration. Ericsson’s unique and professional service offerings meet and in many cases exceed high customer expectations and ultimately satisfy its customers in Kazakhstan.</p><p><strong> </strong></p>

This study examines empirically the relationship of value orientation to meanspiritedness. Meanspiritedness (a collection of acts, thoughts and/or attitudes which are intentionally malicious) was defined and a scoring method was designed. The management level of self-interest in individuals as indicated by their value orientation and religious orientation was examined. Additionally, the relationship of value orientation to meanspiritedness was examined as measured by dogmatism scores, psychoticism scores, religious orientation scores, neuroticism scores and extraversion scores. Findings indicate that people in this study who valued at a Humanist rather than a Societal level scored higher in meanspiritedness. / Graduation date: 1995

Thesis (M.A. (Ethics))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2008.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2006. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

This thesis is an exploratory one, which examines the relationship between Western influences (such as the media, education, work, travel, and friendships) and traditional values in South Korea (such as those related to family, social relationships, nationalism, social order, leisure time, work, religion and women’s issues). The relationship between these was investigated in light of modernization theories and Riesman’s stages of societal progress. Furthermore, a survey was conducted among 579 individuals from the younger and older generations in Seoul and Daegu, to determine the degree of Western influences among the generations, and the adherence to traditional values. It was found that the younger generation clearly had more exposure to Western influences, and also adhered much less to traditional values, while the opposite held true for the older generation. A case was made that South Korea’s unprecedented development following Independence opened the country, especially the younger generation, to influences from the West as they had never experienced before. The generation gap that came as a result of this is extreme, and without express effort to preserve those traditional values that have shaped Korean society for so long, there may be serious ramifications for Korean society in the future.

Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to investigate Stena Metall’s values and how they are communicated within the organization. Background: In the Fall of 2008, the world was shocked by the worst financial crisis in decades. The crisis had deep effects on the Swedish economy, and many companies suffered heavily. The recycling and environmental service company Stena Metall experienced their first negative result in 30 years, and 900 employees had to leave the company. An action program, including an altered culture was established with the purpose to adapt the operations to the new business environmental conditions. Values, which are a part of the organizational culture, were decided to be an important part of the change. To implement these in the entire organization a well-structured communication process is needed. Within these subjects; values and communication, a qualitative study at Stena Metall has been conducted. Method: To fulfill the purpose, a qualitative method has been used. Thirteen interviews were conducted to collect data from different levels of the organization. The interviews were designed differently based on the employee’s level of responsibility in the organization. The theoretical framework used when analyzing the empirical material includes earlier research in the areas of culture, with emphasis on values, and communication. Conclusion: Two set of values have been identified, core values and aspiration values. The findings indicate a gap in the communicational process at Stena Metall. Part of the new information communicated about Stena Metall´s values is lost on its way from the management to the lower levels in the organization. The perception of what the values mean, both core and aspiration values, differs depending on level in the organization.

Local elites are usually the controller of local powers, especially for those local political elites who can make an authoritative allotment for social values and also have a certain influence on the decision-making process of public policies. Even though Taiwan has experienced political democratization and liberalization and most of political, economic and social systems and structures imitate the West, it is worthy of further observations if the law-related cognition, the most important for democracy, has been established, if the concept of Confucianism is still deeply rooted in the mind of citizenry, if parts of Confucianism are preserved and the concept of law-related cognition is existed, and what kind of influence it will have on current political developments. This research is designed to study the relation between the personal characteristics and the values of democracy (the concepts of conflict, local authority limit, honest, minority benefit and political participation) and the relation between the concept of Confucian culture and the law-related cognition. This research assumed the law-related cognition of local elites shall depend on the relation between such concepts and law-related cognitions. This research finds that the relations between the democratic values of local elites and the personal factors are not really all existed. For the democratic values and the Confucian culture concept of local elites, the educational background of local elites and the level of interviewees are most important and their party supports, ages and statuses are second. Those local elites with different characteristics have significant differences in their values of democracy and concepts of Confucian culture, which is from the viewpoint of Micro. This research also finds that the democratic values of local elites appear negative correlation between: 1. the concept of conflict and the concept of local authority limit; 2. the concept of local authority limit & the concept of honest and the concept of political participation & the law-related cognition respectively; 3. the concept of minority benefit and the concept of political participation; and 4. the law-related cognition and the concept of Confucian culture; but present lower positive correlation between: 1. the law-related cognition, the concept of conflict and the concept of political participation, 2. the concept of local authority limit, the concept of minority benefit and the concept of Confucian culture. In future, we can make further operations to build a more perfect model with the style of scales. The whole model shows that the limit of central and local authorities, the concept of political participation and the concept of Confucian culture are commonly significant parts in these three models. The model will not reduce its significance because of increasing variables. The age is also significant for the anticipation of local elites but the educational background is not, which is possible because the interviewee with higher education attainments tends to be younger in our survey data. Actually, the study on domestically local elites is seldom seen and most of studies target at public general. That¡¦s because the study expends much time and many efforts. This survey data is really rare. However, the survey time is far remote from today and the public and social trends have been changed substantially. It is worthy of continuous observations for this issue.

Date                                    2009-09-07 Program                            MIMA – Master of International Marketing Course Name                    EFO705 Master Thesis Title                                    From Core Values to Customer Satisfaction: Ericsson in Kazakhstan Authors                              Dalila Aitpayeva (Västerås), Dejan Mandic (Göteborg) Supervisor                         Joakim Netz  Problem                            How can a company deploy its core values into customer relations to increase customers’ satisfaction? Purpose                              The purpose of this study is to explore how company’s core values can interact with customer’ expectations and as embedded in the customer relation make impact on the customer satisfaction. Method                              Inductive research was used for data collection and analysis because the study is explorative in nature and therefore based on interviews and document analysis. Interviews were conducted with Ericsson’s managers and their customers in Kazakhstan.  Findings                             Findings resulted from this study indicate that strong direct relationship exist among core values of service providers and expectations of their customers.        Conclusion                         Ericsson’s core values: professionalism, respect, and perseverance are constantly integrated in Ericsson daily business operations. Commitment to its customers, willingness to share knowledge and continuous offering of new technologies are best examples of that integration. Ericsson’s unique and professional service offerings meet and in many cases exceed high customer expectations and ultimately satisfy its customers in Kazakhstan.