This thesis is an examination of autobiographical solo performance. It explores the use of personal trauma and illness in the dramatic form. In addition to investigating how other solo performing artists utilize their medical conditions in their work, this thesis gives some historical context to the author’s own process and development. The thesis culminates in the author’s solo performance script and a desire for its audience to find solace and compassion through the experience of witnessing it being performed.

The aim of the research was to produce hollow yarn knitted fabrics with improved thermal comfort properties. Thermal comfort properties and utility properties determine the wearing comfort of textiles and the suitability of a new textile product for a particular application. Both, Thermal comfort properties such as thermal absorptiveness, thermal conductivity, air permeability and utility properties like percent stretch, spirality, bursting strength of core yarn knitted fabrics and hollow yarn knitted fabrics were assessed. A new method was proposed and discussed for producing hollow yarns at fabric stage (in this case knitted fabric) which involved the following steps: - a) Production of ring spun yarns, comprising nylon as a core and cotton as a sheath, using Ring Spinning System. b) Production of knitted fabrics of different knit structures viz., single jersey, rib and interlock using above mentioned yarn. c) Dissolution of core element i.e. Nylon into formic acid to obtain hollow yarn knitted fabrics and this hollow yarn knitted fabrics can be tailored for specific end use. The study covers comparative analysis of thermal insulation properties like thermal absorptiveness, thermal conductivity and others for core yarn knitted fabrics and hollow yarn knitted fabrics and the influence of the count of core nylon filament and the type of knit structures on the thermal properties of the fabrics. Based on the results obtained from the work, it can be stated that hollow yarn knitted fabrics offer numerous possibilities for creating fabric properties which influence their comfort of use.

<p>This research report, explores the challenges contributing to a non-effective implementation of performance and development management system at the Department of Social Development in Eastern Cape. My argument is that although the system has been fully implemented throughout the province and in all the layers of the department, there are still challenges that contribute to its ineffective implementation of this system. This research report debates a range of issues such as: challenges that revolve around the lack of proper&nbsp / knowledge and training in staff, non-alignment of performance contracts with operations of the department, attitudes of officials towards the system itself and the desired&nbsp / institution&rsquo / s operation that may contribute to its performance and achieve its objective of effective service delivery meaningfully. The research report also explores the paradigm shift&nbsp / of the department from a traditional &lsquo / welfarish&rsquo / approach to a one that focuses on social development. This research especially seeks to understand how the department seeks to plan for institutional change that will promote delivery its services to communities more. The reason for this focus derives from department is practice to provide services sectoralyand not in an integrated manner. Hence the critique, in this research is of the roles and responsibilities of all different layers of the department. This, I specifically argue for re-orientation of the department, not merely institutionally, but also strategically by adopting a social development approach to service delivery.</p>

Faculty of Criminology, Justice and Policy Studies

Despite the growing interest in studying the dimensions and prediction of task and contextual performance, little empirical attention has been given to studying the nature of soft skills performance. Soft skills (i.e., intra- and inter-personal work skills that facilitate the application of technical skills and knowledge), such as interpersonal skills (e.g., developing rapport) and communication skills (e.g., adjusting your message to the target audience) are highly sought by organizations (Zedeck and Goldstein, 2000). However, little is known about the underlying dimensions of soft skills performance, or about the individual differences variables that predict performance in this domain. In the current set of studies I examined the dimensionality of soft skills performance, developed measures to assess soft skills performance from self and supervisor perspectives, and validated the measures of performance in a nomological network of non-ability individual differences and existing performance measures. Study 1 involved asking subject matter experts to provide a master list and critical incidents of soft skills. Data from Study 1 served as the stimuli in Study 2 for sorting and reduction of skills into dimensions of soft skills performance. A construct and criterion validation approach was taken in Study 3 to measure soft skills performance in relation to individual differences variables in a nomological network. Results showed that the taxonomy of soft skills performance was composed of seven clusters, but that the measure of soft skills performance was unidimensional. Personality and motivational variables significantly predicted soft skills performance through their influence on proximal motivational processes.

Management pressure has been increasing for most companies due to fierce competition from the same industry and rapid changes and complexities in the larger context. To survive the competition and ensure sustainable management, the introduction of organization yearly performance management system is necessary. It allows a company to clarify its overall yearly goals and to extend them to individual employees according to departmental functions, linking the goals of the company, its departments, and its individual employees together. The present study takes a semiconductor packaging assembly company as case study and analyzes the factors influencing its yearly performance management system. The study first conducts a literature review, delineating the theoretical bases and results of related literature, in order to establish the theoretical model for this research. It then provides the research hypothesis based on the case company, which will be tested by analyzing the data collected from questionnaires using SPSS. Questionnaires are designed according to the four hypothesized indices of the case company: the supervisors¡¦ recognition of the function of yearly performance management, departmental yearly goals not linked with the company¡¦s yearly goals, routine management functions not synchronized with performance goals, and information system. SPSS testing shows that the Cronbach¡¦s £\ is all higher than 0.7, indicating a high reliability of scale, in other words, high conformity. The research results demonstrate that: 1. Mean and standard deviation analysis shows that different levels of supervisors in the case company have conformed recognition regarding the influence of the four indices on the organization¡¦s yearly performance. 2. Correlation analysis of the four hypothesized indices shows that they are highly correlated. This study evaluates the turnover and gross profit of the past three years from the case company based on the four indices that influence its yearly performance management system and finds that there is much room for improvement. Therefore, the four indices still have considerable influence with regard to a company¡¦s administration of performance management.

Abstract The key feature of an ideal remuneration system is not only encourage, but also to invite or improve the sales representative retention in the team very likely.The object of this study, company S was founded in 1989,the business model is 3C digital chain monopolized shop. The major commodities is PC and computer peripheral equipment. in 23 years they already have 36 stores. The case company located in the province a total of six types of shop type system¡Gthe DIY chain monopolized shop, the notebook chain monopolized shop, the SONY chain monopolized shop, the APPLE chain monopolized shop, the LENOVA chain monopolized shop, the COMBO chain monopolized shop. There are Different attributes of each store, also have Different remuneration system. Although, Bonus is not the only incentive to enhance job performance , but in addition to performance bonuses, promotion, sense of accomplishment, sense of honor is limited to encourage the business. This study is expected by interviews and questionnaires¡Gto access 15 business ,Conduct one questionnaire survey to 160 retail business and each choose 5 sales from performance achievement rates located in high, medium and low range . The main function of interviews and questionnaires is for a specific problem to understand the business ideas and attitudes, as the reference of analysis and submit response strategies. After two weeks of interviews, to data analysis and presentation of evidence and theory finally. In this study, the percentage of 2011 and the first quarter of 2012 sales target reached as the analysis of the data source. Case the change of the bonus system for the company's performance to the case study approach. The results showed¡Gafter 2012 implementation of the new bonus system, increased revenue, but operating margin decline. 1. No matter what Kind of remuneration systems, all need to consider the profit structure of goods, Unit price, Species to Select the appropriate bonus system. 2. No matter what Kind of bonus system must be in accordance with the consumer segments, product category, business model, employees to choose the right system. the class attributes of the individual performance bonus system and group performance bonus system has its applicability, it is suggested that the case company can adopt a hybrid performance bonus system to store system do to set the applicable performance bonus system, in order to achieve the incentive result, in line with both employers and employees look forward to the results and benefits.

Government reorganization movement around the world and public management theories put foci on ¡§Government Performance¡¨ in order to attain an ideal government. In such government, people can have the best government performance output while using the least public resources. Due to the characteristics that the administration scope of local governments is shrinking and that local governments are able to adapt to local conditions, performance appraisal might be easier. But with the ambiguous accountabilities among government organizations, the performance itself is still hard to be judged. Furthermore, differences between quantitative indicators and qualitative standpoints make it much challenging in the development and establishment of the important tool of local government performance appraisal-performance indicators. This research attempts using the establishment experiences and results of the performance indicators by the U.K., the U.S. and the Japan governments, contrasting the current domestic methods, and conducting in-depth interviews of experts, scholars, and representatives of government agents. This research not only considers the difficulties and plights while developing performance indicators of domestic local governments, but also provides possible directions and suggestions as references for the development of performance indicators of local governments in our country, for the propellant of government reorganization as well as for the increase of national competition.

In the past decade, the number of universities and colleges grew rapidly. The nature of the advanced education has also changed substantially. The change of the elite education into the democratic education could remove the pressure for students to enter a higher and more prestigious educational institute, but it causes the financial problems on the government and also the deterioration of educational quality. It leads to the dispute about distribution and application of university¡¦s resources, promotion of the university¡¦s competitiveness and the diversification of advanced education. Due to the fierce competition of the advanced education environment that grows gradually, the performance of operation and management of national universities become more important. This research chose one national technical university as the sample to discuss its performance management system and applied the concept of Balanced Scorecard on the case based on the characteristics of the school, so that it can design an appropriate performance management system, which is exclusively suitable for every different school. This research conducted interviews and distributed questionnaires for a further discussion. After compiling the results from interviews and questionnaires and information gathered from literature review, the main conclusion could be summarized as follows: 1. The current performance management system of the case school is not complete. It could not integrate long-term strategies and the bonus system properly that should be improved. 2. The performance management system of Balanced Scorecard¡¦s framework could fully carry out the strategies of the research case school. It helps promote the cooperation between departments, solve the difficulties the university is facing, and it is efficient to deal with the future changes of the advanced education. 3. The most representative performance measurement indexes of each perspective of the research case school include ¡§the ranking of students joint recruiting¡¨ for customer perspective, ¡§the rate of freshmen¡¦s enrollment¡¨ for financial perspective, and ¡§the satisfaction of in-campus learning environment¡¨ for internal business process perspective. As for the learning and growth perspective, ¡§the willingness of cooperation required for both the ability and position of faculty¡¨ can represent the index. 4. National universities always have distinguishing features, prospect and the projects of middle-long term. Using four perspectives of Balanced Scorecard to establish measuring criterion and standards that can build a well consideration and direction for action-project of competition for school¡¦s strategies. In this study, we found that the four different perspectives can obtain a uniform chance for development by questionnaires from directors of the case school and experts of the universities in south area. From interviewers, we also got the results that the Balanced Scorecard can be used in other national universities. Based on reasonable performance results, the Balanced Scorecard could be applied for all national universities. The conclusion could be a reference for the research case school to apply the Balanced Scorecard on the performance management system in the future, so that when the university encounters the impacts of fast-paced society, it could adopt the appropriate methods and respond in real time. The process and method adopted in this research could also provide the national universities a reference to develop their own perfect performance management system.

ABSTRACT The domestic economic activity has been still in recession for several years. Besides moving outwards, the enterprises gradually decreased predominance in competition and are obliged to try every endeavor to find out any of proper management system. Hoping via applying diversified thinking model and managing skills that could revive the enterprises. Firmly, improve the management performance and promote the competence. The Balanced Scorecard¡]BSC¡^,a new management method, has been presented in such an occasion¡]by Kaplan & Norton in 1990¡^.This management system starts from erecting the company¡¦s vision and mission, further to choose his own strategy. However these strategic targets are planned to form a strategy- map, which consisting of four dimensions. Moreover in each dimension respectively to have various Key Performance Index¡]KPI¡^and those KPI will drive future performance -evaluation-indicators. Precisely speaking that BSC can transform the strategic targets into practical actions. As BSC can link strategy with execution, evaluation and learning to be a feedback loop so that performs to test strategy and adjust it to conform to the variation of external environment. Finally a company, which has applied above system will form a high-performing organization. This case study is based on the biggest domestic integrated stainless steel producer. Reviewing its constructed procedure of introducing the BSC and comparing its actual performance data of before and after applying of BSC system. At the same time, reconfirm by analyzing the outcome of questionnaires & visiting data. Hopefully, to prove applying BSC is an effective way to improve management performance. About this section, first of all, referring to data collection, to collect the questionnaires which are respondent from all of department managers and customers of case company. Secondly, to choose specific top managers of main departments of case company for deep visiting- survey. Finally, to analyze above data and get the following conclusions: 1. There are still some unrevealed problems existing in case company after the analysis of data acquired. 2. There is an only effective way to promote management performance that should be under a combination between monitoring KPI and incentive system. 3. The BSC can promote the management performance indeed. This study can offer a reference for other related steel producer or other enterprises to adopt the BSC in future. Absolutely, to construct such a system could make company act efficiently response against the impacts resulted from the fast variation of external environment and no doubt that could keep the management more flexible and more competent forever. Keywords: Balanced Scorecard Management performance Key performance index