Alternative work arrangements (AWA) policies allow employees to select varied work schedules that are both conducive to the organization’s goals and to employees’ personal needs. Though common in the business sector, such policies are rarely articulated within American colleges and universities. Practitioners within the student affairs profession regularly work beyond the average 40-hour week due to the fundamental nature of their work with students’ co-curricular involvement outside of the classroom; as a result, the lack of work-life balance can result in high employee turnover which can be detrimental to an organization. Utilizing grounded theory, a qualitative methodology that allows researchers to espouse new theories to explain phenomena based on data, 14 student affairs practitioners employed at a large research institution in the southeast were interviewed to examine their experiences which emanated from the institution’s AWA policy implemented in 2007. The emergent theory collectively affirmed the importance of flexibility as participants indicated that they expected variations in their work hours given the unusual hours that are commonly associated with the student affairs profession. They reported benefits such as better work-life balance, increased productivity, reduced stress, and increased job satisfaction. Conversely, participants expressed concerns that AWAs were not consistency available to all employees and awareness of the policy was limited. They also experienced feelings of guilt and often felt the need to prove that they were working. Finally, participants recommended that AWA policies should be transparent, regularly assessed, and benchmarked against existing policies at other universities. Results provided evidence of how proven strategies used in corporate human resource models can be applied in a higher education setting, and the findings further suggested that employees and employers could greatly benefit from the establishment of formal policies that allow flexibility in the workplace through the use of AWAs. Implementation of these policies may provide employees with more opportunities for work-life balance, thereby improving job satisfaction and increasing employee retention in the student affairs profession.

In today’s business world, strategic alliances are becoming a common method for achieving a competitive advantage towards industry rivals. This tool, however, is not a guarantee for success as the failure rate of alliances is between 30-70%. Even with this high failure rate, strategic alliances continue to grow and becoming more and more common. Through strategic alliances, the organizations can gain the possibility to access, acquire and implement new knowledge from its partners as a step to achieve competitive advantage. However, by engaging in alliances or inter-firm arrangements they also place themselves in the risk zone of giving away knowledge, both intentionally or unintentionally, which is also known as knowledge leakage. Studies have shown that trust is important in knowledge sharing, and managers must understand the role of trust and distrust in this equation, in order to be able to successfully achieve an effective and trustworthy knowledge transfer for a firm. Previous research has focused mainly on the effects of trust on knowledge sharing and a few exceptions have focused on knowledge leakage. However, these articles have been ignoring the factor of distrust. The purpose of this thesis therefore lies in investigating the effect the dimensions of both trust and distrust simultaneously have on knowledge sharing and leakage, as theory view trust and distrust as separate but co-existing concepts. The dimensions chosen for investigation are goodwill trust, competence trust, goodwill distrust and competence distrust. In order to achieve this purpose, a quantitative research method was used. A questionnaire was developed and sent out to Swedish firms operating in knowledge-intensive industries according to Eurostat. 55 companies fully completed the questionnaire. From this a factor analysis and regression analysis was conducted in order to fulfill the purpose of this thesis. This thesis found that goodwill trust has a positive effect on knowledge sharing and negative effect on knowledge leakage. Competence trust and competence distrust was found to have a positive relationship with knowledge leakage. Also, the authors developed the dimensions of goodwill and competence distrust as well as empirically proved their existence. This thesis contributes by acknowledging the importance of both concepts, trust and distrust, and also providing managers with an idea of what dimensions of trust and distrust are important when associating it to knowledge exchange.

In this study, the way how the new challenges faced in the post-Fordist period affected labour work arrangements and European social policy making is analyzed. In this regard, the formation of flexible work arrangements and forms of flexibility are examined. The attempts of the European Union to produce effective strategies to connect economic developments to social progress are discussed.

This study involves the research, analysis, and performance of existing arrangements of songs that have been played and recorded by jazz musicians, and are identifiable as pop songs of the last thirty years. This project will discuss the development of these songs as new repertoire in the jazz idiom. In particular it will examine transcriptions of arrangements by Herbie Hancock, Dianne Reeves, Brad Meldau, Charlie Hunter, Christian McBride, and Bob Belden. The analysis of these transcriptions will consider the techniques these musicians used in their arrangements including reharmonisation, melodic interpretation, rhythm, and restructuring of the form of the original song. Further, the techniques identified in the analyses will be applied in the creation of new arrangements of similar songs from that era for jazz ensemble of various sizes.

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No description available.

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No description available.

Este trabalho consiste em um estudo sobre o arranjo produtivo local (APL) de agroindústrias familiares e produtores de alimentos do Vale do Rio Pardo (APLVRP), reconhecido no Programa de APLs do estado, além de ser uma alternativa econômica aos produtores de tabaco na região. O objetivo foi avaliar a influência das relações interorganizacionais na eficiência coletiva do arranjo. Como quadro teórico, utilizou-se o conceito de eficiência coletiva, compreendendo que as externalidades não são suficientes para assegurar um desenvolvimento duradouro à aglomeração, necessitando a ação conjunta (SCHMITZ, 1997a). Para compreender a natureza das relações entre os atores, adotou-se a abordagem de redes (SOUZA, 2008), optando pela perspectiva analítica do estudo de redes (POWELL; SMITH-DOERR, 1994), baseando-se na concepção de imersão social (GRANOVETTER, 1985), segundo a qual as ações econômicas estão imersas em redes de relações sociais. Foi utilizada a imersão estrutural como enfoque (ZUKIN; DIMAGGIO, 1990), referindo-se à contextualização das trocas econômicas em padrões contínuos de relações interpessoais, admitindo-se na análise, contudo, outros tipos de imersão: política, cognitiva e cultural (Idem). Utilizando-se a abordagem qualitativa, o estudo foi conduzido através da estratégia de estudo de caso e pesquisa longitudinal com corte transversal, enfocando em momentos históricos da trajetória do arranjo desde 2012 até os dias atuais (VIEIRA, 2006). As principais fontes dos dados foram: pesquisa bibliográfica, pesquisa documental, observação e entrevista semiestruturada, utilizando-se análise de conteúdo (BARDIN, 1977). A análise histórica do arranjo permitiu concluir que os atores centrais que atuam no APL surgiram no contexto da produção de tabaco na região. Através da análise das inter-relações entre os atores do APL (imersão social estrutural), pôde-se compreender a ocorrência de alterações na configuração da rede (NOHRIA, 1992) – mudança da entidade gestora e a inclusão de novos atores na rede, como os produtores de alimentos in natura, permitindo a intensificação das ações conjuntas com as cooperativas, propiciando eficiência coletiva (SCHMITZ, 1997a) para o arranjo – ocasionadas pela ampliação do escopo de atuação do APL – um resultado da ação conjunta e mobilização de seus atores. Constatou-se a importância das relações inter-atores entre entidades de apoio, especialmente a EMATER, para superar dificuldades enfrentadas pelas agroindústrias, notadamente a informalidade no setor. A imersão social ajudou a compreender como a configuração dos relacionamentos entre os atores pode beneficiar intermediários e até agroindústrias de fora da região em detrimento dos produtores locais, limitando, portanto, a eficiência coletiva do arranjo. Identificaram-se externalidades positivas e negativas no arranjo, principalmente em decorrência da região ser um local de produção de tabaco. Por fim, observou-se a importância das políticas públicas locais no estímulo a APLs em fases iniciais de desenvolvimento. Entretanto, os resultados revelam as limitações da eficiência coletiva passiva, oriunda das externalidades. Nesse sentido, constata-se a necessidade da eficiência coletiva ativa (NADVI, 1996), através da ação de atores privados na geração de resultados duradouros para o arranjo. / This dissertation consists on a case study of the local productive arrangement (APL) of family food agroindustries and food producers of the Rio Pardo Valley (APLVRP), which is part of the APLs Program of the state, also as an economic alternative to the tobacco farmers in the region. The main objective was to evaluate the influence of interorganizational relations in the collective efficiency of the cluster. As a theoretical framework, the concept of collective efficiency was used, understanding that externalities are not sufficient to ensure a sustainable development of the cluster, requiring joint action (SCHMITZ, 1997a). In order to understand the nature of the relations between the actors, the networks approach (SOUZA, 2008) was adopted, opting for the analytical perspective of the study of networks (POWELL, SMITH-DOERR, 1994), based on the concept of social embeddedness (GRANOVETTER, 1985), according to which economic actions are embedded in networks of social relations. It focused of structural embeddedness (ZUKIN; DIMAGGIO, 1990), which refers to the contextualization of economic exchanges in continuous patterns of interpersonal relations, admitting in the analysis, however, other types of embeddedness: political, cognitive and cultural embeddedness (Id.). Using the qualitative approach, the study was conducted through the case study and cross-sectional longitudinal research strategy, focusing on historical moments of cluster’s trajectory (VIEIRA, 2006). The main data sources were: bibliographic research, documental research, observation and semi-structured interview, using content analysis (BARDIN, 1977). Historical analysis of the cluster allowed us to conclude that the central actors acting in the APL appeared in the context of tobacco production in the region. Through the analysis of the interrelations between the actors of the APL (structural social embeddedness), it was possible to understand the occurrence of changes in the network configuration (NOHRIA, 1992) – shift of the management entity and the inclusion of new actors in the network, as the producers of in natura foods, and the intensification of joint actions with the cooperatives, providing collective efficiency (SCHMITZ, 1997a) for the cluster – caused by the expansion of the scope of the APL, as a result of the joint action and mobilization of its actors. The importance of inter-actor relations between support entities, especially EMATER, was verified in order to overcome difficulties faced by agroindustries, especially informality in the sector. Social embeddedness helped to understand how the configuration of relationships between actors can benefit intermediaries and even agro-industries from outside the region to the detriment of local producers, thus limiting the collective efficiency of the arrangement. Positive and negative externalities were identified in the cluster, mainly as a result of the region being a tobacco production site. Finally, the importance of local public policies in stimulating APLs in the early stages of development was verified. However, the results reveal the limitations of the passive collective efficiency, arising from externalities. Thus, it is needed active collective efficiency (NADVI, 1996), through the action of private actors in generating enduring results for the cluster.

A la fin de la Guerre froide, la promotion de la démocratie s’est consolidée en tant que thème au-delà des frontières nationales, ce qui impliqua de revoir les paradigmes traditionnels des relations internationales et engendra de profondes controverses. Le contenu de ce que l’on nomme démocratie est ainsi formé de positionnements idéologiques différents, voire parfois opposés, entre les acteurs internationaux. Dans la société internationale, la conception spécifique de démocratie libérale représentative prévaut néanmoins en tant que produit politique occidental. En Amérique latine, un locus construit sur la base de paramètres politiques représentés par des catégories qui ne lui sont pas nécessairement propres. Cette discussion prend ainsi des contours très particuliers du fait de la construction historique de la région et de la superposition des accords et arrangements multilatéraux régionaux. Ces arrangements – OEA, Mercosur, Unasur, SICA, CAN et ALBA – créèrent, tout au long des années 90, des cadres normatifs qui traitent du régime politique de leurs États membres. L’Amérique latine possède ainsi un ensemble très dense de directives établi par l’adoption de normes concrètes qui mettent en œuvre cet impératif lorsque des crises politiques surviennent dans des pays de cette région. Le contenu de ce corps normatif varie selon l’arrangement analysé, le type de crise auquel il faut faire face et le gouvernement qui fait l’objet des mesures proposées. La complexité de la scène politique régionale se reflète ainsi dans le phénomène de promotion de la démocratie. / With the end of the Cold War, the promotion of democracy has established itself as a theme beyond national boundaries, implying a review of traditional paradigms of international relations and leading to deep controversy. This is a consequence of the fact that the content of what is named as democracy is filled from ideological positions that differ, sometimes vastly, among international actors. Nevertheless, it still prevails in international society a specific conception of democracy, namely, the representative liberal, product of Western political development. In Latin America, locus that is built having as political parameters categories that were necessarily created locally, this discussion gets very specific contours due to both the historical construction of the region and to the existence of overlapping regional multilateral arrangements. These arrangements - OAS, Mercosur, Unasur, SICA, CAN and ALBA - created, throughout the 1990s, regulatory frameworks to deal with the political system of its member states. As a result, Latin America has a dense set of guidelines established with the adoption of general rules, which relate to the need to maintain democratic regimes, and specific rules, that operationalize this imperative when political crises hit the region. The content of this regulatory framework varies depending on the arrangement analyzed, the crisis type and the government object to the measures proposed, reflecting, in the phenomenon of promotion of democracy, the complexity of the regional political scene.