The basic objective of this research was to assess the suitability of Total Quality Management (TQM) via the International Standards Organization (ISO) 9000/2000 quality accreditation system route for bringing about organisational transformation in the Indian Railways and to develop an India specific model for taking an ISO certified organization towards TQM.The first part of the research aimed at getting the ‘as is’ and ‘should be’ status of Indian Railways from an organisational change point of view. Based on the work carried out by Khandwalla (1995), a series of open-ended and close-ended questions were asked to the senior members of Indian Railways. Analysis of their responses was undertaken. It indicated that the way they thought Indian Railways should change was in line with the TQM model of change.The culture-TQM fit was studied as a part of this research. ‘Hierarchy’ (or power distance) and its related concept ‘collectivism’ were identified as the two cultural constructs which affect the successful implementation of TQM. The second part of the research aimed at measuring the hierarchical orientation among the employees of Indian Railways. This was measured on three dimensions of ‘dependency proneness’, ‘personalised relationship’ and ‘status consciousness’ based on the work done by Sinha (1995). It was found that among the three dimensions, ‘status consciousness’ and ‘dependency proneness’ were more deeply entrenched cultural traits among Indian Railway employees as compared to ‘personalised relationship’. On the two dimensions of ‘status consciousness’ and ‘dependency proneness’, the class 1 officers of Indian Railways were less hierarchy conscious than the class 2 officers who, in turn, were less hierarchy conscious than the supervisors. The tendency for ‘personalised relationship’ did not vary significantly either across the class 1 officer, class 2 officer and supervisor categories or across different age groups. Further, employees less than 30 years old, from 31 years to 50 years old and more than 50 years old, demonstrated similar level of ‘status consciousness’ and ‘dependency proneness’. This shows that at least in the Indian Railways, even among the younger generation, notwithstanding 15 years of liberalisation, hierarchical orientation continues to be a powerful cultural trait.The third part of the research aimed at understanding the impact of ISO 9000 implementation in the Indian Railway units. It was found that, contrary to the literature, there was no resistance to implementation of ISO based change in the Indian Railways. This research argues that because of their strong sense of identity with their work group, the employees of Indian Railways are more amenable to an internal leader initiated change. Hence there was no resistance to change.The fourth part of the research was an action research project aimed at ISO 9000:2000 certification of a warehousing unit in the Indian Railways. This was carried out to investigate the way organisational learning occurred during ISO certification. Three action cycles were conducted over a period of two months. Seven months later, one additional cycle was completed. Special care was taken to see that the conclusions arrived after one cycle were validated from other sources. It was found that departmentalism and lack of team spirit are major problems in Indian Railways. Both are ascribed to the caste system in India. It is hypothesised that since an Indian Railway employee remains in a department throughout his/her career, the department becomes his/her ‘professional caste’. The research then identifies an Indianised version of leadership in the context of organisational change. It hypothesises that hierarchical teacher-student (guru-shishya) relationship with the leader invokes personal bases of power which promotes change in India. The teacher-student (gurushishya) relationship with the leader is conceptually similar to ‘intellectual stimulation’ factor of transformational leadership. The ‘personalised relationship’ with a more equitable slant can be elevated to the status of ‘individualised consideration’ factor of transformational leadership and the Nurturant Task (NT) leadership model of India is conceptually similar to the contingent reward factor of transformational leadership.In the context of TQM, this research hypothesises that there is a sequential relationship among the critical success factors (CSFs) of TQM. For this, one should begin by framing process-based quality procedures and quality objectives. Process based quality procedures and quality objectives lead to development of team orientation in the context of TQM implementation. Similarly, a multi-tier Corrective and Preventive Action (CPA) reinforced with a reward and recognition system, positively intervenes in the transition of an ISO certified organization towards TQM.The learning arrived at in different parts of the research was finally integrated into a model for transforming an ISO certified unit towards TQM. The model shows that propagation of customer satisfaction as a value and not just as a measurement- as in a customer satisfaction index – is key for replacing some of the dysfunctional traditional Indian values which do not fit in a liberalised economy. More specifically, the compulsion of implementing a ‘Corrective / Preventive Action’ makes a person come out of his/her traditional moorings and thus begins his/her socialisation outside his/her ‘professional caste’. The reinforcing effect of successive improvement inculcates a feeling of team spirit among members of different functional groups. Successive CPAs supported by a suitable reward system and an Indianised version of leadership mentioned earlier create a spiral vortex which continually pulls the organization towards achieving TQM.Finally, this research establishes a link between the soft system methodology and an India specific cultural dimension called ‘context sensitivity’. The researcher argues that it is because of context sensitivity of Indians that no resistance to change was found during ISO implementation in Indian Railways. This also explains why post liberalisation Indians have been able to make a mark in the world.

本文從官僚體制的形成、擴張開始討論起，同時也說明過去一段時間，各國政府努力進行各種改革，終至徒勞無功的原因。官僚體制這個誕生於工業革命、資本主義社會的組織體制，倘若想要鞏固其既有的正當性地位，則必須重新認識環境，以及瞭解本身的困境所在。後官僚典範的形成，正代表著行政學者、管理學者，以及組織論者對官僚體制的批判與反省。企業型官僚體制是後官僚革新典範策略之一，她不僅是理論的建構，更是實際行政革新工作的範例。將企業精神引進公共部門以重建政府的能力，已是當代各國政府實施行政革新的主要策略。本文內容共計五章，第一章緒論，旨在說明本研究之動機、目的、範圍、架構、方法和主要概念之界定。第二章官僚體制的典範移轉，旨在說明官僚體制的形成及其因外部環境變遷下的種種限制，而既往針對官僚體制改革的成效並不理想，希望藉由理解官僚典範已經移轉的意義，更新採取後官僚革新途徑來加以活化官僚體制。第三章企業型官僚體制理論探討，旨在深入探討企業精神成為行政革新動力的原因、障礙、及其突破，並試初步進行企業型官僚體制的建構，說明企業型官僚體制的創新職能，和如何營造利於企業型組織發展的環境。第四章企業型官僚體制評估，旨在從價值、理論及實務三個面向，評估企業型官僚體制作為行政革新策略的可行性和作用程度。第五章結論部分，則就研究發與檢討加以說明，並提出後續研究建議。

本論文的研究問題是探求外壓對日本ODA的影響如何;其次,在探討日本的國內因素對日本ODA的影響。因此本文將分為五章,第一章和第二章屬於文獻探討(Literature Review)的性質,第一章除了將目前對外援助相關的研究作一番整理和檢討之外,希望釐清先進諸國提供對外援助動機(motivations)的本質為何?依照學界普遍的看法和多數文獻的結論認為:先進扆□斯堪地那維亞諸國例外)提供對外援助的動機,基本上是出自利己的動機,捐輸國利益模型對援外行為的解釋力較強,日本援外的行為亦復如此。第二章則針對目前有關日本援外政策研究所運用的方法,其成敗得失如何作檢討。作者將目前日本個案的相關研究,分為外交政策研究途徑 和國際經濟政策研究途徑;前者是偏重日本如何因應國際外壓的研究,而後者則強調日本國內因素,對ODA決策影響的研究。作者認為國際層次與國內層次的分析,對全面性瞭解日本ODA的決策有相當的助益,忽視任何一方都將誤解日本ODA決策行為的本質。第三章即透過各項具體的數據,表現日本自一九七五年至一九九零年止,日本ODA質與量的表現,地理分配的集中度,ODA分配領域的問題等,最後再對比分析日本ODA與貿易,對外直接投資三者間的關係。本章最重要的論證認為,外壓對日本ODA的分配行為不具實質的影響力,因為從本章的各項數據中顯示,日本ODA的分配和實施,可以說維持了一個相當穩定的型態,除了特定時期基於冷戰的考慮,所提供的戰 略援助之外,可以說並未因為他國的要請和壓力而改變ODA的分配和實施。第四章即針對日本ODA的決策,在分權式決策體制的架構下所產生的現象作一番探討。由於日本ODA的決策和實施並無專責及統一事權的專門機構,四省廳協議體制使得主管經濟事務的省廳因為掌控ODA事業的專業技能及專門人才及預算的權力,因而在協議決策時享有較大的發言權,外務省在這方面則相對的弱勢;此外,主管經濟事務的省廳因為背後都有國內利益團體和選民選票的支持與壓力,所以在協議決策時也比外務省的表現更強勢。本章更深入分析主管經濟事務的省廳如何在(amakudari;中文謂空降部隊)的制度下,和日本企業間緊密的連結(linkage),說明日本政府部門和民間企業部門能夠如膂使臂,維持如此融洽何作關係的原因。冷戰結束之後,國際體系對日本國家行為的限制和影響已產生改變,日本未來將如何扮演其和平經濟大國的角色呢?作為日本重要外交政策工具的ODA,面臨新的國際情勢應該如何體現日本政府的政策理念呢?第四章的第四節將綜合整理日本文獻的討論,試圖拼湊刻正浮現中的日本援外理念,以期瞭解未來日本援外政策的發展方向。最後第五章結論的部份,作者認為來自國際層次的外壓因素,對日本ODA政策行為的影響,遠不如來自國內層次的自利因素。

Since the latter half of the twentieth century patterns of economic flows and the deployment of systems of production have encouraged greater political and social integration between nation states. This phenomenon, called globalisation, has reinvigorated debate about the nation state as a mode of organisation, and created the conditions for an ongoing natural experiment concerning state adjustment. This experiment, while on a global scale, has led to different responses from national governments, as each grappled with how best to accommodate both domestic and international interests. One neglected aspect of analysis in these processes is the role played by national bureaucracy in state adjustment as a means to move with globalising pressures or to resist their impact. This thesis presents a qualitative analysis of the interaction of one globalising process, foreign direct investment (FDI), and the workings of the nation state, as a means of assessing the way in which the national government has used regulatory processes and its bureaucracy to control FDI. An extended historical case study is used to examine changes in policy, regulation and the organisation of the national bureaucracy concerned with FDI in Australia. The period examined is from 1968 to 2004 enabling comparisons to be made across the experience of seven successive national governments (those led by prime ministers Gorton, McMahon, Whitlam, Fraser, Hawke, Keating and Howard) in the way they managed the domestic and international circumstances that impacted on FDI. This thesis makes a contribution to the literature on the interaction of globalising processes, the nation state and the role played by national public bureaucracies where national and transnational interests intersect. In particular, this thesis identifies the national bureaucracy as a key agent for government in enabling and domesticating the processes of globalisation. This finding demonstrates that national bureaucracy is significant as both a facilitator and the inhibitor of processes of globalisation, and therefore is a key factor in understanding the issues of state adjustment in studies of globalisation.

This thesis investigated the power of framing practices in the context of Australian refugee policies between 1999 and 2003. The analysis identified legal rationalism as an ideological projection by which the Howard government justified its refugee policies to the electorate. That is, legal rationalism manifested itself as an overriding concern with the rules and procedures of the law, without necessarily having concern for consistency or continuity. In its first form, legal rationalism emerged as a

Work-related activation policies are currently developing in most western welfare states. Sweden is no exception and activation policies were introduced in the 1990s in many municipal social services organizations in Sweden. The Swedish form of activation policies requires social assistance recipients to participate in mandatory activation program in return for financial support. This dissertation investigates the street-level implementation practices of activation policies within the context of the Swedish welfare state. The purpose of the study is to examine how street-level workers in the municipal social service systemtranslate activation policy into practice in their interactions with the clients and what factors that structure their implementation practices. The research project is a multiple-case study that examines the street-level practices in two municipal social service settings in Sweden, Skärholmen city-district in Stockholm municipality and Osby municipality and their local activation programs. The data collection consists of observations of the staffs’ daily operations, interviews with local politicians and other key personnel, and the analysis of formal policy and program documents. Theoretically this dissertation builds on the street-level bureaucracy perspective (Lipsky, 1980), which suggests that organizational working conditions shape street-level workers implementation practices through their development of informal coping strategies. But this study extends the street-level buraucracy approach by including political-institutional factors and normative assumptions about public support and social assistance recipients into the analysis. Findings from the study suggest that street-level implementation practices entail a number of informal coping strategies that removes activation policy from formal policy goals. Implementation practices entail, for example, mass referrals instead of individual assessments and tailor-made solutions. Clients were sorted and categorized on the basis of moral perceptions about behavioral deficits instead of employment needs. These informal practice strategies were the results of both coping strategies and normative assumptions that interacted with the organizational context in which these practices took place.

This thesis traces the history of organization from the society of Ancient Athens, through the medieval Church, the Industrial Age, and the 20th century – the latter characterized by the Bureaucratic, Administratively controlled, and Hierarchical (BAH) organization – until today’s contemporary reality of Ubiquitous Connectivity and Pervasive Proximity (UCaPP). Organizations are rarely, if ever, entirely BAH or entirely UCaPP, but do tend to have tendencies and behaviours that are more consistent with either end of a spectrum delineated by this duality. Valence Theory defines organization as being an emergent entity whose members (individuals or organizations) are connected via two or more of five valence (meaning uniting, bonding, interacting, reacting, combining) relationships. Each of these relationships – Economic, Socio-psychological, Identity, Knowledge, and Ecological – has a fungible (mercantile or tradable) aspect, and a ba-aspect that creates a space-and-place of common, tacit understanding of self-identification-in-relation, mutual sense of purpose, and volition to action. Organizations with more-BAH tendencies will emphasize the fungible valence forms, and primarily tend towards Economic valence dominance; more-UCaPP organizations tend to emphasize ba-valence forms, and are more balanced among the relative valence strengths. The empirical research investigates five organizations spanning the spectrum from über-BAH to archetypal UCaPP and discovers how BAH-organizations replace the complexity of human dynamics in social systems with the complication of machine-analogous procedures that enable structural interdependence, individual responsibility, and leader accountability. In contrast, UCaPP-organizations encourage and enable processes of continual emergence by valuing and promoting complex interactions in an environment of individual autonomy and agency, collective responsibility, and mutual accountability. The consequential differences in how each type of organization operates manifest as the methods through which organizations accommodate change, coordination, evaluation, impetus, power dynamics, sense-making, and view of people. Particular attention is paid to the respective natures of leadership, and effecting organizational transformation from one type to the other. Set in counterpoint against Zen-like, artistically constructed conversations with a thought-provoking interior sensei, the thesis offers a new foundational model of organization for the current cultural epoch that enables people to assume their responsibility in creating relationships and perceiving effects in the context of a UCaPP world.

Ridterapi har på senare tid börjat användas som en komplettarande behandlingsmetod för psykosocial problematik. I dagsläget finns ännu inte mycket forskning inom ämnet och behandlingsmetoden är vare sig speciellt känd eller etablerad. I denna uppsats görs en kartläggning av socialsekreterares uppfattning och kännedom om ridterapi. Undersökningen var i form av en enkät och genomfördes i Uppsala län där socialsekreterare som arbetar med placeringar på HVB-hem medverkade. Vi ville se om olika faktorer som exempelvis ett eget djurintresse, kunskap om behandlingsmetoden, kön och ålder kunde påverka deras inställning till ridterapi. Resultatet av undersökningen visade att våra respondenters generella attityd till behandligsmetoden var positiv och att de i hög grad kunde tänka sig att göra sådana placeringar och de olika faktorerna vi jämfört med i undersökningen påverkade inte resultatet nämnvärt. Dock visade det sig att det var många som inte kände till vad ridterapi var. / Recently it has been more common to use Equine assisted therapy (EAT) as a complementary treatment for psychosocial issues. Today, not much research has been done in this area and therapy method is neither known nor established. In this essay a survey has been done in the purpose to get a grip of social workers attitude toward and knowledge about EAT. The survey was performed in Uppsala County and social workers who put clients in care or residence homes (HVB) were queried. We wanted to investigate how different factors such as an interest in animals, knowledge about the therapy method, gender or age could affect the respondents attitude toward EAT. The result from our investigation has shown that our respondents had an overall positive attitude toward EAT and that they to a high degree would make such a placement. The different factors that we compared with did not affect the result in a high degree. However, our results also showed that the majority of our respondents did not know about EAT or what it can be used for.

Background: The Social Insurance is part of the Swedish welfare system that is intended to create economic security for citizens in the event of unemployment, sickness, functional disability, and old age. The Swedish sickness‐benefit insurance is based on the standard insurance principle meaning that sickness benefits are related to level of lost income. The increasing number of sick listed people and people with disability pension (DPs) in Sweden may lead to marginalisation of individuals as they are not part of the labour market. The government has decided that the number of sick‐listed people should be halved by 2008, which means a tougher judgment of the applications for sick leave compensation. To be qualified for sickness benefit the disease has to impair the work ability in relation to the specific demands of the work of that person. The evaluation of the work ability in a percentage is an important element with regard to the policy on disability. The social insurance officers (SIOs) who are assessing the work ability are dependent on judgments from the physicians as expertise, and the guidelines in the social insurance act. The eligibility criteria for DP and the process of dealing with applications for DP is scarcely studied. Objectives: The overall aim of the thesis was to explore demographic and health differences between those, who were granted and those, who were not granted disability pension. The second aim was to study how the process from applications to decisions on disability pensions were executed and perceived by the social insurance offices and to elucidate their working conditions during the decision process. Material and methods: The first two studies explored differences between those granted DP and those not granted DP. Study I was a register‐based retrospective case‐control study carried out in the area of a county in Sweden. The cases were all individuals rejected a full disability pension 1999‐2000, in all 99 cases. Controls were every tenth person who was granted a full DP during the same period, 198 controls. Determinants were recorded from the Social Insurance (SI). In study II demographic data and medical diagnoses were obtained from the SI records. Data concerning self‐reported health, HRQoL, social networks and use of health care were collected by a postal questionnaire. The study objects were the same as in study I. In study III and IV indepth interviews were carried through to study the social insurance officers’ perspective on the process from application to decision on disabilitypensions as well as their experiences of prerequisites and hindrances in their work with DP applications. The transcribed data were analysed by an inductive content analysis. Results: Unemployment, living in the main municipality and age below 50 years were determinants for rejection of DP. Medical status as described in the Social Insurance records had less association with the outcome. There are variations in praxis of rejection of applicants between social insurance boards in different geographical areas due to other reasons than medical. The nDP group had more often multiple diagnoses, and lower self‐reported health and HRQoL compared to those granted DP. Those not granted DP also had significantly smaller social networks. The SIOs perceived that they had to make rapid decisions within a limited time frame, based on limited information, mainly on the basis of incomplete medical certificates, and with no firm criteria for the regulations on the individual case level. Communication among the various authorities as employment offices and social services suffered from lack of common goaldirected strategy. In study IV the SIOs described their working conditions when executing the applications for DP. The SIOs perceived recurrent changes in rules and regulations as frustrating as they at the same time had to face the client. The large number of clients prevented them from being able to offer clients activities and support them in the way they were supposed to do. The SIOs powerful position and how their discretion was implemented made them feel responsible for performing their work well. SIOs are to be considered as typical street‐level bureaucrats as they have to perform their work between the policy, rules and clients. Conclusions: The individuals had an increased risk to be rejected DP if they were younger than 50 years, unemployed, and lived in the main city. No evident differences in medical diagnoses were found between the groups. The results indicate that there may be other reasons than medical in praxis. Contrary to expectations, those not granted DP do not seem to have better health, but rather to suffer from more sickness than those, who were granted DP. Unemployment leads to inability to qualify for compensation and benefits that are associated with participation on the labour market. The group not granted disability pension appears to be a disadvantaged group in need for a co‐ordination between different parts of the social welfare system. The different perspectives were perceived as obvious obstacles in the communication between professionals in the welfare system as they had other goals and demands. Clients, that have comprehensive problems and are in need of coordinated measures from many authorities to get entrance to the labour market still suffer from lack of coordination. One question is how the different public officers use their discretion when handling clients and how the cooperation can be improved. / The electronic version of the printed dissertation is a corrected version.

Studies show that 10-15 percent of Sweden's population, 65 years or older are estimated to have depression or depression symptoms. The symptoms of depression among elderly people are less than symptoms of young people. This could cause that elderly people with depression are not always discovered. Studies show that elderly people who live in residential homes show more signs of depression than elderly people living at home. If elderly people live in a supporting environment, can it prevent that a depression developed. The prevention of depression among elderly people is a topic that is not discussed among previously research. The purpose of this study is to examine how the unit managers of the residential homes for elderly people look at the prevention of depression. This study is qualitative where six unit managers in charge of residential homes have been interviewed. The interviews were based on different themes; how the unit managers approach the prevention of depression among elderly people and how they describe the discretion to take preventive treatment for depression among elderly people, also the unit manager views on elderly peoples depression. The study is made in a small number of municipalities which means that it can not be generalized. The result may not be the same if the study had been made on a larger scale. The results of the study show that the unit managers of the residential homes for elderly people work to prevent depression in different ways. An explanation of why the unit managers works different are based on the unit manager ideas and interpretations of depression among elderly people. Also the unit manager priorities, past experience, number of years as a professional and their views about elderly people’s depression are factors that affect the unit manager work. The unit manager views on its way to approach the prevention of depression, the political guidelines and decisions have impact on the way the unit manager work to prevent depression among elderly people in the residential home.