Die vorliegende Arbeit vertritt die These, dass kein direkter Zusammenhang zwischen dem Arbeitsklima und der allgemeinen Arbeitszufriedenheit besteht, sondern dass er durch soziale Vergleichsprozesse vermittelt ist. Das Arbeitsklima ist Gegenstand und Moderator sozialer Vergleiche, aus denen Arbeitszufriedenheit resultiert. Das Arbeitsklima beeinflusst damit zwar den Entstehungsprozess von Arbeitszufriedenheit, aber nicht dessen Ausmaß. Von affektiven und regulativen Klimadimensionen gehen unterschiedliche Wirkungsmechanismen aus. Überschreiten soziale Vergleiche die Organisationsgrenze, ändert sich die Logik der Entstehung von Arbeitszufriedenheit.

Die vorliegende Arbeit vertritt die These, dass kein direkter Zusammenhang zwischen dem Arbeitsklima und der allgemeinen Arbeitszufriedenheit besteht, sondern dass er durch soziale Vergleichsprozesse vermittelt ist. Das Arbeitsklima ist Gegenstand und Moderator sozialer Vergleiche, aus denen Arbeitszufriedenheit resultiert. Das Arbeitsklima beeinflusst damit zwar den Entstehungsprozess von Arbeitszufriedenheit, aber nicht dessen Ausmaß. Von affektiven und regulativen Klimadimensionen gehen unterschiedliche Wirkungsmechanismen aus. Überschreiten soziale Vergleiche die Organisationsgrenze, ändert sich die Logik der Entstehung von Arbeitszufriedenheit.

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Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-25T16:44:56Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Leandro Reale Perez.pdf: 1684730 bytes, checksum: 0f5fd69ee8f0015fba66ffd880a2eab1 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2007-05-31 / The objective of this work is to study the games of companies and their benefits for enterprise management, since the use in the courses of Graduation Lato-Sensu in Business administration, focusing the analysis on the student s point of view. The study of this subject justifies itself, because there are few reports available in literature concerning the perception of students in the evaluation of this methodology as a learning tool that collaborates with the development of competences and abilities, which are important to place the students in the business market. The considered method of research is the case study. This study has been developed taking as reference the experience of the Armando Alvares Penteado Foundation - FAAP in São Paulo and São José dos Campos, which offer the discipline business simulation in their courses of Post-Graduation in Business administration. The research had a sample size of 80 (eighty) students who had taken business simulation classes in the year of 2006. This institution of education was chosen by being one of the precursors in the use of the Business simulation tools in Brazil and also by the fact of never having participated in research about this subject. It has been verified that the business simulation do not substitute any other discipline. However it adds value in the course composition of Graduation in Administration course specially supporting the National Curricular Lines (BRASIL, 2005) in its needs, therefore, questions between theory and practice using the meaningful learning, fit the student s needs, despite the fact that this tools improve student s management skills for business market / O objetivo deste trabalho é estudar os jogos de empresas e seus benefícios para a prática empresarial, a partir de sua utilização nos cursos de Pós-graduação em Administração Lato-sensu, focando a análise sob a ótica dos seus alunos O estudo desse tema se justifica, porque ainda há poucos relatos na literatura sobre a percepção dos alunos na avaliação dessa metodologia como uma ferramenta de aprendizagem que colabora com o desenvolvimento de competências e habilidades, as quais são necessárias para a inserção desses alunos no mercado de trabalho. O método de pesquisa proposto é o estudo de caso. Esse estudo foi desenvolvido tendo por base a experiência da Fundação Armando Álvares Penteado FAAP em São Paulo e São José dos Campos, que ministra a disciplina jogos de empresas nos seus cursos de Pós- Graduação em Administração de Empresas. A pesquisa contou com uma amostra de 80 (oitenta) alunos que participaram dessa disciplina no ano de 2006. Essa instituição de ensino foi escolhida por ser uma das precursoras na utilização da ferramenta jogos de empresas no Brasil e também por nunca ter participado de pesquisas sobre esse assunto. Verificou-se que os jogos de empresas não substituem nenhuma disciplina. Porém agrega valor na composição de um curso de pós-graduação em administração principalmente atendendo as necessidades das Diretrizes Curriculares Nacionais (BRASIL, 2005), pois o aluno se identifica com questões entre teoria e prática utilizando a aprendizagem significativa, além do fato que o esta ferramenta atende as necessidades de melhor preparo gerencial dos alunos para o mercado

Orientadores: Celso Pascoli Bottura / Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Engenharia Eletrica e de Computação / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-11T03:59:13Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Costa_EliezerArantesda_D.pdf: 4514909 bytes, checksum: 426e6a3cf7c672569a8fd38adb1148a2 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008 / Resumo: O objetivo desta pesquisa é o desenvolvimento de um novo modelo conceitual para representação, de uma forma integrada, das mais diversas situações de conflito de interesses, como uma base para análise e projeto de controle de sistemas hierárquicos multiagentes, e para o aprimoramento da metodologia de capacitação de executivos para a administração estratégica desses conflitos. O método utilizado para esta pesquisa foi um investigação das condicionantes análogas presentes nos quatro jogos clássicos da Teoria dos Jogos ¿ Nash, Stackelberg, Pareto e Minimax ¿ buscando, entre eles, as características semelhantes e as peculiaridades que realmente os fazem semelhantes e distintos entre si. Desta investigação, foram identificadas duas dimensões diferenciadoras, que possibilitaram a concepção e a construção de uma matriz para representação desses jogos, de uma forma integrada. O modelo conceitual resultante desta pesquisa fornece um esquema analítico abrangente, inspirado na teoria dos jogos, e é usado para explicar, descrever, interpretar e prever os comportamentos dos diversos agentes autônomos envolvidos em situações de conflito de interesses e, em certos casos, prescrever decisões mais adequadas. A Matriz de Jogos Estratégicos (MJE), proposta e utilizada neste trabalho, estabelece um quadro de referência conceitual, mapeando seis diferentes tipos de jogos. Nela, os pressupostos dos modelos clássicos de jogos citados, e outros em casos-limite, são usados de forma integrada e complementar. São tratados, na MJE, jogos competitivos e cooperativos, jogos equilibrados e não-equilibrados, levando em conta tanto a postura concorrencial de cada jogador como o seu pressuposto de relação-de-forças. A MJE contempla de forma inovativa o tratamento de múltiplos subjogos estratégicos simultâneos entre os agentes envolvidos. A aplicação dos conceitos da MJE a complexos sistemas ¿ hierárquicos ou não ¿, com múltiplos agentes inteligentes interativos autônomos, provê uma metodologia de utilidade para análise e projeto de estratégias de controle. Parte importante deste estudo é a realização de experimentos exploratórios com propósito pedagógico. Esses jogos de empresa, realizados via computador, indicam que os participantes ampliam sua percepção para compreender os diversos jogos a jogar, e sua habilidade para atuar em cada um deles. Este uso da MJE leva cada participante a analisar situações de conflito de interesses e a melhor escolher suas decisões estratégicas: Através de um processo dinâmico interativo de tentativa e erro, ele ou ela acaba aprendendo a tomar melhores decisões, levando em conta as possíveis decisões dos demais agentes envolvidos bem como sua avaliação das conseqüências de suas escolhas. Palavras-chave: Matriz de Jogos Estratégicos; teoria dos jogos; jogos estratégicos; jogos de empresas; controle multiagente; gestão de conflitos; planejamento estratégico; gestão estratégica; simulação de empresas; treinamento gerencial; jogos hierárquicos / Abstract: The objective of the current research is the development of a new conceptual model aiming to represent, in an integrated manner, the many situations of conflict of interests as a basis for analysis and design of hierarchical multiagent systems control and for the improvement of the methodology for betterment of the managers¿ skills to deal with the strategic management of such conflicts. The investigation method used was a comparative analysis of the unique characteristics of classical games from Game Theory ¿ Nash, Stackelberg, Pareto, and Minimax ¿ searching, among them, their commonalities and differentiations. This investigation identified two distinct dimensions that enabled the conception and construction of a matrix to represent, in a integrated form, those four games mentioned above. The resulting conceptual model provides a comprehensive analytical scheme, inspired in the theory of games, and is used to explain, describe, interpret and forecast behaviors of autonomous agents involved in situations of conflict of interests and, in some cases, to prescribe the more adequate decisions. The Strategic Games Matrix (SGM) proposed and used in this study establishes a conceptual reference framework mapping six different types of games. In it, the assumptions for classic game models, among others for limitcases, are used in an integrated and complementary manner. The SGM deals with both competitive and cooperative games, as well as balanced and unbalanced ones, taking into consideration both the players' competitive postures and the powerratio assumed by each one. The SGM contemplates in an innovative way the treatment of multiple simultaneous strategic sub-games among the agents involved. The application of the SGM concepts to complex systems ¿ hierarchical or not ¿, with multiple autonomous intelligent interactive agents, provides a methodology of utility for analysis and design of their control strategies. An important part of this study is the exploratory experiments with pedagogical purpose. Such business games, played in a computer, indicate that the participants increase their perception to understand the various games to play, and their ability to act at each one of them. This use of the SGM leads each participant to analyze conflict of interests¿ situations and to improve its strategic decisions: Through an interactive dynamic process of trial and error he/she ends up learning how to make better decisions taking into consideration the likely decisions of the other agents involved as well as her/his evaluation of the consequences of their choices. Keywords: Strategic Games Matrix; game theory; strategic games; business games; multi-agent control; conflict management; strategic planning; strategic management; business simulation; managers training; hierarchical games / Doutorado / Automação / Doutor em Engenharia Elétrica

The profession of chartered accountancy (CA) is critical to the economic, social and cultural development of South Africa. It has the potential to play a broader leadership role in the development of the financial skills the country needs so desperately. Extensive research has shown that South Africa has far too few CAs to satisfy the needs of the economy. The profession itself is, however, facing numerous challenges especially given the high expectations of employers of newly qualified CAs and the image of the profession in South Africa in regard to transforming professional demographics, a vestige of the apartheid regime. Many commentators agree that the fundamental flaw in accounting education is that it has remained static while the profession has changed. There is growing consensus among accounting professionals that recent accounting graduates do not adequately meet the standards set by potential employers in the modern, globalised business environment. One university that offers an accredited CA programme is the North-West University (NWU) which is perfectly placed to draw students from rural and urban areas alike; it has the potential to make a significant contribution to the accountancy skills shortage of the country and, hence, contribute to the economy and broader society. However, being newly formed as a result of government‟s merger of various historic institutions, the NWU faces some tough challenges in its endeavours to contribute to the delivery of CAs. The NWU must identify and break down the barriers, limitations and weaknesses that prohibit its students from achieving optimal results, especially the barriers that can, at least partly, be controlled or influenced by the university. The various studies reported on in this thesis are all built around this pivotal theme, i.e. they all endeavour to reveal the hurdles the institution needs to overcome or the areas that require improvement to ensure that the NWU successfully delivers as many as possible CA graduates of the highest quality and to the optimal benefit of employers and broader society. Ultimately, this study wishes to provide the NWU with the information it needs to reform its CA programme in line with this goal. In broad terms, this study, therefore, aims to establish the extent of the barriers to success of the CA programme at the NWU and to make recommendations on appropriate interventions to address such issues. To address the broad aim of this thesis, it is divided into five subordinate research projects, each designed to identify areas in the NWU‟s CA programme that necessitate amelioration. The first project has the primary objective of comparing and critically analysing differences in curriculum, teaching and learning methods, and assessment between the NWU CA programme and the professional accountancy department of a comparable university in the United Kingdom (UK) (so as to identify possible interventions for the NWU programme). It would be imprudent for any organisation not to look first towards international best practice in search of interventions, and a comparable UK institution is an obvious choice given the similarities in degree structures, the South African higher education framework having originally developed from the UK framework. The method employed is a case study involving the comparison of the qualification frameworks of the two countries involved and of two specific accounting degrees in regard to curriculum, teaching and learning, and assessment, including the inspection of institutional documentation and an analysis of focus group transcripts involving academic staff from either institution. The remainder of the projects delve into more specific internal concerns regarding the NWU‟s CA programme. The second project has the objective of identifying and gauging the strength of possible barriers to student achievement (as identified in the literature) in the NWU‟s CA programme and, with a view to gaining insight into transformation constraints, the third project aims to assess whether there are differences in the perceptions of the NWU‟s CA students from different campuses and different ethnic backgrounds regarding the efficacy of various students achievement drivers. Both these projects involve a written survey on student perceptions on achievement barriers affecting the NWU. The participants to these projects were 790 CA students and the results are analysed statistically. The strength of achievement barriers and transformation constraints indicated in the accounting education literature might not reveal the complete picture of the reasons why students fail, especially at the first-year level where failure and dropout are often of great concern. To, therefore, determine the full range of barriers, the fourth research project has the objective of diagnosing any possible reasons for student failure (that are not necessarily addressed in the literature) and, more specifically, failure to complete the first year of CA studies at the NWU successfully. This project is approached in a wholly qualitative manner through a discursive analysis of four separate focus group interview transcripts involving a total of 29 randomly selected failed CA students. The first four research objectives reveal a number of weaknesses in the NWU‟s CA programme in need of amelioration, and various recommendations are made in this regard. A major theme arising is the lack of skills development and assessment opportunities afforded to students in the NWU CA programme. The thesis then explores the use of integrated case studies and business simulation assignments as educational tools to address this problem. Faithful to the fifth research objective of developing and evaluating a prototype of the most needed tool recommended as an educational intervention, an actual inter-disciplinary integrated case study and business simulation assignment is developed to enhance students‟ professional skills. The success of the assignment is evaluated by having 56 third-year CA students actually complete the assignment and then testing their experiences thereof utilising an adapted questionnaire designed for this purpose, followed by statistical analysis of the data. The contributions of this thesis are manifold including, but not limited to, the identification of a variety of areas for amelioration in accounting education practices, being one of very few comprehensive studies that investigates many achievement barriers holistically. This thesis sheds new light on some themes that have not yet been sufficiently researched in prior literature, including the value of career-oriented communication, transformation in accounting education, student failure in South African accounting education and the usage of inter-disciplinary integrated case studies or simulations in accounting. It further contributes a new empirical questionnaire, the reliability of which has been confirmed, making further research possible in various other settings. It benchmarks South African accounting education to that of at least one developed country; such international comparisons are scarce in the accounting education field, especially involving Africa. Moreover, it offers explanations for the drivers of pedagogical approaches in accounting education with reference to various forces rooted in institutional theory and education theory. The author, however, believes that the most practical contribution of this thesis is the actual inter-disciplinary case study and business simulation assignment which can be used or adapted by accounting educators to develop and assess professional skills and which provide some evidence of students‟ experiences of such an assignment that can inform the development of future assignments. Inter-disciplinary integrated tools are scarce in this field. The thesis is of managerial value for the NWU, but its findings are not confined to the domain of this institution, as they should provide useful insight for other institutions and accounting educators, as well as government(s) and professional bodies as the guardians of the profession. Delivering a higher quantity of better qualified CAs, especially from the designated population groups, are to the benefit of the whole country. Most of all, this thesis provides evidence of efforts to make a difference in the continuous quest to ameliorate accounting education one step at a time. / PhD (Accountancy), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

The profession of chartered accountancy (CA) is critical to the economic, social and cultural development of South Africa. It has the potential to play a broader leadership role in the development of the financial skills the country needs so desperately. Extensive research has shown that South Africa has far too few CAs to satisfy the needs of the economy. The profession itself is, however, facing numerous challenges especially given the high expectations of employers of newly qualified CAs and the image of the profession in South Africa in regard to transforming professional demographics, a vestige of the apartheid regime. Many commentators agree that the fundamental flaw in accounting education is that it has remained static while the profession has changed. There is growing consensus among accounting professionals that recent accounting graduates do not adequately meet the standards set by potential employers in the modern, globalised business environment. One university that offers an accredited CA programme is the North-West University (NWU) which is perfectly placed to draw students from rural and urban areas alike; it has the potential to make a significant contribution to the accountancy skills shortage of the country and, hence, contribute to the economy and broader society. However, being newly formed as a result of government‟s merger of various historic institutions, the NWU faces some tough challenges in its endeavours to contribute to the delivery of CAs. The NWU must identify and break down the barriers, limitations and weaknesses that prohibit its students from achieving optimal results, especially the barriers that can, at least partly, be controlled or influenced by the university. The various studies reported on in this thesis are all built around this pivotal theme, i.e. they all endeavour to reveal the hurdles the institution needs to overcome or the areas that require improvement to ensure that the NWU successfully delivers as many as possible CA graduates of the highest quality and to the optimal benefit of employers and broader society. Ultimately, this study wishes to provide the NWU with the information it needs to reform its CA programme in line with this goal. In broad terms, this study, therefore, aims to establish the extent of the barriers to success of the CA programme at the NWU and to make recommendations on appropriate interventions to address such issues. To address the broad aim of this thesis, it is divided into five subordinate research projects, each designed to identify areas in the NWU‟s CA programme that necessitate amelioration. The first project has the primary objective of comparing and critically analysing differences in curriculum, teaching and learning methods, and assessment between the NWU CA programme and the professional accountancy department of a comparable university in the United Kingdom (UK) (so as to identify possible interventions for the NWU programme). It would be imprudent for any organisation not to look first towards international best practice in search of interventions, and a comparable UK institution is an obvious choice given the similarities in degree structures, the South African higher education framework having originally developed from the UK framework. The method employed is a case study involving the comparison of the qualification frameworks of the two countries involved and of two specific accounting degrees in regard to curriculum, teaching and learning, and assessment, including the inspection of institutional documentation and an analysis of focus group transcripts involving academic staff from either institution. The remainder of the projects delve into more specific internal concerns regarding the NWU‟s CA programme. The second project has the objective of identifying and gauging the strength of possible barriers to student achievement (as identified in the literature) in the NWU‟s CA programme and, with a view to gaining insight into transformation constraints, the third project aims to assess whether there are differences in the perceptions of the NWU‟s CA students from different campuses and different ethnic backgrounds regarding the efficacy of various students achievement drivers. Both these projects involve a written survey on student perceptions on achievement barriers affecting the NWU. The participants to these projects were 790 CA students and the results are analysed statistically. The strength of achievement barriers and transformation constraints indicated in the accounting education literature might not reveal the complete picture of the reasons why students fail, especially at the first-year level where failure and dropout are often of great concern. To, therefore, determine the full range of barriers, the fourth research project has the objective of diagnosing any possible reasons for student failure (that are not necessarily addressed in the literature) and, more specifically, failure to complete the first year of CA studies at the NWU successfully. This project is approached in a wholly qualitative manner through a discursive analysis of four separate focus group interview transcripts involving a total of 29 randomly selected failed CA students. The first four research objectives reveal a number of weaknesses in the NWU‟s CA programme in need of amelioration, and various recommendations are made in this regard. A major theme arising is the lack of skills development and assessment opportunities afforded to students in the NWU CA programme. The thesis then explores the use of integrated case studies and business simulation assignments as educational tools to address this problem. Faithful to the fifth research objective of developing and evaluating a prototype of the most needed tool recommended as an educational intervention, an actual inter-disciplinary integrated case study and business simulation assignment is developed to enhance students‟ professional skills. The success of the assignment is evaluated by having 56 third-year CA students actually complete the assignment and then testing their experiences thereof utilising an adapted questionnaire designed for this purpose, followed by statistical analysis of the data. The contributions of this thesis are manifold including, but not limited to, the identification of a variety of areas for amelioration in accounting education practices, being one of very few comprehensive studies that investigates many achievement barriers holistically. This thesis sheds new light on some themes that have not yet been sufficiently researched in prior literature, including the value of career-oriented communication, transformation in accounting education, student failure in South African accounting education and the usage of inter-disciplinary integrated case studies or simulations in accounting. It further contributes a new empirical questionnaire, the reliability of which has been confirmed, making further research possible in various other settings. It benchmarks South African accounting education to that of at least one developed country; such international comparisons are scarce in the accounting education field, especially involving Africa. Moreover, it offers explanations for the drivers of pedagogical approaches in accounting education with reference to various forces rooted in institutional theory and education theory. The author, however, believes that the most practical contribution of this thesis is the actual inter-disciplinary case study and business simulation assignment which can be used or adapted by accounting educators to develop and assess professional skills and which provide some evidence of students‟ experiences of such an assignment that can inform the development of future assignments. Inter-disciplinary integrated tools are scarce in this field. The thesis is of managerial value for the NWU, but its findings are not confined to the domain of this institution, as they should provide useful insight for other institutions and accounting educators, as well as government(s) and professional bodies as the guardians of the profession. Delivering a higher quantity of better qualified CAs, especially from the designated population groups, are to the benefit of the whole country. Most of all, this thesis provides evidence of efforts to make a difference in the continuous quest to ameliorate accounting education one step at a time. / PhD (Accountancy), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014