Le mode de développement externe le plus répandu pour faire face à l’environnement changeant des entreprises (Jacob et Poitras, 2015) est la fusion-acquisition (Meier et Schier, 2012). L’objectif principal des fusions-acquisitions est souvent la recherche de synergies. Or, pour réaliser les objectifs de la nouvelle entité, les individus doivent collaborer afin de créer l’efficacité collective qui permettra d’ajouter de la valeur au travail réalisé (Morin, 2015). Néanmoins, dans la littérature scientifique, nous ne retrouvons pas les déterminants de la collaboration interindividuelle.Cette thèse propose un modèle de recherche intégrant les différents déterminants de la collaboration. Elle accorde une attention particulière à la mesure de l’influence de la confiance et de la culture sur l’efficacité de la collaboration. À l’appui d’une étude empirique qualitative fondée sur 44 entretiens et d'une étude quantitative reposant sur 301 réponses, les deux effectuées au sein d’Air France-KLM, nous avons pu montrer que la confiance et la culture ont une influence particulière lorsqu’il s’agit de l’efficacité de la collaboration.Notre étude confirme, dans un premier temps, l’importance de l’efficacité de la collaboration en montrant qu’elle détermine pour 68 % la réalisation des objectifs. Ensuite, nous observons que la confiance est l’élément essentiel pour une bonne communication et une forte cohésion sociale, qui expliquent à leur tour ensemble 58 % de l’efficacité de la collaboration. Ainsi, nous constatons que la confiance interpersonnelle influence l’efficacité de la collaboration de manière indirecte. Cela est aussi le cas pour la culture. La distance hiérarchique au sein de la culture d’entreprise et l’évitement de l’incertitude au niveau de la culture nationale ont une influence négative sur la confiance et la cohésion sociale. De même, nous remarquons qu’il existe également une influence indirecte de la culture des individus sur l’efficacité de la collaboration. / Merger-acquisition is the most widespread mode of external development for dealing with the changing environment of business (Jacob and Poitras, 2015). The main objective of a merger-acquisition is most often seeking for synergies. However, in order to achieve the objectives of the new entity, individuals must work together to create collective efficiency that adds value to the work they realize (Morin, 2015). Nevertheless, we find no studies in the scientific literature on how to promote effective inter-individual collaboration after a merger-acquisition.This PhD proposes a research model integrating the various determinants of collaboration and pays particular attention to the extent of the influence of trust and culture that play, according to the existing literature, an important role in the effectiveness of inter-individual collaboration. The results of a qualitative study, based on 44 interviews, and a quantitative study, based on 301 questionnaires, that are both realized at Air France-KLM, allow us to see that trust and culture have an important and indirect influence on the effectiveness of collaboration.Our study confirms firstly the importance of studying inter-individual collaboration by showing that its effectiveness determines 68% of the realization of the objectives of the organization. Secondly, we observe that trust is essential for good communication and strong social cohesion, which in turn account for 58% of the effectiveness of collaboration. Thus, we remark that interpersonal trust influences the effectiveness of collaboration indirectly. This is also the case for culture. Power distances in corporate culture and avoidance of uncertainty in national culture have a negative impact on trust and social cohesion. Since social cohesion and communication determine the effectiveness of collaboration, we could conclude that cultural aspects influence the effectiveness of collaboration indirectly.

Over the past decade, an interest in collaboration has been coming to the fore in composition studies. Whereas once we were primarily interested in investigating the cognitive processes of the individual, we now seek to understand more about the social dynamics of writing in groups to improve our teaching of composition in the classroom. To that end, this dissertation looks at the real world collaborative activities of business proposal writers within a high technology company. Writing in the workplace is often undertaken in groups, and my work at Cerebellum, Inc. with computer professionals (who wrote as part of their jobs) reveals complexities hitherto unsuspected in the social writing process. The importance of a detailed understanding of collaboration has been called for in the literature by, for example, Ede and Lunsford (1990). My dissertation surveys current literature in composition, including a review of investigations into collaboration during business writing as a salient behaviour of such a discourse community. In order to accomplish my research, I used a video camera to record the activities which embodied the writing process at Cerebellum Inc. I found that the use of the video camera in an ethnographic manner not only helped me to gather detailed data, both verbal and nonverbal, in the continuous and comprehensive detail so vital to communication research, but also assisted in initiating better understanding within the business community of the aims and approaches of academic research. Video technology gave me a chance to participate in as well as observe situations, and also opened the door to conversation concerning my methods and my findings with both researchers and informants. I propose a model of the varying levels of engagement undertaken by the writers of a business proposal. I then suggest the educational value of the representation with a discussion of implications for the teaching of writing in the workplace and in more traditional school settings. Detailed research into collaboration offers us a window on the social processes which constitute writing for our students now and in their futures in the workplace. Such work is vitally important to ensuring superior levels of advanced literacy which will be in continuing demand now and in the next century. / Education, Faculty of / Curriculum and Pedagogy (EDCP), Department of / Graduate

This study engages the collaboration of dance and music, focusing primarily on experiences in the production of a large scale collaborative concert entitled Never Odd or Even. Famous historical collaborations offer archetypal collaborative models, the more unconventional of which are applied to the pieces of the concert. Issues and observations regarding cross-influence, project evolution, and application of the collaborative models are engaged to determine effective means of collaboration given different circumstances. The key focus of the study, the temporal relationship between music and dance, is explored in great detail to determine three models for relating time between music and dance. These temporal relationship models are applied to the pieces and evaluated on effectiveness and potential strengths when applied to dance.

This study was designed to show how the Figsboro Elementary School Child Study Committee transformed from an uninformed committee to one that became informed. This created a more effective Child Study Committee. Strategies were identified and implemented to show how this process evolved. / Ed. D.

Corporations budget and strategize to set targets for planning purposes. Review of the literature indicated that methods of budget creation, including input from operational employees, are not fully understood by corporate budget officers. The problem addressed in this study was whether a collaborative approach to budgeting would improve implementation of the Generally Accepted Accounting Principles of relevance and reliability within the budgeting process. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the benefits of a collaborative approach to budgeting since non-inclusive budget preparation could alienate members of the operations team. Participative leadership was the conceptual framework guiding this study and formulated the research questions, which focused on inclusion of operation. An intrinsic case study was conducted by interviewing 20 operational and finance professionals, from the metro Houston area with significant budget experience, in order to assess their paradigms on the benefits of a collaborative approach. The structured interviews included questions regarding the budget experience, how budget development can be improved, and how to incorporate greater participation in the budget. Pattern-matching was used to analyze the data. Operational employees' business insight was identified as a strength, whereas the budget process needed improvement. These findings suggest that other, similar organizations that promote collaboration could have a more attainable and meaningful budget document. Financial analysts can use these data to influence social change by enhancing investor confidence, refining the use of business resources, and improving economic stability of organizations through enhanced financial variance analysis.

Many of today's complex public issues are best addressed by multi-sectoral multi-organizational responses that include different types of organizations working together (Kettl, 2008; O'Toole, 1997). Social network analysis (SNA) of interorganizational networks has emerged as a useful tool for network managers to understand the structure and function of the complex networks in which they seek to manage (Human and Provan, 1997, 2000; Provan and Milward, 1995; Provan, Sebastian, and Milward, 1996; Provan, Veazie, Staten, and Teufel-Shone, 2005). The output of an interorganizational SNA typically provides a range of information to network managers including network plots. The network plots provide visual representations of different aspects of the network by showing the kinds of ties between the actors in the network. The information from network analyses can help network managers encourage systems thinking, see the different roles played by organizations, or identify links to outside resources among many other uses, but "will only have practical value to communities if it can be effectively presented, discussed, accepted, and acted on by community leaders and network participants [emphasis added]." (Provan et al., 2005, p. 610). However, little is currently known about if or how the information embedded in network plots is accepted or acted on by network participants. The visual representations of the network (network plots) provided to network participants following a SNA are often open to a range of interpretations that may or may not align with the findings of the analyst or the intended use by network managers, raising many interesting questions. Little is currently known about how differently situated network participants might interpret the same network plots differently. Nor do we understand what factors might influence different individuals or organizations to come up with different interpretations. After conducting a SNA and presenting it to network participants, I conducted interviews with a range of different representatives from participating organizations. I used a particular form of semi-structured interview, a situated micro-element interview from Dervin's Sense Making Methodology (SMM) (Dervin, Foreman-Wernet, and Lauterbach, 2003). I then analyzed the interview transcripts using standard qualitative coding methods (Bailey, 2007) to see if themes emerged that addressed the research questions. I found that most informants had trouble extracting information and meaning from their examination of the plots without that meaning and interpretation being provided by the expert analyst. I posit some potential explanations for why that might be so in the case I studied. I then turn to some interesting methodological considerations that emerged from taking the perspectives of network participants seriously. Finally, I synthesize the subject area and methodological findings into a refined framework for sense-making around network plots and offer propositions and potential approaches for future research. / Doctor of Philosophy / Many of today's complex public issues are best addressed by multi-sectoral multi-organizational responses that include different types of organizations working together (Kettl, 2008; O'Toole, 1997). Social network analysis (SNA) of interorganizational networks has emerged as a useful tool for network managers to understand the structure and function of the complex networks in which they seek to manage (Human and Provan, 1997, 2000; Provan and Milward, 1995; Provan, Sebastian, and Milward, 1996; Provan, Veazie, Staten, and Teufel-Shone, 2005). The output of an interorganizational SNA typically provides a range of information to network managers including network plots. The network plots provide visual representations of different aspects of the network by showing the kinds of ties between the actors in the network. The information from network analyses can help network managers encourage systems thinking, see the different roles played by organizations, or identify links to outside resources among many other uses, but "will only have practical value to communities if it can be effectively presented, discussed, accepted, and acted on by community leaders and network participants [emphasis added]." (Provan et al., 2005, p. 610). However, little is currently known about if or how the information embedded in network plots is accepted or acted on by network participants. The visual representations of the network (network plots) provided to network participants following a SNA are often open to a range of interpretations that may or may not align with the findings of the analyst or the intended use by network managers, raising many interesting questions. Little is currently known about how differently situated network participants might interpret the same network plots differently. Nor do we understand what factors might influence different individuals or organizations to come up with different interpretations. After conducting a SNA and presenting it to network participants, I conducted interviews with a range of different representatives from participating organizations. I used a particular form of semi-structured interview, a situated micro-element interview from Dervin's Sense Making Methodology (SMM) (Dervin, Foreman-Wernet, and Lauterbach, 2003). I then analyzed the interview transcripts using standard qualitative coding methods (Bailey, 2007) to see if themes emerged that addressed the research questions. I found that most informants had trouble extracting information and meaning from their examination of the plots without that meaning and interpretation being provided by the expert analyst. I posit some potential explanations for why that might be so in the case I studied. I then turn to some interesting methodological considerations that emerged from taking the perspectives of network participants seriously. Finally, I synthesize the subject area and methodological findings into a refined framework for sense-making around network plots and offer propositions and potential approaches for future research.

Wikipedia is the product of thousands of editors working collaboratively to provide free and up-to-date encyclopedic information to the project's users. This article asks to what degree Wikipedia articles in three languages — Hindi, Urdu, and English — achieve Wikipedia's mission of making neutrally-presented, reliable information on a polarizing, controversial topic available to people around the globe. We chose the topic of the recent revocation of Article 370 of the Constitution of India, which, along with other recent events in and concerning the region of Jammu and Kashmir, has drawn attention to related articles on Wikipedia. This work focuses on the English Wikipedia, being the preeminent language edition of the project, as well as the Hindi and Urdu editions. Hindi and Urdu are the two standardized varieties of Hindustani, a lingua franca of Jammu and Kashmir. We analyzed page view and revision data for three Wikipedia articles to gauge popularity of the pages in our corpus, and responsiveness of editors to breaking news events and problematic edits. Additionally, we interviewed editors from all three language editions to learn about differences in editing processes and motivations, and we compared the text of the articles across languages as they appeared shortly after the revocation of Article 370. Across languages,we saw discrepancies in article tone, organization, and the information presented, as well as differences in how editors collaborate and communicate with one another. Nevertheless, in Hindi and Urdu, as well as English, editors predominantly try to adhere to the principle of neutral point of view (NPOV), and for the most part, the editors quash attempts by other editors to push political agendas. / Master of Science / Wikipedia aims to have articles fairly represent controversial topics. It's especially important that articles are updated quickly and malicious edits are caught as events warrant. In smaller language editions of the project, it's a challenge to keep articles both current and "neutral."We chose five articles related to the ongoing conflict in Jammu and Kashmir and compared them across three language editions of Wikipedia: English (often seen as the gold standard of the project, having been around the longest and having by far the most contributors of any language edition), Hindi, and Urdu. Hindi and Urdu are the two standardized varieties of Hindustani; both are widely spoken in and around Jammu and Kashmir, but particularly, Urdu is the national language of Pakistan and Hindi is most widely spoken in Northern India. With some exceptions, we found that across language editions, editors were quick to respond to breaking news events and problematic edits, and they strove to uphold Wikipedia's core tenet of neutral point of view (NPOV).

Extreme weather events are becoming more commonplace in the United States and across the globe. Infrastructure cannot be built to completely withstand damage from these extreme events, thus communities must prepare themselves to recover quickly and efficiently to limit disruption to community members' livelihoods. Non-coastal, rural communities in the Appalachian region are affected by many of the same barriers to recovery as more populated suburban and urban communities, however, they can also face unique circumstances due to heightened vulnerability caused by depressed socioeconomics, reduced access to public services, and nominal capabilities of small, rural town governments. Rural communities face challenges to disaster recovery, but they can also benefit from increased social capital and population homogeneity that reduces cultural and language barriers and has the potential to improve coordination and collaboration. Financial and coordination barriers, such as the late or slow allocation of funding and limited management capacity of local governments during disaster recovery, are prevalent in rural Appalachian communities. Legal and socio-cultural barriers to rural disaster recovery include historical development patterns in and around floodplains, higher percentages of vulnerable populations, and difficulty navigating the federal disaster aid application process. Collaborative planning efforts and capacity building through the cultivation of relationships among disaster recovery stakeholders are necessary to provide an efficient and effective recovery. Additional funding, and more timely funding, are often proposed to solve a variety of challenges, but money alone will not be enough to overcome many prominent barriers. By adopting planning and cross-sector collaborative practices, local governments can better leverage available resources and facilitate the recovery process for the benefit of the affected communities. The 2016 West Virginia floods served as a case study and recovery strategies used following this event provide lessons learned to mitigate disaster recovery barriers in the future. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 25 people from 15 organizations ranging from state cabinet secretaries and mayors to engineers and nonprofit workers. Interviews were transcribed and coded using qualitative data analysis software. Site visits accompanied interviews and thematic content analysis was used to analyze interview transcripts and supporting documentation. Codes were validated by an independent, third-party coder. / Doctor of Philosophy / A recent increase in natural disasters in the United States, and the recognition that infrastructure cannot be built to completely withstand damage from these extreme events, has created a greater interest in disaster recovery. Communities must prepare themselves to recover quickly and efficiently following events like flooding to limit disruption to community members' livelihoods. Rural communities in Appalachia are affected by many of the same barriers to recovery as suburban and urban communities, but they often also face unique circumstances due to heightened vulnerability caused by fewer financial resources, reduced access to public services, and limited capabilities of small town governments. Rural communities face challenges to disaster recovery, but they can also benefit from increased trust among community members and population homogeneity that reduces cultural and language barriers and has the potential to improve coordination and collaboration. Financial and coordination barriers, such as the late or slow allocation of funding from government agencies and limited management capacity of local governments during disaster recovery are common in rural Appalachian communities. Legal and socio-cultural barriers to rural disaster recovery include historical development patterns in and around areas prone to flooding, higher percentages of vulnerable populations like those over 65 years of age, and people's difficulty applying for federal disaster aid. Collaborative planning efforts and capacity building through the cultivation of relationships among disaster recovery stakeholders help provide an efficient and effective recovery. Additional funding, and more timely funding, are often proposed to solve a variety of problems, but money alone will not be enough to overcome many prominent barriers. By adopting planning and cross-sector collaborative practices, local governments can use available resources more wisely and facilitate the recovery process for the benefit of the affected communities. The 2016 West Virginia floods served as a case study and recovery strategies used following this event provide lessons learned to mitigate disaster recovery barriers in the future. Interviews were conducted with 25 people from 15 organizations ranging from state cabinet secretaries and mayors to engineers and nonprofit workers. Interviews were transcribed and coded using qualitative data analysis software. Site visits accompanied interviews and thematic content analysis was used to analyze interview transcripts and supporting documentation. Codes were validated by an independent, third-party coder.

This dissertation presents a case study the Learning in Networked Communities (LiNC) project. The focus of the study is on the social processes involved in the development and deployment of technologies associated with the LiNC project. These processes involved the work of university investigators, software developers, teachers and other researchers. The technologies that were developed and deployed were collaborative computer network-based software tools for use in several local high school and middle school science classrooms. I discuss methodological implications for the study of the social construction of technology in the field of Science and Technology Studies in regards to my methodological approach to the study of this project. I describe the political context of surrounding the National Science Foundation and the funding of research and development programs related to the Internet. I trace the historical infrastructure development of Internet technologies especially as they relate to the technology developed in the LiNC project. I describe the execution of the main grant that funded the LiNC project, the methods employed in that study, and the activities of researchers, teachers, and students focusing on their perspectives, interactions, and understandings of the events of that period of time. Finally, I draw conclusions about such study of technological development, university research, teaching, the field of Human-Computer Interaction, and the prospects for future research in these areas. / Ph. D.

The American education system must utilize collaboration to meet the challenges and demands our culture poses for schools. Deeply rooted processes and structures favor teaching and learning in isolation and hinder the shift to a more collaborative paradigm. Professional learning communities (PLCs) support continuous teacher learning, improved efficacy, and program implementation. The PLC provides the framework for the development and enhancement of teacher collaboration and teacher collaboration develops and sustains the PLC. The interpersonal factors that influence collaboration make it difficult to implement and preclude the use of any systematic directions to develop a PLC successfully. However, research has identified emerging strategies that could guide the development of collaborative cultures for school improvement. The researcher designed this case study to describe collaboration in the PLC of an elementary school. The study focuses on collaborative behaviors, perceptions, influences, barriers, and strategies present in the school. The researcher utilized the Professional Learning Community Organizer (Hipp & Huffman, 2010) in the analysis of the data. Hipp, Huffman and others continued the research started by Hord (1990) and identified PLC dimensions and behaviors associated with those dimensions. The PLCO included behaviors aligned with the initiating, implementing, and sustaining phases of each dimension of a PLC. Structure and process, trust and accountability, and empowerment emerged as important themes in the observed PLC. The sequential path to teacher empowerment began with the development of structure and process. Teachers developed trust in each other by demonstrating accountability required by those structures and processes. Trust provided opportunities for risk taking and leadership to emerge. The teachers and administrators demonstrated their commitment to the vision and worked collaboratively for the learning success of all students. The data provided evidence of administrators and teachers making decisions to solve problems and improve instruction based on the vision. The PLC of the elementary school observed demonstrated development at the implementing and sustaining levels. The teachers and administrators worked collaboratively over time to improve teacher practice resulting in improved student learning. The opportunity to utilize the PLC for continuous growth by challenging the new norms and embracing risk taking remains. / Ed. D.