Today’s global markets demand global processes. Increasingly, these processes are not only distributed, but also contain mobile aspects. We discuss two challenges brought about by these mobile business processes: Firstly, the need to specify the distribution of processes across several sites, and secondly, the need to specify the dialog flows of the applications implementing those processes on mobile devices. To remedy the first challenge, we give an overview of the Process Landscaping method with its support for refining processes across multiple abstraction layers and associating their activities and objects with distinguished locations. Next, we present a Dialog Flow Notation and Dialog Control Framework for the specification and management of complex hypertext-based dialog flows. These tools allow developers to build user interfaces for mobile client devices with different input/output capabilities, which all access the same application logic on a central server.

Thesis (MBA (Business Management))--University of Stellenbosch, 2009. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: In die navorsingsverslag het ons geleer dat dit belangrik is om kennis te dra van menslike gedrag. As ‘n mens ‘n goeie idee het hoe mense funksioneer en dinge doen, sal dit makliker wees om saam te werk en om mekaar beter te verstaan. Die skrywer het in hoofstuk twee gevind dat konflik ‘n positiewe invloed kan hê op die transformasie van ‘n seun/dogter in ‘n familiebesigheid. In Hoofstuk 2 word die belangrikheid van kommunikasie in enige besigheid, en veral in ‘n familiebesigheid, beklemtoon. Die skrywer het gevind dat daar nie ‘n groot verskil tussen De Villiers (1985) se studie en dié studie is nie. Hier is ‘n paar verskille wat in Hoofstuk 5 uitgelig is. Seuns en vaders weet nie regtig wat die seun se rol in die familiebesigheid is nie. Hierdie probleem kan direk toegeskryf word aan swak kommunikasie. In Hoofstuk 2 kan ons lees hoe belangrik kommunikasie is. Daar is geen strategie hoe die vader die besigheid gaan verlaat nie. Dit is belangrik om so ‘n verlatingsstrategie op papier vas te lê. Die rede vir so ‘n strategie is om ‘n doel te hê om na te streef en om daarna te werk. Dit kan as ‘n plan gesien word om vas te stel wanneer die vader kan aftree en die seun kan begin planne maak vir sy toekoms. Seuns en vaders het verskillende opinies. Marshack (2003) verwys in Hoofstuk 2 dat die jonger generasie deur konflik ‘n merk in die besigheid kan maak, maar dit hang af of hulle met ‘n doeltreffende oplossing vorendag kan kom vir die konflik of die probleem. In Hoofstuk 2 kan meer oor konflik gelees word. Die skrywer van hierdie navorsingsprojek hoop dat die lesers meer duidelikheid sal hê oor die onderwerp en die implikasies in bestuur en mensevehoudings as ‘n seun/dogter die familiebesigheid betree. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: In this research report we learned how important it is to have an understanding of human behaviour. If one has a good understanding on how people function and operate, it is easier to work with other people and it is easier to understand one another. The writer learned that there is not a big difference between the results of the study done by De Villiers (1985) and this study. There are a few differences that can be found in Chapter 5. Sons and fathers are often confused on what role the son plays in the family business. This problem is usually a direct consequence of bad communication. In Chapter 2 we can read how important good communication is. There is often no exit strategy for the father in the family business. It is important to have an exit strategy on paper. The reason for an exit strategy is to have a goal to work towards. This is just a plan to see when it will be possible for the father to retire, and for the son to make plans for his future. Sons and fathers usually have different opinions. Marshack (2003) says in Chapter 2 that through conflict the younger generation can make a mark in the business if they come up with a proper and different solution. In Chapter 2 you can read more about resolving conflict. The writer hopes that you will have more answers on the implications in management and human relations when a son/daughter enters a family business after studying this research project.

This diploma thesis focuses on the selection process of the enterprise information system in the enterprise. The general investment process and vendor selection process are described in the theoretical part. This part also includes the analysis of the specifics and differences of the selection process of the information system and recommended methodology for public tender. The optimized selection process of enterprise information system is designed on the basis of specialized literature and found deficiencies. The applicability of the proposed process in practice is assessed through comparison with a case study of a successful selection of an information system in the final part of the thesis. The design can be considered usable in practice according to the described transformation of the tender in the case study to the proposed process. The application of the thesis outputs brings reduction of the required effort and increases the success rate of the selection process of the enterprise information system.

The purpose of this study was to investigate how a group of Chinese business students understood the nature and the purpose of the instruction techniques they were exposed to in Britain, and the attitudes the students, Chinese lecturers in China and British lecturers in Britain held towards seminar discussions. The study also investigated how and to what extent students’ prior learning experiences predisposed them to certain attitudes towards seminar discussions. The student participants in this study undertook Part I of their degree programme at a Chinese university for two years before transferring to Britain to study for one year, graduating with a British Bachelors Degree in International Business. Data was gathered from classroom observations, follow-up and exploratory interviews, and a questionnaire survey to discover more about the students’ learning experiences in Part I in China, and from classroom observations, audio-recordings, and follow-up and exploratory interviews to investigate the same group of students’ learning experiences in Part II in Britain. A ranking task and interviews were used to identify the preferences of Chinese students, British lecturers, and Chinese lecturers from China in terms of specific group discussion methods. The study identified three discussion methods used by students in British seminars: these have been termed ‘spiral’, ‘exploratory’ and ‘individual’ methods. The Chinese students tended to use the ‘spiral’ method, repeatedly bringing the discussion back to the question provided by the seminar tutor, whereas the non-Chinese students tended to use the ‘exploratory’ method, reformulating each other’s opinions and building on them by bringing in new information. When discussing within Chinese-only groups, the Chinese students used the ‘individual’ method whereby a group leader took responsibility for the outcomes of the discussion and the other members did not build upon each other’s contributions. Chinese and non-Chinese students sometimes misunderstood each others’ intentions, but were not likely to notice that miscommunication had occurred. The ranking task and the follow-up interviews revealed that the British lecturers preferred the ‘exploratory’ discussion method, whereas Chinese lecturers from China and Chinese students preferred the ‘spiral’ method. The British lecturers were found to adopt a constructivist approach to group discussion tasks, seeing them as a means by which students could obtain professional experience. They treated Business and Management knowledge as divergent and ‘soft’. Chinese lecturers and students, on the other hand, were found to perceive group discussion as a kind of assessment and were keen to find ‘correct’ answers to case study problems, treating Business and Management as convergent and hard disciplines which offered judgements on good practice. The Chinese lecturers in Part I of the programme organised group discussion so that students could exchange answers and check their accuracy, and, perhaps because of this, in Part I the students learnt in an exam-oriented way, strategically dividing up their tasks and working individually on their own task portions in order to find an acceptable answer as quickly as possible. These students were found to continue to employ these strategies during group work after they had transferred to the British component of their degree programme. The study has made a theoretical contribution to knowledge concerning the cultural influences on students’ classroom interactional practices. The findings from the study have implications for the teaching of intercultural business communication, and the enhancement of students’ learning experiences in international business programmes, in business English programmes in China, and whilst learning within groups.

Today’s business and IT systems have strongly focused on effective communication. The communication based on poor foundation might create huge communication problems for the system designer and user. These communication problems have a severe impact on the efficiency of information system and most importantly when it comes to the building of a new information system through co design process. For any business organization, IT plays a huge role these days. Although this is not given much emphasis sometimes, it is important to understand that the use of IT in business cannot be taken for granted because it is viewed as part of business organization these days. The business needs to continuously make investments in their IT systems. This will not only help the organization, but the industry as a whole. Effective communication is extremely important for business and IT systems now-a-days. With the help of this particular thesis, the importance of effective communication would have been reflected accordingly. The purpose of this research is therefore to analyze the communication problem between the designer and user during co-design mainly in the field of business and information technology and to create an understanding for how it is possible to create a better communication between the different parties in system development through co-design. Research can also be classified on the basis of the structure of the problem to be solved into exploratory, descriptive and casual research. The research can be regarded as exploratory research because large amounts of data can be gathered from the past researches and literature. Exploratory research explores the parameters of the problems in order to identify what should be measured and how best to undertake a study. In this research the qualitative data is gathered through detailed interviews and literature review. This helps in better understanding through words. Data is generated through the method of triangulation. The results will be presented using detailed analysis of data gathered from interviews and the analysis of theoretical part. It is a very challenging task to meet the changing needs of the business world. Designing effective information technology for this purpose is also very challenging. The co-design of business and IT systems has a lot of benefits for the organizations. The information technology is basically used to support business and its functions. Therefore it is extremely important that the information technology is aligned with the business processes. It should be considered as a part of the business and should not be designed independently. Effective Communication is important for managers in the companies in order to perform the fundamental management functions, i.e., Planning, Leading, Organizing, and Controlling. Communication facilitates managers to execute their jobs as well as responsibilities. Communication provides a foundation for planning. All the vital information should be communicated to the managers who consecutively should communicate the plans in order to apply them. Organizing also needs efficient communication with others regarding their job task. Hence, we can say that “effective communication is a basic element of successful business”. In other words, communication works as blood of organization. Strong literature review as well as strong capabilities towards research methodology and analytical part will certainly enhances the productivity of this thesis and will furnish good understandings among the readers. / Program: Masterutbildning i Informatik

The purposes of this study were to examine the oral communication skills considered important to specific companies, identify the objectives emphasized in the business and professional communication courses in Texas colleges and universities, ascertain how much course time is spent in various areas, and determine the communication needs of business and industry and the degree to which the communication departments of Texas colleges and universities are meeting those needs.

Submitted by SBI Biblioteca Digital (sbi.bibliotecadigital@puc-campinas.edu.br) on 2017-08-04T19:07:24Z No. of bitstreams: 1 RODRIGO HIP?LITO ROZA.pdf: 883491 bytes, checksum: bd055d5408be214508c0cfe3fff6183b (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-08-04T19:07:24Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 RODRIGO HIP?LITO ROZA.pdf: 883491 bytes, checksum: bd055d5408be214508c0cfe3fff6183b (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-06-02 / Pontif?cia Universidade Cat?lica de Campinas ? PUC Campinas / Information and communication technologies have been increasingly used to support the learning of university students both inside and outside universities. In undergraduate courses of business administration, for example, Technologies are used not only because of their potential to support learning, but also because they will be part of the everyday life of the future professional. However, in order for technologies to fulfill their role as allies in the learning process, it is important to consider the individual differences of learners, that is, their learning styles. The main objective of this research was to investigate the learning styles in situations of information and communication technologies use, especially by undergraduate students of administration. For that, four studies were developed. The first study comprised the construction of a scale of learning styles in technology use situations and its validation by judges, two doctors and two doctoral students in psychology, in order to search for evidence of validity based on content. The second study dealt with the computerization of the scale, using free software tools, and the computerized scale test in a sample of 120 college students. The third study sought evidence of validity based on the internal structure of the scale, in a sample of 378 university students. Finally, the fourth study compared the learning styles of 322 undergraduate students of administration, distributed in "pure" administration, foreign trade and logistics and services, considering the variables gender and specificity of course formation. In general, the studies resulted in the proposition of a new theoretical model, called Learning Styles in Technologies Use Situations Model, composed by the theoretical, pragmatic, interaction with the medium and interaction through the medium styles, as well as in a computerized instrument, called the Learning Styles in Technologies Use Situations Scale. The instrument application in undergraduate students of administration showed that there is a significant influence of the interaction between the variables gender and specific formation only in the theoretical style, in favor of the logistics and services students of the feminine gender and the foreign trade students of the male gender. / Las tecnolog?as de la informaci?n y comunicaci?n se han utilizado cada vez m?s para apoyar el aprendizaje de los estudiantes universitarios, tanto dentro como fuera de las universidades. En los cursos de administraci?n, por ejemplo, las tecnolog?as se utilizan no s?lo debido a su potencial para apoyar el aprendizaje, sino tambi?n porque ser?n parte del trabajo diario del futuro profesional. Sin embargo, de manera que las tecnolog?as pueden cumplir su papel de aliados del proceso de aprendizaje, es importante tener en cuenta las diferencias individuales de los estudiantes para aprender, es decir, sus estilos de aprendizaje. El objetivo principal de este estudio fue investigar los estilos de aprendizaje en situaciones de uso de tecnolog?as de la informaci?n y comunicaci?n, especialmente de estudiantes universitarios de administraci?n. Para ello, se desarrollaron cuatro estudios. El primer estudio incluy? la construcci?n de una gama de estilos de aprendizaje en situaciones de uso de las tecnolog?as y su validaci?n por jueces, dos doctores y dos estudiantes de doctorado en psicolog?a, con el fin de buscar pruebas de validez en funci?n del contenido. El segundo estudio trat? de la informatizaci?n de la escala, con el uso de herramientas de software libre, y la prueba de ejecuci?n de la escala computarizada sobre una muestra de 120 estudiantes universitarios de administraci?n. El tercer estudio busc? pruebas de validez en base a la estructura interna de la escala en una muestra de 378 estudiantes universitarios. Por ?ltimo, el cuarto estudio compar? los estilos de aprendizaje de 322 estudiantes universitarios de administraci?n, distribuidos em administraci?n "pura", comercio exterior, bien como log?stica y servicios, teniendo en cuenta las variables g?nero y formaci?n espec?fica. En general, los estudios resultaron en proponer un nuevo modelo te?rico, llamado Modelo de Estilos de Aprendizaje en Situaciones de Uso de Technolog?as, compuesto por los estilos te?rico, pragm?tico, de interacci?n con el medio y de interacci?n a trav?s del medio, y en un instrumento computarizado llamado Escala de Estilos de Aprendizaje en Situaciones de Uso de Technolog?as. La aplicaci?n del instrumentos en estudiantes de administraci?n mostr? que existe una influencia significativa de la interacci?n entre las variables g?nero y formaci?n espec?fica en el estilo te?rico, a favor de los estudiantes de log?stica y servicios del g?nero femenino y los estudiantes de comercio exterior del g?nero masculino. / As tecnologias da informa??o e comunica??o t?m sido cada vez mais utilizadas no apoio ? aprendizagem de estudantes universit?rios, tanto dentro como fora das universidades. Nos cursos superiores de administra??o, por exemplo, as tecnologias s?o empregadas n?o somente devido ao seu potencial de apoiar ? aprendizagem, mas tamb?m porque far?o parte do cotidiano do futuro profissional. Contudo, para que as tecnologias cumpram seu papel de aliadas do processo de aprendizagem, ? importante considerar as diferen?as individuais dos estudantes ao aprender, ou seja, seus estilos de aprendizagem. O objetivo principal desta pesquisa foi investigar os estilos de aprendizagem em situa??es de uso das tecnologias da informa??o e comunica??o, em especial de estudantes universit?rios de administra??o. Para tanto, foram desenvolvidos quatro estudos. O primeiro estudo compreendeu a constru??o de uma escala de estilos de aprendizagem em situa??es de uso de tecnologias e sua valida??o por ju?zes, dois doutores e dois doutorandos em psicologia, tendo em vista a busca por evid?ncias de validade baseadas no conte?do. O segundo estudo tratou da informatiza??o da escala, com o uso de ferramentas de software gratuitas, e do teste de funcionamento da escala informatizada em uma amostra de 120 estudantes universit?rios de administra??o. O terceiro estudo buscou evid?ncias de validade baseadas na estrutura interna da escala, em uma amostra de 378 estudantes universit?rios. Por fim, o quarto estudo comparou os estilos de aprendizagem de 322 estudantes universit?rios de administra??o, distribu?dos em administra??o ?pura?, administra??o com linha de forma??o em com?rcio exterior e administra??o com linha de forma??o em log?stica e servi?os, considerando as vari?veis g?nero e linha de forma??o. De um modo geral, os estudos resultaram na proposi??o de um novo modelo te?rico, denominado Modelo de Estilos de Aprendizagem em Situa??es de Uso de Tecnologias, composto pelos estilos te?rico, pragm?tico, de intera??o com o meio e de intera??o atrav?s do meio, bem como em um instrumento informatizado, denominado Escala de Estilos de Aprendizagem em Situa??es de Uso de Tecnologias. A aplica??o do instrumento em estudantes universit?rios de administra??o mostrou haver influ?ncia significativa da intera??o entre as vari?veis g?nero e linha de forma??o no estilo te?rico, a favor dos estudantes de log?stica e servi?os do g?nero feminino e dos estudantes de com?rcio exterior do g?nero masculino.