The background in which global organisations operate in at present is very competitive. In an ever faster growing global economy the role of the entrepreneur within the large organisation becomes more and more important to ensure the company keeps the competitive edge. The Linde Group is a world class company with a world class management strategy and systems to support the strategy. Part of the The Linde Group management strategy is being a high performing organisation, wanting to give all employees the opportunity to contribute to improvement by sharing their ideas with the company. This study was done at African Oxygen Limited, South Africa, a regional business unit in Africa for The Linde Group. African Oxygen Limited embarked on various programmes to create opportunities for employees to think in an entrepreneurial way. Middle managers at African Oxygen Limited play an important role in the innovation programs implemented at African Oxygen Limited. Against this background, this study seeks to confirm whether African Oxygen Limited, South Africa has a true entrepreneurial climate and whether the middle management level involved with these initiatives share this perception. Corporate entrepreneurship is characterised by people who are innovative, creative, spend time and take risks. To support these entrepreneurial activities, the organisation needs a climate and culture that is beneficial to these activities. An entrepreneurial orientation within an organisation is marked by dimensions such as innovativeness, pro–activeness, risk–taking, competitive aggressiveness and autonomy. The entrepreneurial behaviour among middle level managers is most critical to the effective implementation of corporate entrepreneurship. The primary objective of this study was to assess the entrepreneurial climate in African Oxygen Limited and to make recommendations to foster corporate entrepreneurship within the organisation. The literature review was instrumental to gather secondary data on corporate entrepreneurship and to understand its dynamics. In order to gain primary data, quantitative research was carried out. The study population comprised lower and middle management, who were requested to complete questionnaires. This was followed by statistical analysis. The empirical results indicate no practical significance in respondents' perception based on the gender of the respondents. However, the results do indicate practical significant differences between the relationship between the groups of middle and lower management level with respect to entrepreneurial climate and the perceived organisational success. An evaluation of the corporate entrepreneurial climate in the organisation was performed and the average mean for the study calculated. Seven out of 13 constructs evaluated had a mean above the average mean of x = 3.502, the other six constructs evaluated had a mean ranked lower than the average mean. All of the constructs still had a mean above three out of five. All four of the used variables measuring the perceived organisational success, were reported by respondents to have a mean above three which is the neutral point. The average mean of the perceived success of the organisation was 3.688. It was clear that the constructs for perceived organisational success had a fairly strong presence, but there is still room for improvement. With reference to the entrepreneurial climate within Afrox the conclusion is that it is not optimally entrepreneurial and initiatives put into practice that should encourage entrepreneurial behaviour, are falling short. The study concludes with practical recommendations on assessment of the achievement of objectives and suggestions for future research. / Thesis (M.B.A.)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2011.

The background in which global organisations operate in at present is very competitive. In an ever faster growing global economy the role of the entrepreneur within the large organisation becomes more and more important to ensure the company keeps the competitive edge. The Linde Group is a world class company with a world class management strategy and systems to support the strategy. Part of the The Linde Group management strategy is being a high performing organisation, wanting to give all employees the opportunity to contribute to improvement by sharing their ideas with the company. This study was done at African Oxygen Limited, South Africa, a regional business unit in Africa for The Linde Group. African Oxygen Limited embarked on various programmes to create opportunities for employees to think in an entrepreneurial way. Middle managers at African Oxygen Limited play an important role in the innovation programs implemented at African Oxygen Limited. Against this background, this study seeks to confirm whether African Oxygen Limited, South Africa has a true entrepreneurial climate and whether the middle management level involved with these initiatives share this perception. Corporate entrepreneurship is characterised by people who are innovative, creative, spend time and take risks. To support these entrepreneurial activities, the organisation needs a climate and culture that is beneficial to these activities. An entrepreneurial orientation within an organisation is marked by dimensions such as innovativeness, pro–activeness, risk–taking, competitive aggressiveness and autonomy. The entrepreneurial behaviour among middle level managers is most critical to the effective implementation of corporate entrepreneurship. The primary objective of this study was to assess the entrepreneurial climate in African Oxygen Limited and to make recommendations to foster corporate entrepreneurship within the organisation. The literature review was instrumental to gather secondary data on corporate entrepreneurship and to understand its dynamics. In order to gain primary data, quantitative research was carried out. The study population comprised lower and middle management, who were requested to complete questionnaires. This was followed by statistical analysis. The empirical results indicate no practical significance in respondents' perception based on the gender of the respondents. However, the results do indicate practical significant differences between the relationship between the groups of middle and lower management level with respect to entrepreneurial climate and the perceived organisational success. An evaluation of the corporate entrepreneurial climate in the organisation was performed and the average mean for the study calculated. Seven out of 13 constructs evaluated had a mean above the average mean of x = 3.502, the other six constructs evaluated had a mean ranked lower than the average mean. All of the constructs still had a mean above three out of five. All four of the used variables measuring the perceived organisational success, were reported by respondents to have a mean above three which is the neutral point. The average mean of the perceived success of the organisation was 3.688. It was clear that the constructs for perceived organisational success had a fairly strong presence, but there is still room for improvement. With reference to the entrepreneurial climate within Afrox the conclusion is that it is not optimally entrepreneurial and initiatives put into practice that should encourage entrepreneurial behaviour, are falling short. The study concludes with practical recommendations on assessment of the achievement of objectives and suggestions for future research. / Thesis (M.B.A.)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2011.

This research explores the leadership constructs of global leaders and Chinese managers in multi-national corporations (MNCs) in order to understand whether their constructs are misaligned, and if so, in what ways. To address these questions, data was gathered via repertory grid test interviews with 31 global leaders and 59 Chinese managers in six MNCs’ China organizations. Analysis subsequently revealed that global leaders rely upon twelve key constructs to define global leadership capability and potential. These are: creative, drive to improve, communication skill, collaborative style, charisma, professional knowledge and experience, visionary, cross culture, flexibility, confidence, team development and emotional intelligence. Crucially however, half of the global leaders’ key constructs were not identified as important to Chinese managers; furthermore, most of the missing constructs resonate with charismatic and transformational leadership characteristics, indicating a gap between the two groups’ leadership concepts. Subsequently, both groups of leaders’ leadership constructs were compared with their respective companies’ Leadership Competency Frameworks. The results again revealed gaps, suggesting reliance upon headquarter-developed leadership frameworks to communicate leadership expectations and develop local leaders is either deficient, or inappropriate. The global leaders and Chinese managers’ perspectives on Chinese managers’ career barriers were also explored, with the evidence indicating that perceptions of both groups are influenced by their own cultural assumptions. As the global leaders’ perspectives aligned with their own leadership constructs but Chinese managers were not aware of the importance of those constructs, it seems to support the contention that a bias may exist when global leaders evaluate Chinese managers’ leadership capability and potential.

The primary objective was to determine whether there is a relationship between emotional intelligence, locus of control and sense of coherence in a market research organisation. A secondary objective was to determine whether individuals from various biographical groups differed significantly in terms of emotional intelligence, locus of control and sense of coherence. A sample of 179 participants completed the Bar-On EQ-i, Locus of Control Inventory and Sense of Coherence Scale. There was a statistically significant relationship between emotional intelligence, locus of control and sense of coherence. No significant gender differences were found. Furthermore, the findings showed differences between occupational levels in terms of both internal locus of control and sense of coherence, but not for emotional intelligence. No significant differences were evident between education, work experience or age in terms of the three constructs. An emotional intelligence intervention programme was recommended, as well as the use of an emotional intelligence assessment instrument. Recommendations for future research included broadening the relevance of the results. / Industrial and Organisational Psychology / M.A. (Industrial and Organisational Psychology)

Submitted by (lucia.rodrigues@ufrpe.br) on 2016-11-08T12:13:16Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Gizella Menezes Rodrigues.pdf: 3523699 bytes, checksum: a03ab2961b166a4be570a951a4cb420b (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-11-08T12:13:16Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Gizella Menezes Rodrigues.pdf: 3523699 bytes, checksum: a03ab2961b166a4be570a951a4cb420b (MD5) Previous issue date: 2005-02-24 / The physics teaching is being criticisms target, because, beyond emphasize mathematicians aspects, it presents the concepts in out of context and unarticulated way, especially the energy concept. So, this article had as objective to promove more articulation between the different kinds of energy concepts by means of use of experiments. The development of this article is fundamented in the Theory of Personal Constructs, by George Kelly (1963), and it uses the repertory grid and the concept maps as instruments to collect data. The didactical intervention was structured in six meetings, starting with the pre-tests application, aiming to identify the students initial concepts in relation to the broached themes, followed of experimental activities, aiming the fragmentation observed in the students cognitive structure in relation to the energy concept understanding. Finally, pos-test were applied to verify possible changing’s happened in the students construction system. The results indicated that the students passed to articulate more concepts of different kinds of energy boarded, enlarged the range of convenience some constructs and passed to use new constructs, which corresponded to a less fragmented and more significant learning in relation to the concept of energy. / O ensino de física vem sendo alvo de críticas, pois, além de enfatizar os aspectos matemáticos, apresenta os conceitos de modo descontextualizado e desarticulado, especialmente o conceito de energia. Assim, este trabalho teve como objetivo promover uma maior articulação entre os conceitos dos diferentes tipos de energia mediante o uso de experimentos. O desenvolvimento deste trabalo está fundamentado na Teoria dos Construtos Pessoais, de George Kelly (1963), e utiliza a matriz de repertório e os mapas conceituais como instrumentos para a cleta de dados. A intervenção didática foi estruturada em seis encontros, iniciando com a aplicação de pré-testes, a fim de identificar as concepções iniciais dos alunos em relação à temática abordada, seguida de atividades experimentais, visando minimizar a fragmentação observada na estrutura cognitiva dos alunos em relação à compreensão do conceito de energia. Finalmente, foram aplicados pós-testes para verificar possíveis alterações ocorridas no sistema de construção dos alunos. Os resultados indicaram que os alunos passaram a articular mais os conceitos dos diferentes tipos de energia abordados, ampliaram a faixa de conveniência de alguns construtos e passaram a utilizar novos construtos, o que correspondeu a uma aprendizagem menos fragmentada e mais significativa em relação ao conceito de energia.

Abstract Clarification of the mechanisms of cardiac-specific gene expression provides not only basic knowledge about how the gene expression is regulated in the heart, but also about the changes in the gene expression during the development of cardiovascular diseases. The purpose of this study was to analyze the mechanisms of cardiac chamber-specific gene expression and cardiac gene activation induced by mechanical load. In the present study, the experiments were carried out by using two cardiac genes, salmon cardiac peptide (sCP) and rat B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) genes as models. sCP was discovered previously in our laboratory and turned out to be extremely cardiac-specific, representing A-type natriuretic peptide characters in an exaggerated way. In neonatal rat cardiomyocytes, the sCP promoter activity was shown to be strictly restricted to atrial cells and the promoter to be inert to cardiac hypertrophy-inducing factors. In order to find out the mechanisms of earlier proved BNP gene activation by mechanical load, BNP promoter activity was studied in vivo in adult rat hearts. The tandem GATA transcription factor binding site at position -80/-91 was shown to be essential for the BNP gene induction by angiotensin II. To clarify the possiblity to transfer the characters of the BNP gene into the sCP gene, short BNP fragments were inserted to the sCP gene promoter. The otherwise atrial-restricted sCP promoter was shown to be switched on in rat ventricular cardiomyocytes by adding a short BNP proximal promoter element to the sCP promoter, preferably near to the transcription start site. This activity was partly dependent on the -80/-91 GATA sites in the BNP promoter. Thus, A-type natriuretic peptide regulation can be switched to B-type regulation by a short proximal BNP promoter element. In conclusion, these studies reveal certain basic differences in cardiac atrial and ventricular gene expression.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse how the period of antiquity is portrayed in the Swedish upper secondary school material in the course History 1bfrom a gender perspective, by examining digitalized study materials that claims to follow the specifiedcurriculum. The course curriculum for History 1bstates the importance of including female groups in the historic narrative, as well as that ideas of equality between sexes should permeate everything connected to teaching, among other things. The paper aims to analyse how gender is portrayed by examining the digitalized study material of DigilärHistoria 1 100 poäng, Nationalencyklopedin, NE, Historia 1 and Gleerups Möt historien 1b. The analysis was done using theories of gender from Yvonne Hirdman and Joann Scott to put historical power structures in relation to gender. The questions considered were (1)Which male and female characters are included and (2)how are they portrayed? (3)Lastly, how are social differences between them explained?The results showan overrepresentation of men. In the Gleerups material no specific female character was represented. NE’s material had 26 % and Digilär’s 20 % representation of women. The female characters are portrayed with stereotypical female characteristics such as their body, seduction and their ability to bear children. Female leaders are shown only to influence issues regarding equality and other women, whereas all mentioned men are portrayed as changing society especially as conquerors and warriors. Masculinity and femininity are portrayed as counterparts and men’s greatest weakness is any inability to control their wives and daughters. There are some exceptions that blurs the line such as Athene, Apollon and to some extent Cleopatra which are portrayed by showing characteristics associated with the other gender. The writers of the study materials are limited by the limited number of available historical sources and the picture they betray but only NE points out the problems with this. Neither Digilär nor Gleerups mention the skewed picture as a problem but Digilär shows to some extent how people in Greece legitimized the patriarchal structures.

Personal construct psychology, as formulated by George Kelly (1955), contributed substantial knowledge to the study of psychopathology. The small amount of research in the area of depression has focused generally on the content of self-constructs and the cognitive complexity characteristic. The purpose of this study was to examine the construct system of the depressed patient specifically by investigating the endogenicity, exogenicity, and severity of depressive symptoms in relationship to construct content as applied to others, cognitive complexity, and ordination.

Magister Scientiae (Physiotherapy) - MSc(Physio) / A spinal cord injury causes a major impact on the life of individuals who experience it. From the impact of the accident or disease causing spinal cord damage, one is left immobile, insensitive to touch and dysfunction of the urinal and anal organs, which in turn leaves bowel, bladder and sexual functions in jeopardy. These impairments and activity limitations restrict or exclude the individual from participation in everyday social interaction. There is also a perceived stigma from society, depending on the response from the surrounding physical and social environment. The aim of the current study was to explore the most valued constructs of quality of life among persons with spinal cord injury in in a Tanzania rural area. The study objectives were to deduce the participants’ own understanding of quality of life and exploration of its constructs in all domains of life namely physical, social, economic and environmental with consideration to the barriers and facilitators. A qualitative study design is employed in which a sample of 15 persons with spinal cord injury living in three selected districts of the rural Kilimanjaro region, were purposefully selected. Environmental observations and semi structured interviews were conducted in the home of each participant. Transcriptions were done verbatim before translation from Kiswahili (national language) to English by the researcher then back translated by two professional translators (Appendix M, page 145). The whole translated sample was compiled, proof read by the researcher several times; and major pre-determined themes were assembled by content analysis, parallel to a generation of sub themes to form the results part of this study. The findings of the current study showed that the most valued facilitators of Quality of life are support from family and friends, having faith in God, socioeconomic connections, income generating activities and an accessible home and environment.Barriers to quality of life were inaccessible environments, unreliable social support, and lack of empowerment, negative psychological traits such as anger, fear and worries that resulted from negative community actions, beliefs and attitudes (social environment). Such findings generate a package of intrinsic issues of concern from persons with spinal cord injury which adds to the body of knowledge pertaining to quality of life and spinal cord injury. The results from the current study indicate that persons with SCI in the selected rural area are partially satisfied with their current life due to various psychosocial, economic and environmental barriers. This dissatisfaction could be used as one of the major indications of poorly perceived quality of life. The researcher recommends that a comprehensive rehabilitation program should assess and take account of subjective needs from the client’s perspective to achieve better quality of life. Due to a known fact that the infrastructure of the rural area is complex, with a number of physical barriers, which further affects participation of persons with spinal cord injury in their communities, resolute social and political actions are necessary to rectify such environments to make it accessible for all.

In a world with increasing cultural diversity, it is necessary to understand the different environmental mindsets and natural encounters created by local governments. As the population transforms, integration endeavors are susceptible to be influenced by biased perceptions of immigrants thereby affecting people’s relationship with nature in the city. Örebro is a city in Sweden that has a high focus on environmental management. It is for this reason that elite interviews of local public officials and the analysis of environmental documents have been conducted to investigate this phenomenon. Currently, the framings found portray immigrants as uneducated, fearful, vulnerable, and their use of nature is often described as ‘deviant’. Swedes, on the other hand, are framed as educated, confident, and comfortable in their experience of the city and its nature. The interviews and documents show that the city has ambitious environmental goals in which the Municipality attempts to reduce social differences. However, it continues to develop plans based on erroneous perceptions of both Immigrants and Swedes leading to a possible increase in the power gap between these groups. Additionally, it leads the Municipality to work on the basis of an unsubstantial amalgamation of immigrant groups rather than considering the differences within these.