Fusioner och förvärv har varit ett populärt sätt för företag att växa sedan ett par decennier tillbaka. Sammanslagningar är ett potentiellt effektivt sätt för organisationer att öka marknadsandelar, skapa stordriftsfördelar, få tillgång till ny teknik eller öka intäkter. Samtidigt innebär de ofta omfattande organisatoriska förändringar, vilket enligt statistiken leder till att fler än varannan fusion eller förvärv slutar med att företagen skiljs åt. Omorganisationer kan skapa oro och konflikter, vilket i sin tur leder till lägre employee commitment bland de anställda. Employee commitment är den attityd som existerar hos den anställde när dennes identitet är i linje med själva organisationen eller när organisationens mål blir integrerade med individens personliga mål. Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka hur tre valda företag arbetat för att förbättra employee commitment i samband med en fusion eller ett förvärv. Genom kvalitativa intervjuer utreder vi hur företagen arbetat med employee commitment före, under och efter integrationsprocessen. Vår studie visade att endast en av samtliga tre respondenter ansåg att fusionerna respektive förvärvet hade en negativ påverkan på employee commitment.  Vidare stod det klart att kommunikation och ledarskap var de viktigaste gemensamma faktorerna för att stärka employee commitment. Det vår studie visade kan påverka employee commitment negativt var nytt koncernspråk och krockande företagskulturer. Slutligen har HR haft en viktig roll genom samtliga förändringsprocesser. HR-aktiviteter som är vanliga för att stärka employee commitment är medarbetarundersökningar, sociala events, personliga utvecklingssamtal och belöningssystem. En slutsats är att HR-aktiviteter för att motverka kolliderande företagskulturer är viktigare vid fusioner än vid förvärv.

Thesis (D. Min.)--Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, 1999. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 75-80).

Ending a relationship is a common and often difficult experience for adolescents and young adults who are dating (Furman & Wehner, 1997). Yet, little is known about how romantic relationships deteriorate prior to breakup (Carver, Joyner, & Udry, 2003; Duck, 1981). The main goal of this study is to develop a definition of relationship deterioration that delineates the process of deterioration, by specifying a beginning and end point of deterioration and identifying characteristics that distinguish deterioration from breakup. Data for this study comes from the University of Texas Tracing Relationships and Commitment study (UT-TRAC), which contains 464 participants (232 heterosexual couples) who graphed changes in commitment over a 9-month period providing reasons describing each change. Deterioration, as defined as declines in commitment, was described by both partners in a romantic dyad in 90 couples whereas 75 individuals described deterioration and their romantic partner did not. A coding manual was created and pilot-tested to measure frequency and intensity of the four characteristics of deterioration in participant’s descriptions of changes in commitment. The current investigation used multi-level modeling separately for couples experiencing deterioration (to control for the dyadic nature of the data) and individuals whose partner did not report declines in commitment. Survival analyses using logistic regressions (Singer & Willett, 2003) were applied to measure how the characteristics of deterioration could predict breakup. Results of the analyses revealed that participants who experienced a breakup were more likely to report relationship deterioration, particularly for couples where both individuals described deterioration. Hierarchical linear models revealed that more frequent amounts of the deterioration characteristics was associated with deterioration as compared to pre-deterioration. However, intensity of the characteristics was not significant in differentiating between deterioration and pre-deterioration. In comparing deterioration with breakup, frequency of the deterioration characteristics predicted breakup only in descriptions of alternative partners, whereas intensity of the all four deterioration characteristics predicted breakup ranging from 37% (more intense scores of relational uncertainty) to 74% (more intense scores of alternative partners for an individual’s partner). Implications of this study will be in terms of commitment theory in order to further understand relationship processes. / text

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Denna undersökning söker nå förståelse för lojalitet i förhållande till arbetsplatsen när man jämför Generation Y med Baby Boomers. Tidigare forskning visar att lojalitet är ett multidimensionellt begrepp som kan ha olika riktningar och att flera faktorer har ett samband med lojalitet. Tidigare forskning kring generationsskillnader och lojalitet är begränsad men många studier tyder på att Generation Y är mindre lojala än Baby Boomers. Undersökningen är gjord på Veolia Transport och bygger på djupintervjuer med fyra Baby Boomers tunneltågförare och tre från Generation Y. I resultatet framkom trivsel, motivation, bild av företaget, ledarskapet och organisationskultur som viktiga faktorer för lojalitet, och undersökningsdeltagarna från Generation Y tenderade att vara mindre lojala, ha kortare tidsperspektiv på sin anställning och ett mer individualiserat förhållningssätt till lojalitet än de från Baby Boomers. I diskussionsdelen analyseras och diskuteras resultaten, vad de innebär, vad de kan bero på och undersökningens svagheter. Slutligen presenteras praktiska implikationer för arbetsgivare.

This thesis reports on an investigation into teacher commitment in secondary schools in Seychelles. The overarching aim was to gain an insight into the experiences and perceptions of teacher commitment in order to get a better understanding of teachers’ career trajectories and issues relating to teacher retention. Another aim was to explore the experiences and perceptions of the participating teachers, headteachers and policymakers on the factors that influence commitment and trajectories of secondary teachers at the different stages of their teaching careers. In order to achieve these aims a qualitative methodology was chosen with a combination of three different approaches: phenomenography, phenomenology and multiple case studies. The use of multiple-approaches was considered appropriate in order to enhance the results of the investigation of such a complex phenomenon like teacher commitment. The case studies focused on four teacher groups representing newly qualified teachers, mid-career teachers, experienced teachers and teachers who had left the profession. Data were sought from different participant groups in relation to teacher commitment, experiences and career trajectories. The exploration involved semi-structured interviews with secondary teachers, headteachers and policymakers. The findings show that participants describe teacher commitment in relation to altruism, personal qualities, pedagogical content knowledge and connectedness. The ideas of what constitutes a committed teacher for these participants reveal complexity in the phenomenon of teacher commitment. Personal, organisational and contextual factors are found to influence these participants’ understandings. The findings identify a complex interplay of personal and contextual spheres of influence on teacher commitment. Another level of complexity that the findings revealed relate to the interconnection between teacher commitment, teachers’ career stages and retention. The commitment of beginning teachers is found to be more at risk than that of mid-career and experienced teachers. Education stakeholders hold different views to those of teachers on the factors that impact on teacher commitment and retention. The study concludes by proposing a conceptual model for teacher commitment that illustrates its complex nature. Teacher commitment is multifaceted and the nature and level of commitment held by teachers involves the constant negotiation between these different factors. The findings of the study contribute to a nuanced understanding of teacher commitment and have the potential to generate more in-depth and extensive studies of this phenomenon. These findings may inform policymakers both in Seychelles and in other national and international contexts about issues relating to teacher recruitment, development and retention, which are worldwide concerns.

The question of the influence of social capital on internationalization has been an important researched topic, as one of the factors for entering and post-entry operation on a foreign market. However there is a lack of knowledge, deepening on the importance social networks and relationships have for committing to a big foreign market such as the United States. The purpose of this research is to provide a better understanding of the importance of a network of social ties when it comes to a firms’ commitment to a foreign market. This study has the goal of proving knowledge on the importance of social capital to firms’ commitment to a foreign market, by explaining better its positive and negative sides over the process. The theory in this work is being divided into three parts: internationalization of SMEs, social capital and influence of social capital on the firm’s commitment to a foreign market. The theoretical framework is based on the previous researches done in accordance to the topic of this thesis. A model is presented at the end of the theoretical framework in order to be outlined the process of analyzing the three firm cases later on. This study is using qualitative research method in order to find an answer to the research question set at the beginning of the project. Abductive method, combing the inductive and deductive approaches, is chosen as a way to interpret and explain causality on the elected topic and to develop the existing theory. Primary and secondary data have been collected through the research process by conducting interviews with firm representatives, looking at official web pages and reports. Three Swedish companies have been engaged in this research because of their successful establishment on the U.S. market. The results of this study are showing the importance social capital in the internationalization process. Networks should be considered as a crucial issue and cannot be neglected since this may lead to bad results, performance, loss of growth and position on the foreign market. However, different commitment results are coming from different approaches followed by companies. There might be both positive and negative results outlined from using social capital, which will lead to increased or decreased mode of internationalization. / Master thesis

This study examines key factors that affect opportunities for employment of disabled people in Malaysia. Four factors are covered by the study; these are namely, the organisational commitment to employment of disabled people, attitude towards disabled workers, the organisational policies on disability, and the employment opportunities for the disabled people. The first three factors constitute the independent variables, and the last one, the dependent variable. For further understanding of these factors, the independent variables were each additionally split into related elements. The first variable - organisational commitment to employment of disabled people - consists of two elements: recruitment of disabled people, and employee training for disability-related issues. The second variable - attitude towards disabled workers - is composed of three elements: co-workers perception of disabled workers, managements perception of work attendance of disabled workers, and managements perception on the need for supervision. The third variable - organisational policy on disability - is composed of only one element which is the organisational policies on the employment of disabled people. Overall, these three independent variables significantly explain the variance in the dependent variable, i.e. employment opportunities for disabled persons. / The findings of this study show that the organisational commitment to the employment of disabled people is fairly favourable. This is indicated by a higher organisational commitment by companies that employ disabled workers; it is also shown by a higher emphasis for training employees towards disability issues. However, there is no significant difference in the recruitment of disabled workers between organisations that employ no disabled persons and those that employ disabled persons. / Thesis (DoctorateofBusinessAdministration)--University of South Australia, 2007.

Employee retention is one of the challenges facing many business organisations today. For many organisations, strategic staffing has become a concern because the ability to hold on to highly talented core employees can be crucial to future survival. This empirical study examined the current human resource management (HRM) practices of Australian organisations in the retention of their core employees. In particular, the research identified the core elements of HRM practices, which strongly influence the decision for core employees to stay. The study comprise three phases: (1) a preliminary investigation, utilising the Delphi Technique to obtain the opinions of an expert panel of thirteen, (2) in-depth interviews, involving twelve human resource managers of Australian organisations and (3) a quantitative survey of 800 employees from nine Australian organisations. The findings revealed greater insights into the HRM-retention relationship and provided empirical validation of the relationship. More specifically, the research identified eight retention factors that influence the decision of core employees to stay. These specific factors consisted of two bundles of practices: HR factors (e.g., person organisational fit, remuneration, reward and recognition, training and career development, challenging job opportunities) and Organisational factors (e.g., leadership behaviour, company culture and policies, teamwork relationship and satisfactory work environment). The outcome of the HRM-retention relationship was examined through organisational commitment and turnover intention using multiple regression analysis. The findings of this study revealed positive significant co-relationships between the eight factors and organisational commitment. Moreover, it was highlighted that commitment acted as a partial mediator of remuneration, recognition and reward, training and career development and work environment on intent to stay. Commitment fully mediated the relationship person organisational fit, teamwork relationship, culture and policies and intention to stay. The study produced a model suitable for use by human resource practitioners as a guide in determining what initiatives an organisation should adopt to retain their critical employees. This research has also made a contribution by illuminating the current employment relationships in Australian organisations and providing relevant empirical evidence to support the theoretical model of Human Resource Architecture, developed by Lepak and Snell (1999) and, as a result, creating a configuration for an Australian Human Resource Architecture model.