Multinational Corporations (MNCs) currently face not only a dynamic business environment and challenging profit target, but also increased expectations from the public to take responsibility for addressing social, economic, and environmental issues. There is a tendency that the leading companies in the global market, especially MNCs, put more effort to the Social Innovation (SI). This study is to investigate what drives the MNCs to be involved in social innovation. In order to find out the reasons, we make use of the literature related to social innovation and social entrepreneurship to develop a framework of the motivation of MNCs towards social innovation. The framework combines three different perspectives (Individualistic Perspective, Organizational Perspective, and Institutional Perspective) to describe the motivation of MNCs. It includes ten main factors: philanthropy, ethics, self-awareness, new business opportunities, interfuntional collaboration, corporate culture, laws and regulations, market demands, strategic collaboration and territorial development. The study is also built on rich data collected through semi-structured interviews together with secondary sources from four MNCs in the different industries: KPMG, Coca-Cola, Porsche, and Philips. However, the empirical evidence indicates a revised framework of motivations of the social innovation in MNCs, including six main factors: self-awareness, new business opportunities, interfuntional collaboration, corporate culture, market demands, and strategic collaboration. Our research made a step into unexplored field of motivation of the MNC being involved in SI and hopefully will go further to investigate the rationale for such involvement.

Probation officers are departing their employment before retirement at a high rate depending on the agency, location, and type of position, which impacts society. The cost associated with training a new officer could consume a large portion of an agency's yearly budget, leaving many inexperienced officers to supervise dangerous offenders and defendants. Thus, it is important to examine factors influencing retention such as whether individualistic and collectivist values predict a relationship between retention intent of probation officers. The purpose of this quantitative research study, guided by Hofstede's cultural theory, was to determine whether family embeddedness influences retention intent of probation officers. Linear regression was used to examine the relationship between the variables. The Sobel test was used to determine if family embeddedness mediated retention-intent. Federal probation and pretrial services officers (n=85) from 5 regions completed online survey questionnaires (Individualistic values scale, Employee Retention scale, Global Measure of Job Embeddedness, and Auckland Individualism and Collectivistic Scale). The results showed that family embeddedness is not a mediator for probation officers that possessed individualistic or collectivistic values. The social change implication of this study includes a recommendation for the development of an employee screening instrument that identifies employees' values to increase retention of probation officers, which can be used to select and train staff.

Aim: This study aims to investigate the factors that affect the practices of effective knowledge sharing in the Middle East region. Method: The research paper is based on a single case study about the internal audit department in a commercial Lebanese bank. Qualitative research methods have been applied which included semi-structured interviews. Results & Conclusion: The research results suggest that organizational, individual and IT are the factors affecting knowledge sharing practices at the bank. However, one of the main issues is related to the national cultural and more specifically to how power distance, individualism, and masculinity are spread throughout the IA department and proving a moderating effect towards organizational, individual and IT factors. This research paper shows that power distance is one of the main contributing factors concerning knowledge sharing. Barriers such as trust, lack of reward system, and centralized organizational structure and lack of information technology infrastructure are regarded as problems in knowledge sharing. However, the empirical results show that the principal issue lies in the power distance. Suggestions for future researches: Suggestions for further researches would be to get the perspectives from an internal audit department at another organization in the Middle East that is following a decentralized organizational structure, having advanced IT infrastructures, along with reward system, in order to compare it with the results given in this study. Furthermore, it would be interesting to make observations at the organization in order to deeply understand how knowledge is being shared at the field. Contribution of the study: This study shows that organizations that are identified with centralized organizational structure, lack of trust, lack of IT support and special rewards system entail different issues with individuals’ knowledge sharing practices. Besides, this research paper provides the organization with insights into what thoughts its employees have when it comes to knowledge sharing. Furthermore, this provides the literature about knowledge sharing in the Middle East with a new model showing the impact of national culture over the factors that affect knowledge sharing practices in the Middle East.

O objetivo desta pesquisa é apresentar um estudo, sob o ponto de vista histórico, sobre as ideias do botânico e taxonomista americano Henry Allan Gleason (1882-1975) referentes ao conceito individualístico de associação de plantas. Nas décadas iniciais do século XX, as ideias do ecólogo americano Frederic Edward Clements (1874-1945) sobre a dinâmica da vegetação e sobre sucessão ecológica eram prevalecentes. Porém, a discordância dessas ideias parece ter levado Gleason a propor inicialmente o conceito individualístico da ecologia e, posteriormente, o conceito individualístico de associação de plantas. O desenvolvimento do conceito individualístico proposto por Gleason pode ser analisado, principalmente, por meio de suas obras dos anos de 1917, 1926 e 1939. Além dessas, nas quais Gleason refere-se especificamente ao conceito individualístico, outras obras estão sendo consideradas, como seu artigo publicado no ano de 1909, no qual discutiu sobre algumas questões fitogeográficas e ecológicas que influenciariam a distribuição de pradarias e florestas; seu artigo publicado em 1910, no qual apresentou o primeiro indício da sua visão individualística, e seu artigo publicado em 1927, no qual ele discorreu sobre os processos de sucessão em diferentes locais. A partir da análise de obras originais de Gleason e Clements, bem como mediante os relatos das fontes secundárias considerando o contexto da época, procurar-se-á evidências que mostrem o entendimento de Gleason sobre os estudos ecológicos e suas contribuições ao arcabouço teórico da Ecologia. / The objective of this research was to study, from a historical perspective on the ideas of botanist and taxonomist American Henry Allan Gleason (1882-1975) for the individualistic concept of plant association. In the early decades of the twentieth century, the American ecologist ideas Frederic Clements (1874-1945) on the dynamics of vegetation and on ecological succession were prevalent. However, the disagreement of those ideas seems to have taken Gleason initially proposing the individualistic concept of ecology and subsequently the individualistic concept of plant association. The development of the individualistic concept proposed by Gleason can be analyzed primarily through his works of the years 1917, 1926 and 1939. In addition to these, in which Gleason refers specifically to the individualistic concept, other projects are being considered, as its Article published in 1909, which discussed some phytogeographic and ecological issues that influence the distribution of grasslands and forests; Article published in 1910, which presented the first evidence of its individualistic vision, and his article published in 1927 in which he talked about the succession processes in different locations. From the analysis of original works of Gleason and Clements, as well as by reports of secondary sources considering the context of the time, it will be sought evidence to show understanding of Gleason on the ecological studies and their contributions to the theoretical framework of Ecology.

xi, 67 p. A print copy of this thesis is available through the UO Libraries. Search the library catalog for the location and call number. / This investigation compared the effectiveness of cooperative learning to individualistic instruction in two fourth-grade elementary school general music classes. Effects of the two strategies on the music composition, social interactions, and acceptance of peers were examined. Cooperative learning is a process whereby students work together toward shared goals. Student/teacher interaction is structured and encouraged in this model. Groups of four to six students combine their efforts to solve problems, make decisions, and work interdependently in an effort to enhance critical thinking and social skills necessary for students to better function in society. Individualistic instruction allows students to work independently of others. Interaction with other students is absent, given that students work alone, allowing them to work at their own pace on problems that may or may not be the same as those of their classmates. A pre/posttest two group experimental design was used. The two experimental groups were cooperative learning (n=26) and individualistic instruction (n=27). Intact, fourth-grade heterogeneous classes were randomly assigned to one of two treatment groups. Each group participated in seven interventions over five-weeks. The independent variables were the two learning strategies, cooperative learning and individualistic instruction. The dependent variables were music composition, interactions, and acceptance of peers. Measurement instruments included a music composition test, created by the researcher, and an acceptance scale based on that of Yager, Johnson, Johnson, & Snider (1985). Students were videotaped at the start and end of the study to assess on- and off-task interactions. There was a significant increase in composition pre- and posttest scores for both experimental groups. On- and off-task interactions were significantly different between groups. There was no significant difference in the acceptance of peers; however, a strong correlation was found between the positive nominations made on the pre- and posttests. / Adviser: Harry Price

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O objetivo desta pesquisa é apresentar um estudo, sob o ponto de vista histórico, sobre as ideias do botânico e taxonomista americano Henry Allan Gleason (1882-1975) referentes ao conceito individualístico de associação de plantas. Nas décadas iniciais do século XX, as ideias do ecólogo americano Frederic Edward Clements (1874-1945) sobre a dinâmica da vegetação e sobre sucessão ecológica eram prevalecentes. Porém, a discordância dessas ideias parece ter levado Gleason a propor inicialmente o conceito individualístico da ecologia e, posteriormente, o conceito individualístico de associação de plantas. O desenvolvimento do conceito individualístico proposto por Gleason pode ser analisado, principalmente, por meio de suas obras dos anos de 1917, 1926 e 1939. Além dessas, nas quais Gleason refere-se especificamente ao conceito individualístico, outras obras estão sendo consideradas, como seu artigo publicado no ano de 1909, no qual discutiu sobre algumas questões fitogeográficas e ecológicas que influenciariam a distribuição de pradarias e florestas; seu artigo publicado em 1910, no qual apresentou o primeiro indício da sua visão individualística, e seu artigo publicado em 1927, no qual ele discorreu sobre os processos de sucessão em diferentes locais. A partir da análise de obras originais de Gleason e Clements, bem como mediante os relatos das fontes secundárias considerando o contexto da época, procurar-se-á evidências que mostrem o entendimento de Gleason sobre os estudos ecológicos e suas contribuições ao arcabouço teórico da Ecologia. / The objective of this research was to study, from a historical perspective on the ideas of botanist and taxonomist American Henry Allan Gleason (1882-1975) for the individualistic concept of plant association. In the early decades of the twentieth century, the American ecologist ideas Frederic Clements (1874-1945) on the dynamics of vegetation and on ecological succession were prevalent. However, the disagreement of those ideas seems to have taken Gleason initially proposing the individualistic concept of ecology and subsequently the individualistic concept of plant association. The development of the individualistic concept proposed by Gleason can be analyzed primarily through his works of the years 1917, 1926 and 1939. In addition to these, in which Gleason refers specifically to the individualistic concept, other projects are being considered, as its Article published in 1909, which discussed some phytogeographic and ecological issues that influence the distribution of grasslands and forests; Article published in 1910, which presented the first evidence of its individualistic vision, and his article published in 1927 in which he talked about the succession processes in different locations. From the analysis of original works of Gleason and Clements, as well as by reports of secondary sources considering the context of the time, it will be sought evidence to show understanding of Gleason on the ecological studies and their contributions to the theoretical framework of Ecology.

Research has it that students in institutions of higher learning the world over evidence stifled critical thinking dispositions in their studies. Some researchers in countries like the United States of America have come up with findings about critical thinking dispositions peculiar to their contexts and hence not universally applicable. Factors that stifle critical thinking dispositions of students in Zimbabwean institutions of higher learning had not been studied per se. This research focuses on factors that stifle critical thinking dispositions of third year students at Morgenster Teachers’ College in Zimbabwe. Both the qualitative and the quantitative research approaches were employed in this research. Focus group interviews and questionnaires were used to generate data. Third year students at Morgenster Teachers’ College were studied. The research findings reveal that the factors that stifle critical thinking dispositions in the students are individualistic, structuralistic, socio-cultural and political. In this study, it is recommended that the lecturers can alleviate the effects of the factors that stifle critical thinking dispositions by exposing students to critical thinking situations. / Educational Studies / M. Ed.(Philosophy of Education)

The Apartheid Philosophy resulted in creating a heterogenous society in South Africa, with each group having its own distinctive culture and value-orientation. Organizational values, influenced by personal value-orientation employed by White managers, could be challenged by appointing members of this heterogenous society into positions previously held by White managers, thereby emphasizing the need for congruence between organizational and personal value-orientation. The literature study revealed not only the existence of both Individualism and Collectivism, but the co-existence thereof in individual value-orientation and the existence of Ubuntuism as another form of collectivism - the latter being analogous to humanism. Through this empirical study the value-orientations of managers from either Black or White cultural backgrounds, were assessed, using a value-orientation questionnaire. The findings of the present study, although inconclusive, demonstrated that Black and White managers do not differ significantly in terms of their value-orientation at work. / Industrial and Organisational Psychology / M.A. (Industrial Psychology)

The dissertation starts from the premise that we are living in an increasingly individualistic and secular society. The church is seen as a worshipping community, where mutual care emanating from true Christian community could serve as a corrective to current fragmentation. A theory is developed of the church as a caring and worshipping faith community which exists alongside other communities. The church therefore exists to enable people to embody the gospel ideals in their lives. The whole Christian community must thus be seen to be offering the love, compassion and acceptance that is needed today. This role can be enhanced by encouraging training in caring skills. The faith community exercises its nurturing support system through the fusion of horizons as members seek to give expression to their faith. This faith community functions against the background of the myriad of relationships and different communities in which its members find themselves in. / Philosophy, Practical & Systematic Theology / M. Th. (Practical Theology)