Com este estudo procurou se identificar os resultados produzidos pela aprendizagem do tipo Bottom-Up (BU) em organizações, tendo-se em vista que as variáveis Cultura Organizacional de Aprendizagem (COA), Mecanismos de Coordenação e Integração (MCI) e Liderança (LID) podem interferir na relação entre o método de aprendizagem e os resultados obtidos pela organização. Para se compreender o fenômeno, após uma pesquisa bibliográfica, foi desenvolvido um estudo multicaso pela metodologia proposta por Yin (2009). Foram pesquisadas quatro organizações atuantes em segmentos distintos, nomeadas neste estudo como \"Empresa X\" (setor farmacêutico), \"Empresa Y\" (setor alimentício/franquia), \"Empresa Z\" (indústria e comércio de calçados) e \"Empresa W\" (setor farmacêutico). Nestas empresas foram inquiridos o Diretor, o Vendedor e os responsáveis pelo setor da inovação, produção, comercial, financeiro e RH. Os respondentes foram entrevistados e preencheram um questionário, além de ter existido coleta prévia de dados secundários para maior compreensão dos fatos relacionados às empresas. Como resultado, constatou-se que nos casos analisados, aparentemente existe uma combinação entre o fator MCI e os constructos LID e COA, que possibilita a existência da aprendizagem do tipo BU. Os resultados provenientes desta combinação tendem a se manifestar em termos financeiros, competitivos e mercadológicos. A combinação do fator e os constructos não necessariamente conduzem à inovatividade da organização. / This study sought to identify the results produced by the Bottom-Up learning (BU) in organizations having in mind that the variables Organizational Learning Culture (OLC), Coordination and Integration Mechanisms (CIM) and Leadership (LEAD) can interfere with the relationship between the learning method and the results obtained by the organization. To understand the phenomenon, after a bibliographic research, it was developed a multi case study by the methodology proposed by Yin (2009). They were surveyed four organizations active in different segments, named in this study as \"Empresa X\" (pharmaceutical industry), \"Empresa Y\" (franchiser in the food sector), \"Empresa Z\" (footwear industry and retail trade) e \"Empresa W\" (pharmaceutical industry). In these companies were surveyed the diretor, the salesman and and those responsible for industry innovation, production, commercial, financial and HR. Respondents were interviewed and filled out a questionnaire, and have existed prior collection of secondary data for greater understanding of the facts related to business. As a result, it was found that in the cases analyzed, there is apparently a combination of CIM factor and constructs LEAD and OLC, which allows the existence of BU learning. The results from this combination tend to express in financial terms, competitive and related to the market. The combination of the factor and the constructs do not necessarily lead to the innovativeness of the organization.

Dans un contexte d’une large diffusion des Technologies de l’Information et de la Communication (TIC) en France et au sein de l’Union Européenne durant les deux dernières décennies, de renouvellement et d’élargissement affectant la plupart des universités, notre thèse porte sur une analyse des dynamiques d’usages des technologies de l’information et de la communication dans l’enseignement supérieur. Elle vise à saisir, au-delà du seul questionnement relatif aux causes ou aux effets des changements liés à l’usage des TIC éducatives, l’interaction entre TIC, performances et « innovativité ».Nos développements s’articulent autour de quatre chapitres.Le premier aura pour but de comprendre les dynamiques liées aux divers usages des TIC par des étudiants inscrits en premier cycle en sciences économiques et de gestion appartenant à trois universités françaises. Ce chapitre aura pour objet de montrer en quoi un usage intensif des TIC peut induire un accroissement de la performance des étudiants mesurée par la moyenne générale des notes obtenues à leurs examens de fin d’année.Le second chapitre aura pour objet de comprendre comment les usages estudiantins des TIC impactent leur capacité à innover. Nos résultats montrent de manière claire que l’usage des TIC contribue à l’accumulation des compétences numériques (en matière d’informatique et d’utilisation de l’Internet). Ces compétences modifient la nature des apprentissages et améliorent la capacité d’innovation des étudiants qui augmente certainement leurs performances économiques sur le marché de travail.Le troisième chapitre cherche à montrer qu’il existe une très large diversité d’usages des TIC par les enseignants de l’enseignement supérieur en France. Des inégalités importantes sont constatées à la fois d’un point de vue qualitatif et quantitatif. Nos résultats indiquent l’existence de nombreuses fractures numériques liées à ces divers usages.Le quatrième chapitre s’attache à comprendre l’articulation qui existe entre l’usage des TIC, l’accumulation des compétences numériques et les capacités d’innovation des enseignants. Nos résultats confirment la thèse selon laquelle les compétences instrumentales constituent des conditions nécessaires pour une mise en action efficace des compétences informationnelles lesquelles sont, elles-mêmes, nécessaires au déploiement efficace de compétences stratégiques liées aux TIC.Au final, notre recherche a permis de valider l’hypothèse théorique selon laquelle il persisterait des fractures numériques dans les usages touchant le secteur de l’enseignement supérieur alors même que les TIC s’y développent et s’y « démocratisent ». Nos résultats ont également permis d’ouvrir aux divers débats concernant les compétences numériques (e-skills). Ainsi, nous avons pu montrer qu’il existe des strates distinctes de compétences numériques dont il convient de tenir compte pour mieux répondre au déficit observé parmi les étudiants et les enseignants. / In the context of a widespread dissemination of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in France and within the European Union during the past two decades, of renewal and expansion affecting most universities, our thesis focuses on an analysis of ICT use dynamics in higher education. It aims at grasping, beyond the mere questioning on the causes or effects of changes associated with the use of educational ICT, the interaction between ICT, performances and “innovativeness”.Our developments are structured around four chapters.The first chapter aims at understanding the dynamics associated with various uses of ICT by in undergraduate economics and management students from three French universities. This chapter will aim at showing how extensive use of ICT can induce an increase in student performance as measured by the average overall grades on their exams at the end of the year.The second chapter aims at understanding how students’ ICT uses impact their ability to innovate. Our results show clearly that ICT use contributes to the accumulation of digital skills (in computer and Internet use). These skills are changing the nature of learning and improve the students’ innovative capacity, which certainly increases their economic performance on the job market.The third chapter seeks to show that there is a wide variety of ICT uses by higher education teachers in France. Significant inequalities are seen in both a qualitative and quantitative points of view. Our results indicate that there are many digital divides related to these various uses.The fourth chapter focuses on understanding the relation between ICT use, the accumulation of e-skills and teachers’ innovation capacities. Our results support the thesis that having instrumental competences is a necessary condition for effective activation of informational competences which are themselves necessary for effective deployment of strategic competences related to ICT.Finally, our research has validated the theoretical assumption that the gaps in digital use would persist and affect the higher education sector despite the development and democratization of ICT. Our results have also opened discussions on the various digital skills (e-skills). Thus, we could show that there are distinct layers of digital literacy which should be taken into account to better meet the deficit observed among students and teachers.

Communicative challenges that hinder managerial engagement in social networks can impede innovation adoption and thereby damage the financial performance and competitiveness of a firm. The purpose of this correlational study was to examine the relationship between communication apprehension (CA) and individual innovativeness in managers. The focus of the research questions was determining if a relationship exists between these variables before and after controlling for demographic characteristics. With diffusion of innovation theory as the theoretical framework, this research involved an attempt to address how adoption categories relate to varying degrees of CA. One hundred and five American-based owner-executives, senior managers, and middle managers completed 2 preexisting survey instruments on the Internet measuring individual perceptions of CA and individual innovativeness. Results from a Pearson correlation analysis indicated that a significant negative correlation existed between CA and individual innovativeness. A multiple regression analysis showed that CA and individual innovativeness were negatively correlated after controlling for gender, age, and education level. Furthermore, participants' level of education was negatively related to both total CA score and public speaking CA score. Leaders may apply these findings to achieve positive social change by using tools to reduce CA in managers. Such initiatives could lead to greater social confidence in managers, improved organizational performance, and more meaningful social engagement in the innovations that continue to shape the world.

Automobildesigner haben als Gestaltungsexperten die Aufgabe, die Identität und damit die Werte einer Marke in Formen zu übersetzen, welche eine Vielzahl von Kunden ansprechen (Giannini & Monti, 2003; Karjalainen, 2002). Für diesen Übersetzungsprozess ist es zielführend, ästhetische Kundenbedürfnisse zu kennen, denn die Qualität einer Designlösung hängt auch davon ab, inwieweit der Designer Kundenbe-dürfnisse und damit das Designproblem richtig erfasst hat (Ulrich, 2006). Eine Grundlage hierfür entsteht durch eine erfolgreiche Designer-Nutzer-Interaktion und den Aufbau eines gemeinsamen Kontextwissens (Lee, Popovich, Blackler & Lee, 2009). Zwischen Designern und Kunden findet jedoch häufig kein direkter Austausch statt (Zeisel, 2006). Zudem belegen Befunde der Kunst- und Produktästhetikforschung, dass der Erwerb von gestalterischem Wissen und damit die Entwicklung ästhetischer Expertise mit Veränderungen der kognitiven Verarbeitung ästhetischer Objekte einhergeht, die sich in Wahrnehmung, Bewertung und Verhalten manifestieren. Damit ist auch zu erwarten, dass die Präferenzurteile von Designern und Kunden bei der ästhetischen Bewertung von Design nicht immer konvergieren. Ziel der vorliegenden Arbeit war daher die systematische Untersuchung dieser expertisebedingten Wahrnehmungs- und Bewertungsunterschiede zwischen designge-schulten und ungeschulten Personen bei der Betrachtung von Automobildesign. Damit sollten Perzeption, Verarbeitung und Bewertung von Automobildesign durch design-ungeschulte Personen transparenter gemacht und mit der Verarbeitung designgeschul-ter Personen verglichen werden, um einen Beitrag zur gemeinsamen Wissensbasis und damit einer erfolgreichen Designer-Nutzer-Interaktion zu leisten. Die theoretische Einbettung der Arbeit basierte auf dem Modell ästhetischer Erfahrung und ästheti-schen Urteilens von Leder, Belke, Oeberst und Augustin (2004), welches konkrete Annahmen zu Verarbeitungsunterschieden von ästhetischen Objekten zwischen Experten und Laien bietet, die bisher allerdings noch nicht umfassend geprüft wurden. Den ersten Schwerpunkt dieser Arbeit bildete die Untersuchung von Unter-schieden zwischen Designern und designungeschulten Rezipienten bei der Beschrei-bung und Bewertung auf dem Markt vorhandenen Fahrzeugdesigns. Dabei sollte auch geprüft werden, ob eine lexikalische Verbindung zwischen Beschreibungsattributen von Fahrzeugrezipienten und den postulierten Markenwerten von Automobilmarken hergestellt werden kann. Diesem ersten Untersuchungsanliegen wurde in zwei Studien nachgegangen: Studie I diente der Erhebung von Beschreibungsattributen mittels Triadenvergleich in Anlehnung an Kelly (1955). Es wurde geprüft, ob designgeschulte Teilnehmer produkti-ver verbalisieren, dabei anteilig mehr symbolbezogene als formbezogene Attribute generieren und innerhalb ihrer Gruppe häufiger gleiche Attribute nutzen als designun-geschulte Teilnehmer. Hierfür beschrieben 20 designgeschulte Probanden und 20 designungeschulte Probanden mit selbst gewählten Adjektiven die Unterschiede zwischen vier präsentierten Fahrzeugen. Die Gruppen nutzten dabei entgegen der Annahmen sehr ähnliche Attribute und unterschieden sich somit auch nicht in ihrer Verwendung symbolbezogener und formbezogener Attribute. Die generierten Attribute wurden mittels Prototypenansatz (Amelang & Zielinski, 2002) den ermittelten und nachfolgend kategorisierten Markenwerten von 10 Automobilherstellern zugeordnet, so dass sechs Skalen zur Erfassung der ästhetischen Wirkung von Fahrzeugen entstanden. In Studie II wurde ein diese sechs Skalen umfassender Fragebogen an einer Stichprobe von 83 Designern und Designstudierenden sowie 98 Probanden ohne Designausbildung in einer Onlinebefragung hinsichtlich Skalenkonsistenz geprüft. Außerdem wurden erste Annahmen aus dem Modell von Leder et al. (2004) abgeleitet und durch einen Vergleich der beiden Teilnehmergruppen hinsichtlich der Bewertung der vier präsentierten Fahrzeugmodelle für die Skalen mit guter interner Konsistenz (Attraktivität, Dynamik, Fortschritt, Qualität), sowie eines ästhetischen Gesamturteils, der benötigten Bewertungszeit und der Automobilaffinität überprüft. Hierbei vergaben Designstudierende und insbesondere ausgebildete Designer radikalere Bewertungen als Designlaien, benötigten mehr Zeit bei der Bewertung und waren automobilaffiner als die ungeschulten Befragungsteilnehmer. Den zweiten Schwerpunkt der Arbeit bildete eine konzeptionelle Zusammen-führung der Annahmen des Modells von Leder et al. (2004) und der Postulate zur Wirkung von Objekteigenschaften auf ästhetische Urteile (Berlyne, 1971; Martindale, 1988; Silvia, 2005b). Konkret sollte geprüft werden, welchen Einfluss marktrelevante Objekteigenschaften, wie z.B. das Ausmaß an Innovativität, auf die durch Expertise moderierte Bewertung von Design haben. In den Studien III und IV wurden hierfür systematisch bezüglich Innovativität und Balance gestufte Linienmodelle von Fahrzeu-gen präsentiert. In Studie III wurden die Modelle in einer Onlinebefragung durch 18 Designstudierende und 20 Studenten der Fahrzeugtechnik hinsichtlich Attraktivität, Innovativität und Balance bewertet. Im Einklang mit den Annahmen konnte gezeigt werden, dass sehr neuartiges Design von den designungeschulten Probanden als weniger attraktiv bewertet wird als von Betrachtern eines Designstudienganges. In Studie IV wurden neben den Ästhetikbewertungen zusätzlich das Blickverhal-ten und der affektiver Zustand der Versuchsteilnehmer in einem Messwiederholungs-design mit einer zwischengelagerten Phase elaborierter Designbewertung, in welcher der in Studie II geprüfte Fragebogen eingesetzt wurde, erhoben. An der Laborstudie nahmen je 11 Designer, Ingenieure, und Geisteswissenschaftler teil. Wiederum wurde innovatives Design von den designungeschulten Gruppen als weniger attraktiv bewertet. Dieser Unterschied reduzierte sich jedoch nach wiederholter Bewertung der Modelle. Die Manifestation expertisebedingten Blickverhaltens konnte nicht beobach-tet werden, wie auch die durch eine angenommene bessere Bewältigung einherge-hende positivere Stimmung oder höhere Zufriedenheit in der Expertengruppe. Gemeinsam mit den Befunden aus den Studien II und III wurde deutlich, dass Designausbildung und, noch ausgeprägter, Designexpertise neben einer höheren Attraktivitätsbewertung innovativen Designs auch zu einer differenzierteren Beurtei-lung von Innovativität führt. Dies wurde mit der Erweiterung des mentalen Schemas für Fahrzeuge durch die Beschäftigung mit vielfältigen Modellvarianten bereits während des Studiums interpretiert. Es wurden Hinweise auf eine stilbezogene, elaboriertere Verarbeitung von Fahrzeugdesign durch designgeschulte Betrachter beobachtet sowie eine mit Expertise einhergehende Autonomität ästhetischer Urteile als Ausdruck einer hohen ästhetischen Entwicklungsstufe (Parsons, 1987). Mit diesen bei unterschiedlichen Stichproben beobachteten, stabilen expertisebedingten Bewer-tungsunterschieden wurde eine begründete Basis für die geforderte Sensibilisierung für ästhetische Kundenbedürfnisse im Gestaltungsprozess geschaffen. Der in dieser Arbeit entwickelte Fragebogen kann hierbei für eine elaborierte Messung von Fahrzeugdesignpräferenzen, zum Vergleich der ästhetischen Wirkung mit den intendierten Markenwerten sowie für die Diskussion von Nutzereindrücken eingesetzt werden. Die Ergebnisse der vorliegenden Arbeiten tragen somit zur Erweiterung und Präzisierung des theoretischen Verständnisses von Ästhetikbewertungen bei und lassen sich gleichzeitig in die Praxis der Designausbildung und des Designprozesses übertragen. / Car designers are experts in creating car exteriors that transport a brand’s identity by giving a form to its values which has to appeal to a multitude of customers (Giannini & Monti, 2003; Karjalainen, 2002). In this process of translating values into forms it is quintessential to apprehend the customers’ requirements, as the designers understanding of these needs and thus of the design problem itself has a major impact on the quality of the design (Ulrich, 2011). One basis for this apprehension is shared contextual knowledge stemming from a successful interaction between the designer and the user (Lee, Popovich, Blackler & Lee, 2009). Unfortunately, there often is no direct exchange between designers and users (Zeisel, 2006). What is more, findings from research on the fine arts and product aesthetics prove that acquiring design knowledge and aesthetic expertise distinctly alters one’s cognitive processing of aesthetic objects, which also manifests in one’s perception, assessment, and behaviour. One should also expect experts’ preferential assessments to differ from the ones of users as far as aesthetic assessment is concerned. Considering these propositions, the goal of this doctoral thesis was to systematically examine these expertise-induced differences between design experts and laymen in perceiving and assessing automotive design. This thesis also contibutes to furthering the interaction between designers and users by establishing a shared knowledge basis and does so by analyzing the perception, processing, and assessment of car design by designers and laymen. Theoretical assumptions are based on the model of aesthetic appreciation by Leder, Belke, Oeberst and Augustin (2004), which provides detailed but hitherto untested assumptions on how experts and laymen differ in their processing of aesthetic objects. The thesis first focussed on examining the expertiseinduced differences in describing and assessing car design available „in the wild“, i.e. on the market. This and the lexical link between customers’ descriptive attributes and brand values as intended by the car companies were tested in two studies: Study I collected descriptive attributes by using Kelly’s (1955) method of triadic comparions. It also tested the assumption that experts verbalise more productively, generate a higher ratio of symbol-related to form-related attributes and are more homogenous in their use of attributes. In this study, 20 experts and 20 laymen were presented four cars and were to describe the differences between them using self-chosen adjectives. Contrary to the initial assumption, both groups used similar attributes and did thus also not differ in the ratio of symbol-related and form-related attributes. The attributes generated in this study were matched to the collected and categorised values of ten brands using a prototype approach (cp. Amelang & Zielinski, 2002), which resulted in six scales for covering the aesthetic impression of cars. Study II tested these scales for consistency on 83 designers and students of design and 98 design laymen in an online questionnaire. In addition, first predictions were derived from the model by Leder et al. (2004) and tested by comparing these two groups regarding their assessment of four cars on the scales that had shown a high level of internal consistency (attractiveness, dynamics, progressiveness and quality) as well as regarding their overall aesthetic appreciation, response time, and affinity for cars. In this study, the experts were more radical in their assessments, took more time working in the tasks, and cherished cars more than the laymen. The second focus of this work was to combine the assumptions of the model by Leder et al. (2004) and the postulations on how the characteristics of aesthetic objects influence aesthetic assessments (Berlyne, 1971; Martindale, 1988; Silvia, 2005b): Inhowfar do market-relevant characteristics such as innovativeness affect expertise-induced assessment of design? Study III and IV used line art models that were systematically graduated for innovativeness and balance to answer this question. In study III, 18 design students and 20 engineering students assessed these models in an online questionnaire regarding attractiveness, innovativeness, and balance. The results were in line with the assumptions and showed that laymen rated highly innovative design less attractive than experts. Study IV collected data on the aesthetic assessment, gaze behavior, and the participants’ affective state in a repeated measures design that included an intermediary phase of elaborately assessing design by using the questionnaire developed in study II. The sample consisted of 11 designers, 11 engineers, and 11 humanities scholars. Although highly innovative design – as in study III – was rated less attractive by the laymen, repeated measurement decreased this group difference. The study assumed but could not show effects of expertise-induced gaze behaviour, and an expertise-induced better coping with the task resulting in a greater satisfaction with one’s task performance. The findings of this thesis demonstrate that experience with design and – even more pronounced – expertise in this field result in a greater appreciation for innovative design and a more nuanced assessment of innovativeness. Probably, designers constantly enhance their mental schema due to being confronted with various variations of and solutions for a design problem. The studies suggest that experts process car design in a more style-related, elaborate manner and also that designers, due to their more advanced aesthetic level of development (Parsons, 1987) and expertise, are more autonomous in their assessment. These stable expertise-induced differences in assessment between laymen and experts could be demonstrated for various samples. Thus, they are a valid basis for dealing more sensitively with customers’ requirements in the design process. The questionnaire developed in this thesis can be applied to measure design preferences in detail, to compare the aesthetic impact to the intended brand statement, and to discuss users’ impressions. To conclude, the results presented in this thesis contribute to the theory of aesthetic assessment in providing a more precise understanding of aesthetic assessments and can also be applied to design education and design processes.

ABSTRACT Human capital comprises not only man power but also brain power which implies people¡¦s intelligence, potentiality, intellect¡K.etc. Nowadays the world has been getting into the new era of knowledge economy; and the competency of brain power instead of financial capital, land, facility/equipment becomes the core element of competition among enterprises. In this context, human capital in organizations is considered as the valuable assets, which are critically influential and significant. Organizations aiming at best performance admit the vital importance of the innovation and make every endeavor to maintain their competitive strengths and advantages by means of innovative management to achieve the goal of organizational innovations. The thesis focuses on the correlation between human capital and organizational innovation, in conjunction with organizational characteristics and industrial environment which might interfere with the correlation. After empirical study & statistical analysis, the thesis reveals as following: I. Five dimensions of human capital in organizations--- 1. Top management¡¦s knowledgeable & visionary leadership; 2. Employees¡¦ enterpreneurship & innovativeness; 3. Rejuvenesce of human capital; 4. Upgrading of human capital; 5. Deposit of human capital II. Differenciation analysis on the five dimensions of human capital by organizational characteristics--- 1. The organizations in various industries indicate slightly obvious differentiation in the upgrading degrees of human capital; in comparison, the organizations in service industry invest more in employees¡¦ training & cultivation than those in manufacturing industry. 2. The organizations with bigger capital amounts obviously put much more emphasis on rejuvenesce as well as deposit of human capital. 3. The organizations in the maturity period of life cycle comparatively concentrate much more of their attention on deposit of human capital; whereas those in the growing period of life cycle emphasize much more on upgrading human capital. 4. Over-20-years-old organizations lay much more emphasis on deposit of human capital than those at the ages less than 15 years. III. Human capital¡¦s direct influence on organizational innovation--- Top management¡¦s knowledgeable & visionary leadership exerts obviously positive effect on the innovation of management as well as technique. IV. The interaction of organizational characteristics and human capital has obviously positive effect on the organizational innovation--- 1. The interaction of the ages of the organization and rejuvenesce of human capital has obviously positive effect on the innovation of management. 2. The interaction of the capital amount of the organization and top management¡¦s knowledgeable & visionary leadership has obviously positive effect on the innovation of management. Key words: human capital, organizational innovation, top management¡¦s knowledgeable & visionary leadership, employees¡¦ enterpreneurship & innovativeness, rejuvenesce of human capital, upgrading of human capital, deposit of human capital

It is generally accepted that innovation of product, services and/or technologies, whether gradual or radical, is a source of competitive advantage for new and existing businesses. Adapting to changes in a volatile global market environment is a prerequisite for the sustainability of any business. The primary objective of this study is to explore the relationship between the cognitive, affective, lateral and vertical dimensions of interpersonal trust and organisational innovativeness within the Sasol Polymers, Chlor Alkali Business. In order to achieve the abovementioned objective, a literature review was conducted and a quantitative study undertaken using a target group of 189 individuals within the business. Primary data collection was undertaken in the form of a questionnaire which was compiled using items from standardised questionnaires published by previous researchers. Interpretation of the data revealed that the respondents are only moderately positive about the levels of interpersonal trust and organisational innovativeness within the business. In addition to this, although no causal relationship is implied, the research results revealed a practically significant positive correlation between the overall lateral, vertical, cognitive and affective-based trust constructs and the overall organisational innovativeness construct. The recommendation of this study centres on reinforcing all three facets of the trustworthiness construct mentioned in Meyer et al.’s (1995) model by constantly reminding people of the importance of “living” the Sasol Values. In addition to trustworthiness, the concept is further bolstered by firstly, ensuring that the competency and skills set gaps are identified and rectified, secondly, by continuously demonstrating caring behaviours and, thirdly, by ensuring that all interactions are governed by a set of accepted ethical behaviours. / Thesis (MBA)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2013

It is generally accepted that innovation of product, services and/or technologies, whether gradual or radical, is a source of competitive advantage for new and existing businesses. Adapting to changes in a volatile global market environment is a prerequisite for the sustainability of any business. The primary objective of this study is to explore the relationship between the cognitive, affective, lateral and vertical dimensions of interpersonal trust and organisational innovativeness within the Sasol Polymers, Chlor Alkali Business. In order to achieve the abovementioned objective, a literature review was conducted and a quantitative study undertaken using a target group of 189 individuals within the business. Primary data collection was undertaken in the form of a questionnaire which was compiled using items from standardised questionnaires published by previous researchers. Interpretation of the data revealed that the respondents are only moderately positive about the levels of interpersonal trust and organisational innovativeness within the business. In addition to this, although no causal relationship is implied, the research results revealed a practically significant positive correlation between the overall lateral, vertical, cognitive and affective-based trust constructs and the overall organisational innovativeness construct. The recommendation of this study centres on reinforcing all three facets of the trustworthiness construct mentioned in Meyer et al.’s (1995) model by constantly reminding people of the importance of “living” the Sasol Values. In addition to trustworthiness, the concept is further bolstered by firstly, ensuring that the competency and skills set gaps are identified and rectified, secondly, by continuously demonstrating caring behaviours and, thirdly, by ensuring that all interactions are governed by a set of accepted ethical behaviours. / Thesis (MBA)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2013

Made available in DSpace on 2010-04-20T20:08:20Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 71060100724.pdf: 1653381 bytes, checksum: bb187a86fbe789374d23b0884cf427a3 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009-05-26T00:00:00Z / The main objective of this research was to explore relationship between organizational innovativeness and organizational slack in manufacturing companies at São Paulo State/Brazil regarding several industries. This research also tested, in a value chain basis, a model concerning cooperation as organizational innovativeness driver, as well as verified organizational innovativeness influence on firm performance. This research used two methodological approaches: quantitative and qualitative ones complementing each other. Concerning the quantitative approach, the Sondagem das Necessidades de Inovação na Indústria Paulista (SNIIP) research was used. The SNIIP was made by Federação das Indústrias do Estado de São Paulo (FIESP). This database has 229 companies from 24 different manufacturing industries at São Paulo State. The research tool used in this quantitative study was the statistical technique of multiple regressions, Concerning the qualitative approach, a sample of 9 medium and large companies from different manufacturing industries was used. The research tool used in this qualitative study was case study in order to complement and deepen the analysis of the previous quantitative study. The main results of this study are that organizational slack positively influences organizational innovativeness; Cooperation, can be viewed as a driver and positively influences organizational innovativeness; and, organizational innovativeness, as well, positively influences firm performance. / Esta pesquisa teve como objetivo principal explorar a influência da folga organizacional na capacidade de inovação em empresas de manufatura do Estado de São Paulo, em diversos segmentos da indústria de transformação. Fez parte deste objetivo testar, em um contexto de cadeia de valor, um modelo do papel da cooperação como driver da capacidade de inovar da empresa, e por fim, verificar a influência da capacidade de inovar no desempenho na empresa. Esta pesquisa fez uso de duas abordagens: uma quantitativa e outra qualitativa de maneira complementar. A pesquisa quantitativa foi realizada com a utilização da pesquisa de Sondagem das Necessidades de Inovação na Indústria Paulista (SNIIP) elaborada pela Federação das Indústrias do Estado de São Paulo (FIESP). Compõe esta base 229 empresas do segmento de indústria de transformação paulista, de 24 setores industriais diferentes. Como ferramental metodológico para a abordagem quantitativa, utilizou-se a técnica estatística de regressão múltipla. Para a abordagem qualitativa, utilizou-se uma amostra de 9 empresas de porte médio e grande de diferentes setores da indústria de transformação paulista. Na pesquisa qualitativa fez-se uso do método de estudo de caso para complementar e aprofundar as análises do estudo quantitativo. Entre os principais resultados desta pesquisa observou-se que a influência da folga organizacional na capacidade de inovação da firma, é positiva. A cooperação, por sua vez, aparece como um agente representativo e que influencia positivamente a capacidade de inovar das firmas analisadas. A capacidade de uma firma inovar, por sua vez, influencia positivamente seu desempenho.

Com este estudo procurou se identificar os resultados produzidos pela aprendizagem do tipo Bottom-Up (BU) em organizações, tendo-se em vista que as variáveis Cultura Organizacional de Aprendizagem (COA), Mecanismos de Coordenação e Integração (MCI) e Liderança (LID) podem interferir na relação entre o método de aprendizagem e os resultados obtidos pela organização. Para se compreender o fenômeno, após uma pesquisa bibliográfica, foi desenvolvido um estudo multicaso pela metodologia proposta por Yin (2009). Foram pesquisadas quatro organizações atuantes em segmentos distintos, nomeadas neste estudo como \"Empresa X\" (setor farmacêutico), \"Empresa Y\" (setor alimentício/franquia), \"Empresa Z\" (indústria e comércio de calçados) e \"Empresa W\" (setor farmacêutico). Nestas empresas foram inquiridos o Diretor, o Vendedor e os responsáveis pelo setor da inovação, produção, comercial, financeiro e RH. Os respondentes foram entrevistados e preencheram um questionário, além de ter existido coleta prévia de dados secundários para maior compreensão dos fatos relacionados às empresas. Como resultado, constatou-se que nos casos analisados, aparentemente existe uma combinação entre o fator MCI e os constructos LID e COA, que possibilita a existência da aprendizagem do tipo BU. Os resultados provenientes desta combinação tendem a se manifestar em termos financeiros, competitivos e mercadológicos. A combinação do fator e os constructos não necessariamente conduzem à inovatividade da organização. / This study sought to identify the results produced by the Bottom-Up learning (BU) in organizations having in mind that the variables Organizational Learning Culture (OLC), Coordination and Integration Mechanisms (CIM) and Leadership (LEAD) can interfere with the relationship between the learning method and the results obtained by the organization. To understand the phenomenon, after a bibliographic research, it was developed a multi case study by the methodology proposed by Yin (2009). They were surveyed four organizations active in different segments, named in this study as \"Empresa X\" (pharmaceutical industry), \"Empresa Y\" (franchiser in the food sector), \"Empresa Z\" (footwear industry and retail trade) e \"Empresa W\" (pharmaceutical industry). In these companies were surveyed the diretor, the salesman and and those responsible for industry innovation, production, commercial, financial and HR. Respondents were interviewed and filled out a questionnaire, and have existed prior collection of secondary data for greater understanding of the facts related to business. As a result, it was found that in the cases analyzed, there is apparently a combination of CIM factor and constructs LEAD and OLC, which allows the existence of BU learning. The results from this combination tend to express in financial terms, competitive and related to the market. The combination of the factor and the constructs do not necessarily lead to the innovativeness of the organization.

過去研究創業成功的文獻很多，但少有研究探索創業團隊在競賽中的成功因素以及心理歷程，因此本研究以試圖以歷程的角度探究心理特質對創業團隊表現之影響。 創業家的創新性和創業成功有正向關聯，而創業的高失敗率及高工作量讓創業家長期處於高壓環境，是以抗壓性高的創業家容易脫穎而出；此外，創業家對壓力跟挫折的反應型態(例如反芻)也可能會影響創業績效。故本研究選擇創新性、壓力忍受及反芻(苦惱自責及深思反省)作為預測變項，企圖了解這些心理特質在創業競賽中的角色以及它們之間的關係。 本研究以自陳問卷蒐集資料，第一部分收集1557份線上問卷，得有效樣本1265份，結果發現創業者的創新性、壓力忍受及深思反省都顯著高於未創業者，苦惱自責則沒有差異。第二部分的研究對象為104年度「創新創業激勵計畫(From IP to IPO, FITI)」入圍初選的創業團隊(競賽初期)，並重複測量成功晉級第二(競賽中期)及第三階段(競賽後期)之團隊。總計發出631份問卷，回收490份，回收率78%，共54組團隊。結果發現初期深思反省和中期苦惱自責能正向預測創業團隊是否晉級下一階段。重複測量入圍第三階段的團隊，發現競賽後期的壓力忍受顯著比競賽初期的高，競賽中期的苦惱自責顯著高於競賽初期。創業團隊的心理屬性中，初期深思反省及初期壓力忍受皆能正向預測初期及中期的創新性，中期壓力忍受能正向預測中期創新性，後期壓力忍受能正向預測後期創新性。此外，初期壓力忍受能完全中介初期深思反省與中期創新性之間的關係。 / Starting a business helps the country's economy and in recent years, there are various business plan contests held by the Taiwan's government and industries, wishing to encourage people to start business and help the starters to make their businesses more successful. Although there are many literatures that studied on successful start-up, there are not many studies really explored on the factors of succeed among different contests and entrepreneurial team members’ psychological processes during the contests. Therefore, in this study the researcher attempts to explore the impact brought by the psychological traits on the performance of entrepreneurial teams from the perspective of psychological process. There is a positive correlation between an entrepreneur's innovativeness and entrepreneurial success. The high failure rate and workload put an entrepreneur in an environment with high pressure for long period of time, and therefore only the entrepreneur with high stress tolerance will stand out. In addition, the way entrepreneurs respond to stress and frustration, such as rumination, will also have influence on the performance, so in this study, these psychological traits, such as innovativeness, stress tolerance and rumination (brooding rumination and reflective pondering rumination) as the predictor variables, in order to understand the role of these psychological traits in business plan contests and the relation among them. In the study, the researcher collected data by the approach of self-report questionnaires. Through the first part of collecting online questionnaires,the statistical survey was proceed with 1265 effective samples from 1557 questionnaires, and the results showed the entrepreneur’s traits such as innovativeness, stress tolerance and reflective pondering were significantly higher than non-entrepreneurs, and as to the trait of brooding, there is no difference. The participants in the second part are 54 entrepreneur teams attended 2015 FITI held by the Taiwan’s Ministry of Science and Technology. The results showed that, referring to the reflective pondering in the early stage and brooding in the middle stage can positively predict if the entrepreneurial teams could stay till the next stage. After repeatedly measuring the teams who successfully selected into the late stage, the researcher found that the stress tolerance they endured in the late stage of contest is significantly higher than the early stage of contest, and their brooding is significantly higher in the early stage than the middle stage of contest. Among the psychological traits of entrepreneurial teams, the reflective pondering and the stress tolerance in the early stage both can positively predict the innovativeness of early and middle stages, as the stress tolerance in the middle stage can positively predict the innovativeness in the middle stage, and the stress tolerance in the late stage can positively predict the innovativeness in the late stage. In addition, early stage stress tolerance can fully mediate the relation between early stage reflective pondering and middle stage innovativeness.