Sammanfattning Titel: Internal commitment hos medarbetare - En kvalitativ studie som ser empowerment ur ett medarbetarperspektiv    Nivå: Kandidatuppsats inom ämnet företagsekonomi Författare: Maria Elefteriadou och Martin Kjellnäs Handledare: Tomas Källquist och Pär Vilhelmson Datum: Vårterminen 2020 Bakgrund och syfte: Empowerment inom företagsekonomin avser framhävandet av den individuella förmåga som varje medarbetare inom en organisation besitter. Trots fokus på den individuella medarbetaren utgår litteraturen till stor del från ett ledningsperspektiv. Denna studie väljer att utgå från ett medarbetarperspektiv och dess syfte är att skapa förståelse för hur kognitiva dimensioner påverkar medarbetarnas internal commitment. Metod: Studien utgår från en socialkonstruktivistisk verklighetssyn och en hermeneutisk kunskapssyn. Studien är av kumulativ karaktär då den teoretiska referensramen, som utgör grunden för forskningsprocessen, baseras på tidigare forskning inom området. En kvalitativ forskning har tillämpats och semistrukturerade intervjuer har utförts för insamlingen av empiri. Studiens bidrag: Studien belyser ett perspektiv av empowerment som hittills inom litteraturen varit av underordnad karaktär. Genom att ge medarbetarna rösten att uttrycka hur deras internal commitment påverkas av olika kognitiva dimensioner skapas förståelse för hur det skulle kunna öka deras upplevda empowerment. Utöver detta teoretiska bidrag lämnas även praktiska bidrag i form av rekommendationer till organisationer som strävar efter att tillämpa empowerment. Förslag till vidare forskning: Vi föreslår fortsatt vidare forskning inom medarbetarperspektivet för att skapa en mer komplett bild av empowerment. För att vidga medarbetarperspektivet rekommenderar vi studier i olika kontexter där faktorer som till exempel miljö, yrke, ålder och utbildning varieras.  Nyckelord: Ekonomistyrning, medarbetare, empowerment, internal commitment. / Abstract Titel: Internal commitment of employees - a qualitative study that sees empowerment from an employee perspective Level: Final assignment for Bachelor Degree in Business Administration Authors: Maria Elefteriadou and Martin Kjellnäs Supervisors: Tomas Källquist and Pär Vilhelmson Date: Spring term 2020 Background and aim: Empowerment within Business Administration refers to the emphasis of the individual ability that every employee within an organisation possesses. Despite the focus on the individual employee, a large part of the literature is based on a management perspective. This study therefore chooses to focus on an employee perspective. The aim for this study is to create an understanding on how cognitive dimensions affect employees internal commitment.        Method: This study adopts a method that is based on a social constructivist view of reality and has a hermeneutic view of knowledge. The study is of a cumulative nature, as the theoretical frame of reference, which forms the basis of the research process, is based on previous research. A qualitative research approach has been applied and semi-structured interviews have been conducted for the empirical data collection. Contribution of the study: This study illustrates a perspective of empowerment that has been quite unexplored so far. By giving employees the voice to express how their internal commitment is affected by different cognitive dimensions, a broader understanding of how their perceived empowerment can increase is created. In addition to this theoretical contribution, practical contributions are also made in the form of recommendations to organizations that strive to apply empowerment. Suggestions for future research: We propose further research within the employee perspective to create a more complete picture of empowerment. To broaden the employee perspective, we recommend studies in various contexts where factors such as environment, occupation, age and education are varied. Keywords: Management control, employee, empowerment, internal commitment.

Federal downsizing and reduced appropriations within the USDA Forest Service (USFS) have resulted in increased use of partnerships to deliver visitor services. Partnerships are the relationships in which two or more parties combine resources (e.g., funds, labor, information, skills) to accomplish a shared objective. Examples of USFS recreation partners include individual volunteers, professional contractors, and concessionaires. Partnerships provide a variety of services that may be otherwise neglected with fiscal constraints; for example, campground hosts, trail maintenance crews, and specialized recreation outfitters and guides provide visitor services the public desires. Although previous studies and USFS Accomplishment Reports indicate that partners are being used to deliver recreation services, there is a lack of understanding concerning the structure and function of these relationships. This thesis presents data from the second phase of a multi-phase study exploring the role of recreation partnerships on national forests. Using grounded theory, Phase I gathered and analyzed semi-structured interview data with key informants (n = 21). From these interviews, a conceptual framework of USFS recreation partnerships evolved, and internal commitment to partnerships and the external environment of forests emerged as indicators of agency capacity to partner. Internal commitment was defined by the presence, or lack of, a partnership coordinator on the forest. External environment was characterized by geographical location with urban forests, rural forests and amenity forests typifying various levels of partnership access for forest personnel. Phase II investigated these themes of commitment and environment using a multiple-case study methodology. Interviews with USFS personnel (n = 45) on six national forests representing a variety of internal commitment and external environment scenarios enabled the refinement of the partnership conceptual framework and indicators of agency capacity to administer partnerships. Specifically, this study illustrated that personnel motivations also influence agency capacity to partner. Fifteen distinct motivations emerged from informant interviews, which were classified within three categories of motivations: interpersonal, intrapersonal, and institutional. Together these themes of agency capacity--commitment, environment, and motivation--describe six unique cases of partnership involvement. These findings enable an increased awareness of agency capacity to partner and may enhance the leadership support, agency-partner interactions, and personnel motivations necessary to sustain USFS partnerships.

Submitted by Fabio Sobreira Campos da Costa (fabio.sobreira@ufpe.br) on 2017-04-05T15:29:30Z No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 1232 bytes, checksum: 66e71c371cc565284e70f40736c94386 (MD5) versão para entrega final-ajustado 13out14 (1).pdf corrigida.pdf: 1805774 bytes, checksum: 4375dba35f1dfd2814a4555cbb501972 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-04-05T15:29:30Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 1232 bytes, checksum: 66e71c371cc565284e70f40736c94386 (MD5) versão para entrega final-ajustado 13out14 (1).pdf corrigida.pdf: 1805774 bytes, checksum: 4375dba35f1dfd2814a4555cbb501972 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-09-12 / Este trabalho focou sobre os conceitos de mundo comportamental e as formas de comprometimento, propostos prioritariamente na literatura por Chris Argyris e Donald Schön, além do uso destes conceitos na forma aplicada de um questionário avaliativo, que, por decorrência lógica, define o ambiente organizacional. Para tal, foram caracterizadas as condições típicas de organizações saudáveis e os padrões de comunicação interativos das pessoas, numa leitura evolutiva, a partir das obras de Chris Argyris e Donald Schön. No tratamento de adequação e validade do questionário, foram efetuados dois levantamentos, em dois macrogrupos diferentes: (1) um primeiro grupo de trinta e um gerentes de uma instituição privada, os quais avaliaram a sua própria organização e (2) um segundo grupo de gerentes ou coordenadores de equipes ou projetos, o qual foi subdividido em dois outros grupos – gestores públicos e privados –, dando um total de trinta e seis participantes, os quais avaliaram o ambiente organizacional de um filme comercial. Diante da avaliação estatística pelo teste de Alfa de Cronbach, o questionário recebeu nota geral em consistência de 0,9443 – excelente. Além disso, não houve diferenças significativas nas respostas quando comparando homens e mulheres, bem como os tipos de gestores. O questionário proposto se torna relevante por ser um instrumento de diagnóstico que se propõe a ser a base de uma reflexão coletiva entre o interveniente e a organização. / This dissertation aimed on the concepts of behavioral world and internal and external commitments, which were proposed mainly by Chris Argyris and also by Donald Schön, as well as their use in the format of a questionnaire, which by logical consequence evaluate the organizational environment. In order to do so, there were characterized basic organizational characteristics for them to be considered healthy, communicative and interactive people’s patterns, using an evolutionary base from Achris Argyris and Donald Schön points of view. When evaluating adequancy and validity of the questionnaire, two different groups were the subjects of this research: (1) one of them were thirty-one managers from a private institution who evaluated the company they work for and (2) a group of thirty six managers or coordinators of projects or teams, which were divided in other two groups – private and public managers – who have evaluated the organizational environment of commercial film. A pre-test was run with five specialists on Action Theory or Humans studies aiming a semantic consistency. The questionnaire had a 0,9443 grade – excellent – by Cronbach Alfa statistical test for its consistency. There was no significant difference on responses between men and women or among different kinds of managers. This questionnaire is important because it is designed to be an instrument for collective conversation between the intervenior and the organization’s individuals.