Human history is marked by progressive stages of dominant human interrelation patterns. Marx examined these patterns and believed that history could be understood as a variation on a Fichtian science of material dialectics where a thesis would meet its antithesis, and a new synthesis would emerge from the violent struggle found at their intersection. This dissertation takes a slightly different perspective, concentrating on the contemporary stage of dominant human interrelation patterns, their origin, and consequences from an educational organisation perspective. <br /><br /> This is an emerging discussion of the foundational and philosophical structures of interorganisational relationships involving educational administration. Beginning with a discussion of the origins and development of contemporary relational structures writ largein terms of social, political, and economic antecedentsI show how their convergence around a dual falsehood has produced a self-perpetuating dominance in the modern era. The dual falsehood is manifest in the conflation of science and technology, and social Darwinist assumptions of human nature. Misunderstanding the nature of this dual falsehood, proponents of post-modernity are exposed as providing an anaemic or counterproductive response to the problems of modernity. <br /><br /> I explore the particular problems of modernity faced by education as a general area of study and practice, and educational administration more specifically. The root of these problems is demonstrated in a misalignment of (a) dominant relational structures falsely self-declaring their basis in science, and (b) education as a genuine scientific pursuit (as defined herein). I further explore psychopathologies of relationships when negotiated in terms of such false self-declared and contextually dominant beliefs. The implications of psychopathological relationship negotiations are discussed for educational administration and strategies are explored for educational leadership and advocacy. <br /><br /> Two stages of correction for the dominant issues described herein are posited on behalf of educational organisations. Stage one advocates the construction of a singular definition of pedagogy for public consumption. Stage two articulates areas of responsibility for various intraorganisational elements within education. The purpose of stage two is to disseminate widespread propaganda based upon Habermas (1970) communicative competence to eradicate dysfunctional communication that perpetuates the dominance of modern and post-modern relational structures. Furthermore, stage two advocates the adoption of Mouffes agonistic position for interorganisational relations between education and non-education entities. Stages are to be evaluated in terms of an adaptation upon Giddens (1979) analysis of sedimented practices of educational administration within the context of the Mouffian (2005) political.

Human history is marked by progressive stages of dominant human interrelation patterns. Marx examined these patterns and believed that history could be understood as a variation on a Fichtian science of material dialectics where a thesis would meet its antithesis, and a new synthesis would emerge from the violent struggle found at their intersection. This dissertation takes a slightly different perspective, concentrating on the contemporary stage of dominant human interrelation patterns, their origin, and consequences from an educational organisation perspective. <br /><br /> This is an emerging discussion of the foundational and philosophical structures of interorganisational relationships involving educational administration. Beginning with a discussion of the origins and development of contemporary relational structures writ largein terms of social, political, and economic antecedentsI show how their convergence around a dual falsehood has produced a self-perpetuating dominance in the modern era. The dual falsehood is manifest in the conflation of science and technology, and social Darwinist assumptions of human nature. Misunderstanding the nature of this dual falsehood, proponents of post-modernity are exposed as providing an anaemic or counterproductive response to the problems of modernity. <br /><br /> I explore the particular problems of modernity faced by education as a general area of study and practice, and educational administration more specifically. The root of these problems is demonstrated in a misalignment of (a) dominant relational structures falsely self-declaring their basis in science, and (b) education as a genuine scientific pursuit (as defined herein). I further explore psychopathologies of relationships when negotiated in terms of such false self-declared and contextually dominant beliefs. The implications of psychopathological relationship negotiations are discussed for educational administration and strategies are explored for educational leadership and advocacy. <br /><br /> Two stages of correction for the dominant issues described herein are posited on behalf of educational organisations. Stage one advocates the construction of a singular definition of pedagogy for public consumption. Stage two articulates areas of responsibility for various intraorganisational elements within education. The purpose of stage two is to disseminate widespread propaganda based upon Habermas (1970) communicative competence to eradicate dysfunctional communication that perpetuates the dominance of modern and post-modern relational structures. Furthermore, stage two advocates the adoption of Mouffes agonistic position for interorganisational relations between education and non-education entities. Stages are to be evaluated in terms of an adaptation upon Giddens (1979) analysis of sedimented practices of educational administration within the context of the Mouffian (2005) political.

<p>Background: The growth of the venture capital industry has given birth to new relations between investors and entrepreneurial firms. Venture capital firms are by definition investors serving as an active partner which implies a deeper relation between investors and entrepreneurs than has been the case previously. This new situation leads to a number of questions. Do venture capitalists really act as active partners with a long term interest in the venture? Do they add any value besides capital? How important is their influence in the portfolio company's decision making process? </p><p>Purpose: The purpose of this study is to give a deeper understanding of the relation between venture capital firms and IT companies in the start-up phase. </p><p>Limitations: This study is limited to Swedish IT companies. We have further chosen to study the phenomenon from the portfolio company's point of view. A final limitation that has been made is to focus on companies financed by formal venture capital. </p><p>Realisation: Using theories treating interorganisational relations and adjacent theories treating power we have chosen to study the relation between venture capital firms and their portfolio companies. The empirical data was gathered through interviews with five entrepreneurial companies in the IT business. The studyhas been carried out with an approach similar to a qualitative case study. </p><p>Result: We have found that the venture capital firm is seen as a very devoted partner with a long term interest in the company and that their contribution of resources is important. Regarding its influence in the portfolio company's decision making process we have concluded that this is due to an informal power position resulting from their possession of critical resources. In particular we have found that the possession of capital gives rise to a very influential position in the portfolio company.</p>

Background: The growth of the venture capital industry has given birth to new relations between investors and entrepreneurial firms. Venture capital firms are by definition investors serving as an active partner which implies a deeper relation between investors and entrepreneurs than has been the case previously. This new situation leads to a number of questions. Do venture capitalists really act as active partners with a long term interest in the venture? Do they add any value besides capital? How important is their influence in the portfolio company's decision making process? Purpose: The purpose of this study is to give a deeper understanding of the relation between venture capital firms and IT companies in the start-up phase. Limitations: This study is limited to Swedish IT companies. We have further chosen to study the phenomenon from the portfolio company's point of view. A final limitation that has been made is to focus on companies financed by formal venture capital. Realisation: Using theories treating interorganisational relations and adjacent theories treating power we have chosen to study the relation between venture capital firms and their portfolio companies. The empirical data was gathered through interviews with five entrepreneurial companies in the IT business. The studyhas been carried out with an approach similar to a qualitative case study. Result: We have found that the venture capital firm is seen as a very devoted partner with a long term interest in the company and that their contribution of resources is important. Regarding its influence in the portfolio company's decision making process we have concluded that this is due to an informal power position resulting from their possession of critical resources. In particular we have found that the possession of capital gives rise to a very influential position in the portfolio company.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-08-29T14:09:23Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 tese_213_.pdf: 1354449 bytes, checksum: 82ae1a6cc0a1d18a343169fa491c3d77 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2007-03-29 / Nas últimas décadas, as empresas passaram por um processo de reestruturação produtiva e enfrentaram grande competitividade nacional e internacional, o que provocou o surgimento de novas práticas gerenciais, dentre as quais se pode citar a tendência em desenvolver relacionamentos interorganizacionais, formando, assim, redes horizontais e/ou verticais. A partir deste contexto, a presente dissertação tem como objetivo principal analisar os aspectos intervenientes dos relacionamentos interorganizacionais entre empresas prestadoras de serviços de comércio exterior do município de Vitória (ES) e seus prestadores de serviços (despachantes e transportadores), empresas estas componentes de uma rede vertical. A principal justificativa para a pesquisa está no fato de investigar os relacionamentos interorganizacionais no setor de serviços, enquanto a maioria dos trabalhos com este enfoque prioriza setor industrial. Assim, para alcançar tal objetivo, foi utilizada uma estratégia de pesquisa que se aproxima de estudo de casos, tendo por base, portanto, uma metodologia qualitativa. Foram realizadas dez entrevistas semiestruturadas com gestores do setor, cujos dados foram tratados por meio da análise de conteúdo e organizados em torno de temas. A pesquisa de campo permite concluir que os aspectos intervenientes dos relacionamentos interorganizacionais estão presentes nos casos estudados, além de evidenciar a presença de um novo, não referenciado na revisão de literatura: a competência. Como complemento, um arcabouço com as relações entre estes aspectos é apresentado a fim de melhorar o entendimento do fenômeno estudado. / In the last decades, companies had passed through a process of productive reorganization and had faced great national and international competitiveness, what caused the development of new managerial practices, amongst which the tendency of developing interorganisational relationships, bringing up horizontal and/or vertical networks. From this context, the main objective of the current study is to analyze the interorganisational relationships’ enablers aspects among foreign trade services companies of Vitória (ES) and its third-parties (dispatching and transportation companies), that forms a vertical network. The main reason for this research is the investigation of interorganisational relationships in the service sector, while the majority of the studies with this approach focus on industrial sector. Thus, to reach such objective, the research strategy used is case study, using as support a qualitative methodology. Ten semi-structured interviews with managers of the sector had been carried out. The data was analysed through content analysis and organized around themes. The empirical research allows to conclude that interorganisational relationships’ enablers aspects were frequently found in the cases studied, besides evidencing the presence of another aspect not shown in the literature review: competency. As complement, we propose a model which shows the existing relations among those aspects in order to improve the understanding of the phenomenon studied.

The focus of this study is to explore trust between small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and large companies in interorganizational relationships (IORs) that are mandated by government policy. Due to the important contribution made by SMEs to national economies and to the fact that their growth is pivotal for entrepreneurial activities, many governments have made significant efforts to enhance their performance. However, SMEs are constrained by their lack of resources and experience. Some countries have required large companies to collaborate with SMEs to overcome these constraints. Whilst much attention has been devoted to trust in relationships of choice between SMEs and large companies, scant attention has been paid to the state of trust in mandated business interactions. This study explores the state of trust between large companies and SMEs companies in mandated business interactions, identifying those factors that influence trust between them. Qualitative semi-structured interviews with 25 key managers from large companies and SMEs were conducted in Oman which has a policy of mandated IORs. The interview data were analyzed thematically. The key findings resulted in a new contextual concept of trust, a refinement of classical trust indicators by which the presence of trust in IORs can be more appropriately detected and the development of a model embracing factors which were found to influence trust. Several new factors not previously commented on in the literature were identified in this study. The findings provide theoretical and practical contributions with recommendations for policy, practice and further research. / Ministry of Manpower, Oman.