The purpose of this study was to explore the role a school council played in encouraging community involvement in a K to 12 school located within a bedroom community. This qualitative case study included data collected from 35 semi-structured individual interviews conducted with Sunshines School Community Council (SCC) members, teachers, and community members. Augmented data collection incorporated my attendance at three SCC meetings, 11 community and school visits, and the maintenance of a personal journal during the interview process. Data results were analyzed through Putnams concept of social capital theory.<p> During the time of this study, the impact that Sunshines SCC had on community involvement in school was evolving. The SCC was new to the school community; Sunshines SCC members displayed nascent levels of trust between themselves and with community members. The SCC predominantly focused its attention on fulfilling the provincially-mandated requirement of contributing to the schools Learning Improvement Plan. Since supporting the schools centralized goals consumed much of the SCCs time and attention, the association was less able to promote traditional forms of community involvement in school.<p> Most participants perceived traditional forms of community involvement in school to positively impact the social cohesion of the school community. Parents believed there were multiple benefits associated with traditional forms of community involvement in school, including improved parent-to-parent relationships, improved school-home relationships, additional support for school curricula, and improved student performance in school. Based on social capital theory, socialization during community events generates social capital between community members, which encourages further community involvement in school. The forging of bonding, bridging, and linking social capital, through a variety of traditional means, was a fundamental component needed to create, complement, and sustain community involvement in the school.<p> The majority of SCC participants perceived that the formal components of SCC policy were misaligned with their desire to promote traditional forms of community involvement. Most participants believed that bureaucratic aspects of the SCC policy (and similar organizations) negatively affect productivity. Social capital theory supported the idea that bureaucracy deters the establishment and utilization of trust and social capital.<p> Sunshine was a bedroom community and the socialization tendencies of the community appeared to negatively influence community involvement. Convenient access to urban amenities, the influx of new community members, and a generational shift of values and lifestyles appeared to deter the creation and utilization of personal and professional stocks of social capital within the community. In contrast, the impact of child-focused events and sporting activities appeared to unite community members and positively influence the creation and utilization of social capital within the community.<p> Implications arising from this study pinpoint the importance of fostering trusting relationships not only between SCCs members but between SCCs and their communities. In order to generate higher levels of trust, and thereby strengthen the potency of social capital, Sunshines SCC members need decentralized authority to self-create local goals. The procedure of annual SCC elections also needs reviewing as an annual influx of new members to the SCC negates the sustainability of high levels of trust. On a practical level, Sunshines SCC, the school administration, and the school division need to promote SCC communication with the school community.

Transfrontier Conservation Areas (TFCAs) in southern Africa are often connected with forced resettlement, marginalization and exclusion from the decision-making process of the local community. Therefore this study investigates the level and kind of community involvement in the TFCA process in Swaziland by performing nine semi-structured interviews in five different communities. The results show that the TFCA process in Swaziland is not quite like the situation described in the rest of southern Africa. They demonstrate that although the community projects in Swaziland’s TFCAs might not be completely gender sensitive and still have to develop in terms of their sustainability, they are on the right track. Most communities are autonomous regarding the governance of their development, either through community boards or traditional structures. Additionally, it is obvious that there are a lot of ideas on and possibilities for development in the communities that need to be encouraged.

The purpose of this study was to explore the role a school council played in encouraging community involvement in a K to 12 school located within a bedroom community. This qualitative case study included data collected from 35 semi-structured individual interviews conducted with Sunshines School Community Council (SCC) members, teachers, and community members. Augmented data collection incorporated my attendance at three SCC meetings, 11 community and school visits, and the maintenance of a personal journal during the interview process. Data results were analyzed through Putnams concept of social capital theory.<p> During the time of this study, the impact that Sunshines SCC had on community involvement in school was evolving. The SCC was new to the school community; Sunshines SCC members displayed nascent levels of trust between themselves and with community members. The SCC predominantly focused its attention on fulfilling the provincially-mandated requirement of contributing to the schools Learning Improvement Plan. Since supporting the schools centralized goals consumed much of the SCCs time and attention, the association was less able to promote traditional forms of community involvement in school.<p> Most participants perceived traditional forms of community involvement in school to positively impact the social cohesion of the school community. Parents believed there were multiple benefits associated with traditional forms of community involvement in school, including improved parent-to-parent relationships, improved school-home relationships, additional support for school curricula, and improved student performance in school. Based on social capital theory, socialization during community events generates social capital between community members, which encourages further community involvement in school. The forging of bonding, bridging, and linking social capital, through a variety of traditional means, was a fundamental component needed to create, complement, and sustain community involvement in the school.<p> The majority of SCC participants perceived that the formal components of SCC policy were misaligned with their desire to promote traditional forms of community involvement. Most participants believed that bureaucratic aspects of the SCC policy (and similar organizations) negatively affect productivity. Social capital theory supported the idea that bureaucracy deters the establishment and utilization of trust and social capital.<p> Sunshine was a bedroom community and the socialization tendencies of the community appeared to negatively influence community involvement. Convenient access to urban amenities, the influx of new community members, and a generational shift of values and lifestyles appeared to deter the creation and utilization of personal and professional stocks of social capital within the community. In contrast, the impact of child-focused events and sporting activities appeared to unite community members and positively influence the creation and utilization of social capital within the community.<p> Implications arising from this study pinpoint the importance of fostering trusting relationships not only between SCCs members but between SCCs and their communities. In order to generate higher levels of trust, and thereby strengthen the potency of social capital, Sunshines SCC members need decentralized authority to self-create local goals. The procedure of annual SCC elections also needs reviewing as an annual influx of new members to the SCC negates the sustainability of high levels of trust. On a practical level, Sunshines SCC, the school administration, and the school division need to promote SCC communication with the school community.

Nya tjänster hjälper företag att locka till sig nya kunder men också att behålla befintliga vilket har gjort tjänsteutveckling till en viktig konkurrensfaktor. Tjänster är en väsentlig del av många förstags erbjudanden, däremot finns det en avsaknad av forskning på området tjänsteutveckling i förhållande till den plats tjänster har på marknaden idag, vilket ligger till grund för att denna studie undersöker fenomenet tjänsteutveckling.  Trots att empiriska studier genomförts på området finns det idag en oenighet kring hur arbetet med tjänsteutveckling går till i praktiken. Ett flertal studier har försökt beskriva arbetet genom att gestalta tjänsteutvecklingsprocesser. Andra studier har istället noterat att utvecklingsarbetet kring tjänster ofta sker utan förutbestämda processer och utifrån ett spritt ansvar inom organisationen. Det har därav framhållits ett behov av fler studier för att öka förståelsen för arbetet med tjänsteutveckling i praktiken. En lyckad ny tjänst är en som lyckas uppfylla kundens behov. Av denna anledning har kundinvolvering lyfts fram som en framgångsfaktor vid tjänsteutveckling. Denna studie avser därav också ta reda på om, hur och varför företag väljer att använda sig av kunden i sitt utvecklingsarbete. På grund av de spridda resultat som tidigare studier lyft kring både tjänsteutvecklingsarbetet i sig men också kring kundens roll i detta arbete genomförs studien på företag inom två skilda branscher, hotell och försäkring, för att undersöka ifall vi kan finna skillnader i arbetet som möjligen kan härledas till branschernas egenskaper. Syftet med denna studie är alltså att öka förståelsen för hur företag inom hotell och försäkringsbranschen arbetar med tjänsteutveckling samt att undersöka vilken roll kunden har i detta arbete. För att uppfylla syftet med studien genomfördes en kvalitativ studie av fyra fallföretag, två inom hotellbranschen och två inom försäkringsbranschen. Genom semistrukturerade intervjuer med respondenter som arbetar med utvecklingsarbetet på respektive företag möjliggjordes en analys av hur arbetet med tjänsteutveckling och kundinvolvering ser ut i praktiken i förhållande till vad som tidigare lyfts i teorin. Studiens resultat visar på att tjänsteutveckling tenderar vara i förändring. Förändring mot ett mer samlat arbete utifrån strukturerade och formella utvecklingsprocesser. Företagen visade en god förståelse för kundens vikt vid utvecklingsarbetet och samtliga företag arbetar också med någon form av kundinvolvering. Det tenderade dock att finnas mer rutiner kring de passiva metoderna, i form av kundundersökningar, medan vi fann en avsaknad i rutiner och insikter kring när de mer aktiva metoderna för kundinvolvering ska användas för bästa resultat. Vi kunde i studien också notera skillnader mellan de två branscherna gällande utvecklingsarbetet, skillnader som tenderar grunda sig i tjänsteerbjudandenas skilda egenskaper.

As time goes by, managers realize that exceptional employees are the crucial factors which affect the success or failure of companies. The attitude and feelings of employees are affected by Job Characteristics, and it will further affect the Job Involvement of employees. When employees go into the works which are provided with good job characteristics, managers still need considering the differences between employees. According to some researches, Self-Esteem play an important role in many aspects of employees¡¦ life, so it can be used to measuring the differences between employees. The purposes of the study are to explore the relationship between job characteristics and job involvement, then add self-esteem as a moderator variable to explore the relationship among these variables and make further suggestions to modern companies for arranging job duties and selecting employees. The objects of the study were the Taiwan workers of a case company. The study adopted a convenience sampling method. 200 questionnaires were distributed and resulted in 177 valid responses, comprising the effective return rate of 88.5%. The software SPSS was used for correlation analysis, regression analysis and T test to test the hypothesis. The findings show that there is a significant positive correlation between job characteristics and job involvement, then add self-esteem as a moderator variable to find that there is still a significant positive correlation between job characteristics and job involvement in those workers who are in high level of self-esteem ; on the other hand, there isn¡¦t a positive relationship between job identity, job feedback and job involvement in those workers who are in low level of self-esteem. But there is still a positive relationship between skill variety, job importance, job autonomy, and job involvement.

Character Marketing is popular in recent years. Many studies of Spokes-Character conduct by the print media before, less on the Internet Marketing. Furthermore, the social media in the Internet Market has become a new trend. The social network service has been an important business strategy by the marketing of word of mouth, and it also strengthen the brand image of the corporate. Therefore, this study attempts by the case of the Spokes-Character, OKAPI, from The BOOKS.COM.Co.,Ltd. This main study aims to find the influent of advertising effect with different spokesperson of Facebook and different involvement in e-shopping. The Independent Variable of this study aims the different spokesperson in Facebook (Spokes-Character and Trademark) and involvement in e-shopping (high and low). Dependent Variable is advertising effects (advertising attitude and brand attitude). The survey conduct through the Internet by the internet users. In this main study, 325 valid questionnaires were collected, the findings shows that Spokes-Character as the spokesperson of Facebook will enhance advertising effects. And different level of involvement in e-shopping also influence the different advertising effect.

Convenience and price are the main considerations of the consumers on internet shopping. "Group buying" is a consumption pattern emerging in recent years; it can be used in many places and has become a mainstream. The consumer now through the ¡§group buying¡¨ to reduce their living expenses. The earlier group buying was focus on the products of foods, and physical goods. But through the development of internet, the new internet group buying has been different. It¡¦s not only focused on the foods and physical goods, but also includes all kind of entertainment (cosmetology, outdoor events¡Ketc.). In this study, we regarded the consumers who were ever participated in the new online group shopping as our main target. Through this research, we can understand the consumer¡¦s lifestyle, personality and involvement of new online group shopping. It also can provide a direction for online shopping industry in the future.

The purpose of this qualitative interpretive research study was to explore the perceptions and experiences of seven second- and third-generation U.S.-born Latino parents in a high-poverty urban school district in Texas regarding their role in their children’s schooling. Specifically, this study was organized to understand what the selected Latino parents perceived as parent involvement, what expectations they had of the school and, conversely, what expectations the school personnel had of them, and finally, what perceptions the parents held about their role in school-parent activities. Though parent involvement is considered to be one of the most important factors in a child’s success in school, this study also explored the perceived chasm in the alignment between the school and the home of the U.S.-born Latino family. The interpretative approach and dialogical exchange, through a semi-structured interview process, provided the opportunity to add the voices of second- and third-generation U.S.–born Latino parents to the current discourse about parent involvement. All of the participants met a general description as a second- or third-generation U.S.-born Latino, whose primary language is English, whose children have been involved in the identified school system for at least five years and were academically successful, and who the school considered to be uninvolved in the schooling process. The data analysis process involved a methodical process of breaking down the information presented in in-depth interview transcripts, observation, field notes, documents, and participant and researcher texts. By using a focused coding technique, patterns or concepts that best represented the participants’ voices surfaced. The codes were reviewed and categories or themes were then developed. The parents’ voices also provided information suggesting that the perceived lack of participation in the sanctioned school activities by some U.S.–born Latino parents stems from an apparent failure on the part of school personnel to recognize the cultural capital and richness of the culturally diverse household. Specifically, through the theoretical framework of funds of knowledge, the stories of the seven second- and third-generation U.S.-born Latinos noted that Latino families have assets that contribute to the academic success of their children, yet they are often dismissed by school personnel.

The on-line auction has become an important issue in Taiwan, due to the intense competition between e-Bay and Yahoo! auction. However the relative researches in Taiwan hasn¡¦t analyzed the bidding strategies of on-line auction bidders in detail. Therefore after reviewing relative literature, the motivation of using on-line auction, the characteristics of personality, the experience of internet and the involvement of product were saw as independent variables to discuss their relationships with bidding strategies, including the time of entering, the increment of bid, the numbers of bid and the degree of insistence in this research. Discovering the main factors affecting the time of entering are the experience of using on-line auction and the rating of bidder; the degree of exocentric in personality can affect the increment of bid; the motivation of using on-line auction and the involvement of product can affect the numbers of bid and the degree of insistence. Hence we can understand these four strategies were affected by different factors, and the forming of entire bidding strategies is very complicated. Going a step further, these four strategies were used to proceed cluster analysis, dividing the bidders into three groups¡G1. amateur bidders; 2. snipers; 3. impulsive bidders.

ABSTRACT Title: The Study of Global Team Management & Job Involvement Author: Ju-Hui Tsai Advisor: Professor Bih-Shiaw Jaw The emergence of global teams has been caused by the globalization of the world economy. Multinational corporations are benefiting from the use of global teams; however, they are facing many management challenges as well. This research is to explore current global team management practice & job involvement. After the author interviewed 7 global teams in high-tech multinational corporations, the propositions are as follows: Proposition 1: The less global team experiences the members have, the more local managers¡¦ assistance they need. Local managers assist members engaged in local environment soon. Local managers are also consultative for local legal regulations, salary market & employee development. Proposition 2: The more global team experiences the members have, the higher degree of cross culture knowledge they have. The best way to learn cross culture management knowledge is to realize through daily working experiences. Proposition 3: Those global teams who emphasize more on culture diversity management have better performance. Proposition 4: The key successful factor to increase global team performance is to select mature, experienced & independent members. Proposition 5: The most important criteria for global team selection are language & communication capabilities. Proposition 6: The most challenging for global teams is unable to have effective communication in real time. Proposition 7: Global team model is not sure better than traditional team model for corporations. It depends on the industry & the business scope. Proposition 8: For team members, the advantage of global team experiences is to underst& other countries¡¦ environment. But on the other h&, the disadvantage is lacking in sense of belongings. Proposition 9: The most challenging for global team performance management is how to display one¡¦s capability or to realize employees¡¦ real performance cross time zones & boundaries. Proposition 10: Those global teams who set up regular communication mechanism have higher job involvement. Key words: global teams, cross culture management, job involvement