Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Nurses are a key component of the health care system and have the ability to provide innovative solutions to improve quality and safety for patients, while improving workplace conditions, and increasing recruitment and retention of nurses. Encouraging innovation behaviors among nurses is essential to improving health care. Innovation behaviors are defined as behavior from an employee toward developing new products, developing new markets, or improving business routines in their employing organization. The purpose of this descriptive study was to explore the relationships among individual and organizational characteristics and employee innovation behavior among nurses. The proposed model, The Framework for Study of Innovation Behaviors among Nurses, was developed based on the work by Kuratko, Hornsby, and Montagno and is specific to nursing innovation behaviors.

Employee involvement and participation in HIV-prevention interventions at the workplace remains a barrier to effective programme implementation, which contributes significantly to programme failure and the consequent continued spread of HIV among employees at the workplace. This study explores employee involvement and participation in HIV-prevention interventions at a Bulawayo tyre manufacturing firm. It assesses factors affecting employee involvement and participation in these interventions, and examines the implications of these findings for programme implementation. I used a semi-standardised interview schedule to conduct in-depth, face-to-face qualitative interviews and a self-administered questionnaire to collect quantitative data. The responses showed the nature of employee involvement in HIV-prevention at the firm was at a co-option level, and the type of participation was mere token participation. I recommended that the firm should develop a clear understanding of the importance of stakeholder involvement in HIV-prevention programmes. / Sociology / M.A. (Social Behaviour Studies in HIV/AIDS)

Despite the fact that Internal Marketing (IM) has emerged to capture the interest of academic researchers and management practitioners, there is a surprising absence of empirical study investigating how IM is experienced in the world of practice. This constitutes an impediment to bridging the gap in the holistic understanding of the IM concept. The big question that remains is how to articulate precisely those activities that can be taken to constitute the structure of IM and those that do not. This study aims to bridge this gap by exploring whether the experiences of managers who are implementing IM in their organisations could provide clarity as to the meaning and the constituents structure of IM. This study first undertakes scrutiny of the extant IM literature in an attempt to clarify the multiplicity of terms often associated with IM. The meaning and the constituents structure of IM was investigated via an in-depth qualitative study guided by the principles of phenomenology. This qualitative study is based around open-ended interviews with participants sampled from the UK private and public sector firms. Data was collected and analysed in line with Giorgi’s descriptive phenomenological research praxis. The phenomenological findings indicate nine overlapping elements, namely, internal communication, employee training, reward, empowerment, employee motivation, interdepartmental co-ordination, understanding the organisation, commitment, and top management support that emerged to constitute the experiential structure of IM. Drawing upon these elements, the study offers a conceptual framework of the IM structure. Systematic analytical steps were utilised to ensure the validity of findings.

Background: The companies of Industry 4.0 need to invest in digitalising their organizations as software is growing into a decisive manufacturing determinant. Especially in the SaaS business and the transformation to Industry 4.0, there are many small companies that are driving the transformation while competing for market share. In this context, the SaaS providers need to develop an understanding of the success of their solution. While the Information Systems Success Model by DeLone and McLean has found some application in the context of SaaS solutions, there is no specific model for the SaaS industry. Furthermore, there is the underlying need to understand which antecedents cause or influence the success of an information system. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to develop an Information Systems Success Model for Software-as-a-Service companies and to understand the antecedents and their relationships to the success of SaaS solutions from the SaaS provider’s point of view. Method: This study followed an abductive approach due to the possibility to simultaneously review existing theory and examine the empirical findings in the analysis. Furthermore, an exploratory study was conducted utilizing both quantitative and qualitative methods. The quantitative data was gathered through a standardized online survey of the customers of a SaaS provider and then analysed using Structural Equation Modelling. The qualitative data was collected through semi-structured interviews with SaaS providers, SaaS customers, and researchers of related fields and then analysed using a hermeneutic data analysis approach. The results of both methods were then triangulated to create the adapted model. Conclusion: Three antecedents of information systems success in the SaaS context were identified as part of this study. The antecedents are Management Support, User Involvement, and Trust. These antecedents can be used as levers by the SaaS provider to steer the success of their solution. Furthermore, the antecedents are integrated in a comprehensive Information Systems Success Model to measure and understand the success of SaaS solutions from the SaaS provider’s point of view.

Os principais problemas enfrentados pelas cidades em relação aos resíduos de construção e demolição (RCD) estão associados à disposição irregular das enormes quantidades produzidas. O descarte clandestino dos RCD pode provocar a degradação dos ecossistemas água, ar e solo. O acúmulo de resíduos espalhados em diferentes locais das cidades leva à proliferação de vetores de doenças com danos à saúde pública. Além disso, provocam problemas nos sistemas de drenagem urbana. Do ponto de vista econômico, os custos de limpeza pública para remoção dos resíduos demonstram a não sustentabilidade do modelo corretivo. Essa situação pode ser explicada pela ausência de políticas específicas de gestão. Com a introdução do marco regulatório nacional para os RCD, vários municípios têm procurado implantar um modelo mais sustentável, mas as dificuldades para operação e manutenção têm inviabilizado sua continuidade. Assim, o objetivo desta pesquisa foi avaliar os modelos de gestão dos resíduos de construção e demolição na Bacia Hidrográfica do Turvo Grande (BH-TG) pertencente a 15ª Unidade de Gerenciamento de Recursos Hídricos (UGRHI-15) do Estado de São Paulo, bem como desenvolver um software para apoio à gestão municipal dos RCD - SISRCD. Ainda dentro da proposta do estudo, também são apresentados a situação dos RCD em Portugal e os resultados da experiência realizada em uma obra predial na cidade de Guimarães. Para estudo na UGHRI-15, foram coletados dados da situação dos entulhos nos 64 municípios integrantes, que permitiram fundamentar e sistematizar a metodologia. Os dados foram levantados nos anos de 2008 e 2009 com aplicação de questionário aos gestores e por meio de visitas aos municípios para levantamentos in loco das áreas de disposição final. Os principais itens avaliados foram os sistemas de manejo em operação, a produção de RCD, os custos com gestão, formas de tratamento e descarte. Com base nos resultados obtidos, dos municípios que fizeram parte desta pesquisa, foi possível concluir que apenas São José do Rio Preto possui um plano integrado de Gerenciamento de Resíduos da Construção Civil, conforme diretrizes da resolução n.º 307 do Conselho Nacional do Meio Ambiente. Por esta razão, a implantação do sistema de apoio à gestão municipal dos resíduos da construção civil - SISRCD - pode ser transformada em excelente ferramenta para orientação e auxílio no controle municipal dessas atividades. O SISRCD é uma proposta original de uma ferramenta computacional cuja principal característica é a simplicidade de utilização pelos usuários a qual, após validação poderá ter ampla aplicação nos mais diferentes municípios do país. / The main problems faced by the cities related to construction and demolition wastes (CDW) are associated to the illegal disposal of huge quantities produced. The illegal CDW discharge may cause water and soil degradation problems. The accumulation of wastes scattered in different city locations leads to diseases caused by vectors proliferation with damage to public health. Moreover, they cause problems in urban drainage systems. From an economic perspective, the costs of public cleaning services for waste removal have indicated the nosustainability of the corrective model. This can be explained by the absence of specific policies for CDW management. By introduction of the national regulatory framework for the CDW, several municipalities have attempted to implement a more sustainable model, however difficulties related tosystem operation and maintenance have not allowed its continuance. So, the purpose of this study was to evaluate models for the management of construction and demolition wastes in Turvo Grande Watershed (RTG) which is included in the 15th Water Water Resources Unit Management (UGRHI-15) of São Paulo State, as well as to develop a prototype system to support municipal management of CDW - SISRCD. The work also includes and overview of Portugal CDW situation and the results of an experience carried out on a building location at Guimarães city - Portugal. Information and data related to construction and demolition wastes from 64 municipalities members of UGRHI-15 were collected in order to support and optimize the methodology. The data were collected for the years 2008 and 2009 based on a questionnaire applied to municipal managers and also technical visits to municipalities along with surveys of final disposal areas. The main evaluated issues encompassed management systems in operation, production of the CDW, management costs, and treatment and disposal models. Based on the results, it appears that only Sao Jose do Rio Preto has an Integrated Waste Management of Construction Plan, in accordance to guidelines of in the resolution 307 of the National Environmental Council. Thus, the implementation of a prototype system to support the management of municipal construction waste - SISRCD - may become an important tool for guidance and assistance to the control of municipal activities. The SISRCD is an original proposal for a computer tool based on a simple user interface. The system after is validation may have a broad application at different municipalities around the country.

La Tension dans un Service d’Urgences (SU) est un déséquilibre entre le flux de charge des soins et la capacité de prise en charge sur une durée suffisante pouvant entrainer des conséquences néfastes au bon fonctionnement. Elle se reflète par la surcharge des locaux, l’allongement des délais de traitement et d’attente. Ce qui provoque à la fois l’insatisfaction des patients et l’anxiété du personnel. Cette thèse s’inscrit dans le cadre du projet HOST financé par le programme ANR-TECSAN-2011 afin d’élaborer un Système d'Aide à la Gestion de la Tension (SAGeT) assurant trois objectifs:1. L’évaluation multicritère grâce à une panoplie d’indicateurs agrégés par la logique floue afin de résoudre la subjectivité du ressentie humain de la tension. Chaque scénario d’évaluation déclenche des règles de décision spécifiques ciblant ainsi des points de défaillance à surveiller.2. L’anticipation de la demande sur différents horizons temporels : l’application des méthodes SARIMA et SARIMAX est justifiée par la saisonnalité des chroniques de visites et l’influence de certains paramètres externes (épidémies, vacances, météo). De plus, la qualité de l’information venant de l’historique a été améliorée par une recomposition d’historique basée sur la vraisemblance journalière.3. L’amélioration de la gestion des flux et le pilotage de l’activité puisque l’utilisation de SAGeT comme un tableau de bord offre une vue macro sur l’ensemble de l’activité (lits occupés, patients en attente, durées de passages prévisionnelles et allongements excessifs). Les simulations traitent des vrais scénarios de tension observés entre 2011 et 2013 dans le SU Pédiatriques Jeanne de Flandre du CHRU-Lille. / He strain in an Emergency Department (ED) is an imbalance between the total demand load of healthcare treatment and resources ability to support it during a convenient horizon, which may results negative consequences on the smooth running of the activity. It is reflected by overcrowding, longer treatment and waiting times which causes both patients dissatisfaction and anxiety of personnel. This thesis is part of the HOST project funded by the ANR-TECSAN-2011 program to develop a Management Support System of Strain (MSSS) ensuring three objectives:1. Multi-criteria evaluation through a variety of indicators aggregated by fuzzy logic to solve the subjectivity of the human feeling of strain. Each evaluation scenario involves specific decision rules targeting to supervise failure points.2. Demand forecasting through several time horizons: applying SARIMA and SARIMAX methods is justified by the time series seasonality of visits and the influence of some external parameters (epidemics, holidays, weather). In addition, the quality of the historical information has been improved by a history rebuilding based on the daily likelihood.3. Improving flow management and activity monitoring since the use of MSSS as a dashboard provides a macro view of the whole activity (beds occupied, waiting, estimated length of stay, excessive elongation).The simulations address real strain scenarios observed between 2011 and 2013 in the Pediatric ED Jeanne de Flandre of the Regional University Hospital of Lille (France).

Employee involvement and participation in HIV-prevention interventions at the workplace remains a barrier to effective programme implementation, which contributes significantly to programme failure and the consequent continued spread of HIV among employees at the workplace. This study explores employee involvement and participation in HIV-prevention interventions at a Bulawayo tyre manufacturing firm. It assesses factors affecting employee involvement and participation in these interventions, and examines the implications of these findings for programme implementation. I used a semi-standardised interview schedule to conduct in-depth, face-to-face qualitative interviews and a self-administered questionnaire to collect quantitative data. The responses showed the nature of employee involvement in HIV-prevention at the firm was at a co-option level, and the type of participation was mere token participation. I recommended that the firm should develop a clear understanding of the importance of stakeholder involvement in HIV-prevention programmes. / Sociology / M.A. (Social Behaviour Studies in HIV/AIDS)

Allt fler organisationer börjar se nyttan med Business Intelligence och varför det bör implementeras i sin verksamhet. Genom att använda sig av beslutsstödsystem kan organisationer samla ihop och bearbeta affärs-data och på så sätt få ut mer av sin verksamhet. Idag räcker det inte längre att ha tillgång till endast företagsinformationen inom verksamheten utan det behövs också kunna utnyttja realtids datan genom de mobila enheterna, detta genom Mobile Business Intelligence. Det handlar om en mobil variant av den traditionella business Intelligence (BI).  Med tanke på den mobila användningen ökade tillgängligheten samt prestandan i mobila enheter, så finns det stora möjligheter för Mobile BI ute i verksamheterna. Mobile BI som vilket nytt system som helst kommer även en viss problematik, kritiska framgångsfaktorer har analyserats och utvärderats. Inom dimensionen organisationsstöd identifierades två framgångsfaktorer som kunde styrkas vid namn managementsupport och skickligheter & kunskaper. Utöver dessa kunde även ytterligare två framgångsfaktorer styrkas som kritiska, nämligen datasäkerhet och användbarheten genom den begränsade skärm-ytan. Med denna studie ska det underlätta och göra det enklare för verksamheter att implementera Mobile BI i sin verksamhet. Studien tar upp viktiga framgångsfaktorer vid en implementation av Mobile BI och vad organisationer bör ha i åtanke. / More and more organizations are beginning to see the benefits of Business Intelligence and why it should be implemented into their business. By using decision support systems, organizations can merge and process business data and thus get more out of their business. Today, access to business information within the business is no longer sufficient, but it also needs to be able to use real-time data through the mobile devices. This through Mobile Business Intelligence, which is about a mobile variant of the traditional business intelligence (BI). Given the current mobile usage and how it has increased accessibility and mobile device performance, there are great opportunities for Mobile BI in the business. Mobile BI as any new system will also come with a certain problematic and critical success factors have been analyzed and evaluated. Within the organizational support dimension, two success factors were identified that was confirmed critical by name management support and knowledge and skills. In addition to these, another two success factors could be proved critical, named data security and usability through the limited screen area. With this study, it will facilitate and make it easier for businesses to implement Mobile BI in their operations. The study addresses key success factors in implementing Mobile BI and what organizations should keep in mind.

The environment and rapid technological changes have led to a change in business management. In the current context, absorptive capacity, understood as the ability to acquire, assimilate, transform and exploit external knowledge is crucial to innovation capacity, and to the development and sustainability of competitive advantage. This research analyzes how management of technological assets; top management support on technology; technological skills; and technological distinctive competencies are positively related to absorptive capacity; and how they affect organizational performance. / El entorno y los rápidos cambios tecnológicos han provocado un cambio en la gestión empresarial. En el contexto actual, la capacidad de absorción, entendida como la habilidad para adquirir, asimilar, transformar y explotar el conocimientoexterno es crucial para la capacidad de innovación, y el desarrollo y sustento de ventajas competitivas. Esta investigación analiza cómo la gestión de las variables tecnológicas, el apoyo de la dirección a la tecnología, habilidades tecnológicas y competencias distintivas tecnológicas se relacionan positivamente con la capacidad de absorción, y cómo estas influyen en el desempeño organizativo. / O atual ambiente e as rápidas mudanças tecnológicas levaram a uma mudança na gestão empresarial. No presente contexto, a capacidade de absorção, entendida como a capacidade de adquirir, assimilar, transformar e explorar o conhecimento externo é crucial para a capacidade de inovação e o desenvolvimento e sustentação da vantagem competitiva. Esta pesquisa analisa a forma como a gestão das variáveis tecnológicas, o apoio da alta administração na tecnologia, os conhecimentos tecnológicos e as competências distintivas tecnológicas estão positivamente relacionadas com a capacidade de absorção, e como elas influenciam o desempenho organizacional.

Submitted by Nayara Passos (nayara.passos@ufpe.br) on 2015-03-11T18:45:54Z No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 1232 bytes, checksum: 66e71c371cc565284e70f40736c94386 (MD5) TESE César Augusto Lins de Oliveira.pdf: 3834643 bytes, checksum: d06a43bd091b3a1741f646e42716d74b (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2015-03-11T18:45:54Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 1232 bytes, checksum: 66e71c371cc565284e70f40736c94386 (MD5) TESE César Augusto Lins de Oliveira.pdf: 3834643 bytes, checksum: d06a43bd091b3a1741f646e42716d74b (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014 / CNPq / Nas últimas duas décadas, a literatura em gestão empresarial tem demonstrado um interesse crescente no tema da incerteza e os meios utilizados pelas organizações para lidar com ela. Há um consenso entre os pesquisadores atualmente de que as organizações precisam estar constantemente mudando e adaptando as suas operações e estratégias para atender a novos requisitos econômicos e de mercado. A capacidade de uma empresa de mudar rapidamente as suas metas e estratégias e de reconfigurar rapidamente as suas operações é chamada de “flexibilidade estratégica”. Essa capacidade tem sido identificada como um fator crítico para o sucesso das organizações de hoje. Contudo, o apoio da tecnologia da informação à flexibilidade estratégica tem sido limitado. Na maioria das organizações, há ainda uma grande lacuna que separa as atividades de planejamento estratégico das atividades de desenvolvimento de sistemas. Isso reduz a agilidade da companhia em responder a novas necessidades do mercado. Um estudo da literatura em gestão mostra que as necessidades atuais de gerentes em ambientes incertos e mutáveis não tem sido satisfeitas pelos sistemas de apoio à gestão disponíveis hoje. Nesta tese, nós propomos um mecanismo para tornar sistemas da informação “conscientes da estratégia”. Essa consciência estratégica é definida como uma funcionalidade que permite a atualização rápida das funções do sistema em resposta a mudanças estratégicas. Essa funcionalidade também aumenta a capacidade de alinhamento estratégico e monitoramento de desempenho da organização. Mais especificamente, nós propomos uma arquitetura de software que permite que os usuários de um sistema se tornem mais conscientes das necessidades estratégicas da companhia durante a realização do seu trabalho. Nosso foco nesse trabalho é na gestão de processos de negócio e o conceito que nós desenvolvemos é chamado de Gestão de Processos de Negócio Consciente de Estratégia (Strategy-Aware Business Process Management - SA-BPM). A consciência estratégica é obtida por meio de uma infraestrutura modular que muda o comportamento do sistema de gestão de processos em tempo real. O sistema passa a ser capaz de capturar informações derivadas diretamente dos sistemas de apoio à decisão da organização (ex.: sistema de planejamento estratégico). Por meio desse instrumento, as organizações podem desenvolver a capacidade de realizar mudanças frequentes nas suas estratégias e de tornar essas mudanças operacionais de maneira rápida, contribuindo assim para a sua flexibilidade estratégica. / Over the past two decades, management research has demonstrated a growing interest in the subject of uncertainty and in the means employed by organizations to cope with it. There is a consensus among researchers nowadays that organizations must be constantly changing and adapting their operations and strategies to match new market and economic requirements. The ability of a firm to rapidly change its goals and strategies and to readily reconfigure its operations is called “strategic flexibility”. Such ability is being identified as a critical success factor for contemporary organizations. Nevertheless, information technology support for strategic flexibility has been limited. In most organizations, there is still a large gap that separates strategic planning activities from information systems development activities. This reduces the agility of the company to respond to new market necessities. A study of the management literature demonstrates that current requirements of managers in uncertain and changing environments have not been fulfilled by the management support systems available today. In this thesis, we propose a mechanism to make information systems “strategy-aware”. Such strategy awareness is defined as a feature that allows for the rapid update of a system’s functions in response to strategic changes. This feature also improves an organization’s capacity for strategic alignment and performance monitoring. More specifically, we propose a software architecture that makes information system’s users become aware of the company’s strategic necessities while performing their job. Our focus in this work is on business process management and the concept developed by us is called Strategy-Aware Business Process Management (SA-BPM). The strategy awareness is achieved through a modular adaptation infrastructure that changes the behavior of the business process management system at run-time. The system becomes able to capture information derived directly from the organization’s management support systems (e.g., its strategic planning systems). Through our framework, organizations can develop the capacity to make frequent changes to their strategies and to rapidly make these changes operational, contributing to the improvement of their strategic flexibility.