Project management involves many different actors. Rather than solely looking at those actors as individuals, the interaction between them should not be forgotten either. This thesis tries to provide a better understanding of one specific type of interaction: the project owner-manager relationship. This relationship is approached as the dyadic interaction between one project manager and one project owner. Previous studies indicate that project owners and project managers depend on one another, but that they can have diverging perspectives as well. The goal of this study is to get a deeper understanding of how these different perspectives can influence the success of the project-owner relationship. In order to achieve this understanding, a multiple case study involving 8 project owner-manager relationships was employed. Both project owners and project managers were interviewed, in order to get closer to a multi-actor perspective. The results show that there are both similarities and differences between the perspectives of these actors. However, a lack of understanding between these perspectives can cause the project owner-manager relationship fail. In the end, the potential effects of this relationship cannot and should not be ignored, as this study shows that it can be the difference between project success and project failure. Therefore, in a world that is ever more dominated by projects, this thesis has multiple practical and scientific implications.

Abstract Date: 2020-06-09 Level: Bachelor Thesis in Business Administration, 15 cr Institution: School of Business, Society and Engineering, Mälardalen University Authors: Jonathan Örström          Aram Said (98/09/13)                    (97/01/19) Title: Investigating project-based engagement within the project-oriented organisation; a study on the influence of a project structure on the drivers of engagement and human issues within project management. Tutor: David Freund Keywords: Project structure, employee engagement, manager relationship, job demands, job resources, group dynamics. Research question: How can a project structure have an impact on project team members’ engagement within a project-oriented organisation?           Purpose: This thesis aims to investigate within a project-oriented organization how the project management structure can influence the project teams’ engagement. Its further purpose is to add new knowledge in the subject of project-based engagement and human issues of project management. To study this area, possibilities will open for a greater understanding of workplace engagement, in the specific context of project-oriented organisations implementing the project structure. Method: This thesis adopts a quantitative research method with a deductive theory approach, whereby theory is elaborated which devices hypotheses for the research. Furthermore, the collection of primary data for this thesis is retrieved through a self-completion questionnaire in the form of an online survey provided by Google Forms. Data will be retrieved and analysed through the statistical software IBM SPSS Conclusion: The most significant finding is the positive relationship between manager relationship and engagement, strongly agreeing with previous literature of Khan (1990) and Matthews et al. (2018). The other two variables found to have a significant relationship to engagement were job-resource availability and work/ task context. This agreed with Bakker et al. (2007), Demerouti et al. (2001), Khan (1990) and Matthews et al. (2018) amongst others. Unexpectedly and as not hypothesised for is that group dynamics has no significant relationship towards engagement. This goes against some of the main literature by Kahn (1990) and Matthews et al. (2018). However, the result has shown all variables are influenced by the project structure and engagement indicated to increase in its whole

Health care leaders who fail to apply effective retention strategies could negatively affect employee well-being, patient outcomes, and business performance. The purpose of this single case study was to explore effective strategies that leaders used to retain employees in a health care organization. Human capital theory was the conceptual framework for the study. Data were collected via on-site semistructured interviews with 10 leaders of a Texas health care organization who had a history of retaining employees for a minimum of 2 years from the date of hire, and from the review of organizational documents pertaining to employee retention. Data were analyzed using coding and word frequency to discern patterns. Three key themes emerged from the data: (a) healthy work environment, (b) manager relationships, and (c) training and development. The implications for positive social change include the potential to retain top talent in health care organizations, which could improve customer service, promote affordable health care, increase job satisfaction, and improve quality service to patients.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Caring relationships established between nurse managers and staff nurses promote positive work environments. However, research about staff nurses' perceptions of nurse manager caring behaviors is limited. A 94-item Caring Assessment Tool-Administration (CAT-adm©) was developed to measure staff nurses' perceptions of nurse managers' caring behaviors; however, it lacked robust psychometric testing. This study was undertaken to establish the CAT-adm© survey as a reliable and valid tool to measure staff nurses' perceptions of nurse managers' caring behaviors. The Quality-Caring Model® (QCM®) served as the theoretical framework. Specific aims were to 1) evaluate construct validity of the CAT-adm© survey by describing factors that account for variance in staff nurses' perceptions of nurse manager caring, 2) estimate internal consistency, and 3) conduct item reduction analysis. Four research questions were: 1) Will the factor structure of observed data fit an 8-factor solution? 2) What is the internal consistency reliability of the CAT- adm©? 3) What items can be reduced while maintaining an acceptable factor structure? and 4) What are staff nurses' perceptions of nurse manager caring behaviors? A cross-sectional descriptive design was used. A sample of 703 staff nurses from Midwestern, Midatlantic and Southern Regions of the U.S. completed the CAT-adm© survey electronically. Analysis included Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA), Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA), univariate analysis, and descriptive statistics. CFA did not support an 8-factor solution. EFA supported a two-factor solution and demonstrated significant shared variance between the two factors. This shared variance supported a one-factor solution that could conceptually be labeled Caring Behaviors. Random selection reduced the scale to 25-items while maintaining a Cronbach's Alpha of .98. Using the new 25-item scale, the composite score mean of staff nurses' perceptions of nurse manager caring behaviors indicated a moderately high level of caring. Suggestions for nursing administration, nurse manager practice, leadership, education and for future research were given. The new 25-item CAT-adm© survey has acceptable reliability and validity. The 25-item CAT-adm© survey provides hospital administrators, nurse managers, and researchers with an instrument to collect valuable information about the caring behaviors used by nurse managers in relationship with staff nurses.