Syften för denna studie har varit: ”att beskriva en variation av uppfattningar hos gymnasieelever på teoretiska gymnasieprogram vad gäller hur de uppfattar och resonerar omkring sitt eget skolfusk i förhållande till fenomen som eleverna själva uppfattar som betydelsefulla för det egna skolfusket” och ”att belysa elevers uppfattningar om sitt eget skolfusk genom fyra allmänt kända teoretiska perspektiv som kan antas tangera den förförståelse av elevers skolfusk som antas vanligt förekommande hos lärare på motsvarande gymnasieprogram.” Begreppet skolfusk har definierats och data har därefter samlats in genom kvalitativt utformade enkäter som besvarats av 36 gymnasielever från det studieförberedande samhällsvetenskapsprogrammet. Forskningsansatsen har varit fenomengrafisk och analysmetoden kontextuell analys. Huvudresultatet utgörs av fem kategorier som på kvalitativt skilda sätt beskriver elevernas uppfattningar kring skolfusk. Kategorierna har rubricerats efter det totala materialets mest meningsbärande aspekt, nämligen elevernas uppsåt/avsikt/intention med sitt skolfusk som utgörs av variationerna ”att klara av en tillfälligt besvärlig situation”, ”att utmana/provocera/protestera emot (skol)systemet”, ”att överleva i en skolsituation som upplevs för svår”, ”att höja betyg” och ”att slippa anstränga sig”. Empirin har också tolkats genom fyra teoretiska perspektiv som i studien ansetts representativa för lärares förförståelse kring elevers skolfusk. Av resultatet framgår att ett flertal elever i sina uppfattningar om eget skolfusk ensidigt orienterar sig åt prestationspsykologiska, sociologiska eller mikroekonomiska perspektiv. / The aims of this study have been: “to describe a variation of conceptions among upper secondary pupils in theoretical education programs concerning how they apprehend and reason about their own school cheating in relations to phenomena that the pupils themselves judge as meaningful for their own school cheating” and “to illustrate pupils conceptions of their own school cheating through four common known theoretical perspectives which can be considered to touch upon the precomprehension of pupils school cheating that is considered as frequent among teachers in corresponding education.” The conception school cheating has been defined and data have been collected through qualitatively designed questionnaires which have been answered by 36 upper secondary pupils in social science education preparing for ensuing studies. The research approach has been phenomenografical and the method of analyzing contextual analysis. The main result is constituted by five categories which in qualitative different ways describe the pupils conceptions of school cheating. The categories have been classified on the basis of the most meaningful aspect of the total data, “the pupils intentions of their school cheating” which is constituted by the variations “to manage a temporary troublesome situation”, “to challenge/provoke/protest upon the (school)system”, “to survive in a school situation which is experienced as to difficult”, “to raise grades” and “to avoid effort”. Empirical data have also been interpreted through four theoretical perspectives which in the study have been considered representative for teachers precomprehension of pupils school cheating. The result shows that a majority of pupils is one-sided orientated in their conceptions of their own school cheating towards perspectives of either achievement-psychology, sociology or micro-economics.

“While project management and program management have traditionally focused on ‘doing work right’, portfolio management is concerned with ‘doing the right work’” (PMI,2006) Nowadays organizations are facing problems with too many projects and having limited resources to execute these projects. Therefore the role of portfolio control is gaining more importance to yield the right balance, mix and number of projects, and also to deal with the challenge of maximizing the value of the portfolio. Therefore the organizations rely on effective portfolio management and are developing new methods to deal with these challenges. Hence present study involves study of those organizations that rely on portfolio control techniques to effectively manage their portfolio of projects.   The aim of this research is to investigate the role of portfolio control techniques in achieving efficiency in project based firms, examine relationship between control techniques and the portfolio efficiency, and to find the role of contextual factors like project and governance type in impacting the portfolio efficiency. Three portfolio control factors: portfolio selection, portfolio reporting, and decision making style were identified and portfolio efficiency was explained by two measures: achievement of portfolio results and achievement of project and program level purpose.   The research was conducted at two multinational organizations, a pharmaceutical company in Europe and engineering and contracting transportation company in Asia. Case study research strategy was used, and data was collected through semi- structured interviews to investigate the impact of using these portfolio control techniques in a project based firms.   The results of the research indicate that these control techniques helps to select and analyse the portfolio from strategic, financial and risk perspective. Furthermore it helps to balance the organizational priorities by taking into consideration project type, market sector, resource constraints and product lines. The portfolio control techniques also involve portfolio reporting which is considered as formal way of communication and information sharing and is believed to be significant project-level factor contributing to portfolio efficiency. Lastly, portfolio decision making helps the organizations in making the right decision in the best interest of the organization. All these control variables were found to have a significant impact on achieving results and achieving project and programme level purpose which in our research are the dimensions of portfolio efficiency.   In our study we also found that there exists a positive relationship between the portfolio control techniques and portfolio efficiency which is affected by the contextual variables such as project type, governance type, organizational complexity, co-localization of team members, communication and clarity of goals and objectives.

A study of the importance, elements and techniques of architectural contextualism. Contextual architecture is here defined as architecture that creates relationships with its specific site or its broader physical or visual environment. This study posits the comprehensive definition of architectural contextualism on multiple levels: denotatively, connotatively, historically, philosophically, and in its aspects of critical regionalism. American architects adept at the practice of architectural contextualism during the mid-twentieth century offer principles and techniques. These architects are John Carl Warnecke, E. Fay Jones, and George White and others. This research has yielded the systematic, comprehensive definition of contextualism, a set of metrics which can be used as a basis of design and aid in the evaluation of the degree to which a building or set of buildings and their landscape are contextually congruent.

An effective process for translating contextual inquiry data into usable design concepts is described. A literature survey, field observations and laboratory simulations preceded contextual inquiry sessions with seven cashiers working in retail checkstands. Data from this field research was communicated with a graduate student design team during interpretation sessions. Diagrams and pictures from the physical workspace were introduced, work behaviors and breakdowns were discussed and design ideas and insights were recorded during these sessions. The final communication tool is a wall-sized affinity diagram created by members of the design team. The affinity diagram tells the story of peoples experiences working in retail front end work environments by incorporating patterns of cashiers behavior and concerns, while maintaining details of each participants comments. It translates the applied research from basic contextual inquiry data to a sustainable communication tool for contextual researchers, workspace designers and other project stakeholders. The design research method presented yields valuable qualitative results for physical workspace design that can be communicated to people who are not involved in data collection.

This research examines the role played by an employee¡¦s supervisor and organization in the relationship between the support perceived by an employee and his or her affective commitment, task performance, and contextual performance to the organization. Our analyses, based on data taken from a sample of 222 steel manufacturing firm employees in Taiwan, reveal that there is a significant relationship between perceived organizational support and affective commitment, whereas nonsignificant relationship are found between perceived organizational support and task performance, also between perceived organizational support and contextual performance. Our results also highlight the moderate effect of perceived supervisor support in the relationship between perceived organizational support and employee¡¦s task performance, and contextual performance.

Social networks and social capital issues have been combined with organizational behavior scope for decades. Nevertheless, the difficulty of methodology and data collection causes the rareness of related empirical study. In this dissertation, multi-level research structure and hypothesis, including dyadic-level, individual-level, and network-level, are proposed to be examined respectively. 505 questionnaires were collected from 17 companies providing a great deal of support to be analyzed by social network analysis technique of UCINET VI for windows. The following are results and conclusions of each research level: For dyadic level, ¡§cognition-based trust¡¨ and ¡§affect-based trust¡¨ are core variables representing dyadic relationship quality. Similarity/attraction paradigm, self-categorizing, and social identity were used as theory basis to prove the positive effects of antecedents embracing gender, education level, age, and tenure similarity, also the ¡§value fit¡¨ and ¡§cognitive friendship¡¨, on dyadic relationship quality and interaction behaviors. The results demonstrate the higher similarity of education level and tenure between two individuals, the greater level of value fit, friendships, cognitive-based trust, affect-based trust, knowledge sharing, and citizenship behaviors. Cognition and affect trusts between two individuals cause the knowledge sharing and citizenship behaviors for each other. The positive effects of gender differences on relationship quality are discovered unexpectedly. For individual level, the normalized in-degree of centralities of ¡§advice networks¡¨ and ¡§friendship networks¡¨ were measured by social network analysis techniques to be examined as core variables. I draw on the formal organization structure (work flow network centrality and rank), personalities (conscientiousness, high-low self-monitoring, extraversion/introversion, collectivism/individualism), and job characteristics (job inter-dependency and work loading) for the antecedent variables of ¡§advice networks¡¨, ¡§friendship networks¡¨, and personal contextual performance (knowledge sharing and citizenship behaviors). Also treat the ¡§personal social capital¡¨ as the mediate variables among personal social networks and personal contextual performance. The results demonstrate the positive effects of rank, work flow network centrality, conscientiousness, self-monitoring, collectivism, and job inter-dependency on the centrality of advice network. The negative-effects of work loading are also verified. For the centrality of friendship network, the results proved the positive effects of the work flow network centrality, and conscientiousness, also the negative effects of work loading on it. Knowledge sharing behaviors representing the part of personal contextual performance are positively affected by conscientiousness, self-monitoring, rank, work flow network centrality, advice network centrality, friendship network centrality, and personal social capital. Work loading influences the knowledge sharing behaviors negatively. Citizenship behaviors that also represent the part of personal contextual performance are influenced by advice network centrality, friendship network centrality, and personal social capital. The mediating effects of social capital among personal social networks and personal contextual performance are also manifested. For network level, the comparisons among formal organization structure and nine intra-organizational social networks demonstrate the influences of rank and division on social network structural configuration. I also draw on the similarity-attraction paradigm as the theory basis to examine the positive effects of the similarity of department, gender, age, education-level, marriage status, and nine intra-organizational social network matrices on the relational matrices of friendship and affect-trust. MRQAP (Multiple Regression Quadratic Assignment Procedure) technique is applied on this analysis. The results verified the positive effects of the similarity of department, gender, and marriage status on friendship and affect-trust between two individuals. In addition, the theoretical and managerial implications, limitations and future research questions based on the findings and suggestions for future research are provided.

Manager¡¦s managerial effectiveness is measured by how successfully he/she influences others. Leaders exert influence tactics to achieve task objective and organizational long-term objectives in a complex environment in order to maximize their job performance. By means of influence tactics, managers exert political behavior over others to achieve their organizational power settings. Thus, the purpose of the study is to understand the relationship between downward influence tactics and job performance. Results showed as following: 1. Male managers use more rationality influence tactic than that of females; female manager¡¦s contextual performance is better than that of males. 2. Managers with age between 30-39 use rationality influence tactic more than those of age 50 and above; managers with age below 30 use network and counteract influence tactics more than those of other age groups; task performance and contextual performance of managers with age over 50 are better than other age groups 3. Single managers use counteract influence tactic more than married managers; task performance and contextual performance of single managers are better than those of married managers 4. Managers with Master/Doctoral degrees use rationality, network, exchange, pressure, and counteract influence tactics more than those of other educational backgrounds. 5. Managers with 1 ~ 3 years working experiences use rationality and counteract influence tactics more than those of other years of working experiences; managers with working experiences over 10 years use network and pressure more than those of other years of working experiences. 6. High-level managers use rationality and pressure influence tactics more than those of other lower level managers; project-based managers use network and counteract influence tactics more than those of other levels of managers. 7. Middle-level managers have higher task performance than that of other levels of managers; high-level managers have higher contextual performance than that of other levels of managers. 8. After using gender, age, martial status, educational background, working experience and job level as control variables, and compare the relationship between downward influence tactics and job performance, we found: 8.1 Managers who are male, age over 35, single, college and below educational background, middle/high level, 5 years and above working experiences, the more rationality influence tactic they use, the better their job performance are. 8.2 Managers who are university and above, have 5 years and above working experiences, the more exchange influence tactic they use, the better their job performance are. 8.3 Managers who have less than 5 years of working experiences, the more pressure influence tactic they use, the better their task performance are. 8.4 Managers who are male, 35 years and above, single, university and below, and middle/high level, the more exchange influence tactic they use, the better their contextual performance they are.

This search was conducted to focus on the relationship between the type of Taiwanese managers¡¦ politics of downward influence and job performance, with responsible individual correlation, and to influence job performance. The search method this study used was group segmentations. After empirical analysis, we found out: 1. By using K-means ¡§Cluster analysis¡¨, we got three different types of Taiwanese manager¡¦s politics of downward influence. We named them by their downward influence politics and strategies as follows: 1-1 Controlling & Counteracting. 1-2 Reciprocal Networking. 1-3 Exerting Pressure. 2. The relationship between individual variable and the type of politics of downward influence are below: 2-1 Manager to the type of politics of downward influence with gender, age and martial status has no significantly effect. 2-2 Manager to the type of politics of downward influence with the education background, working experience and job level has significantly effect. 3. The relationship between the type of Taiwanese managers¡¦ politics of downward influence and job performance are below. 3-1 Manager of the ¡§Reciprocal Networking¡¨ has better contextual performance than ¡§Controlling & Counteracting¡¨. However, manager of the ¡§Exerting Pressure ¡§doesn¡¦t reveal the difference with the contextual performance. 3-2 Manager of the ¡§Exerting Pressure¡¨ has better task performance than ¡§Controlling & Counteracting¡¨. However, manager of the¡¨ Reciprocal Networking¡¨ doesn¡¦t reveal the difference with the task performance. 3-3 Manager of the¡¨ Reciprocal Networking¡¨ has better job performance than the ¡§Controlling & Counteracting¡¨. Manager of the ¡§Exerting Pressure¡¨ has better job performance than ¡§Controlling & Counteracting¡¨.

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects web-based multimedia annotated vocabulary learning in context model and in spaced repetitions on vocabulary retention of intermediate level English language learners. The research study encompassed two main faces which was related to development of the material and implementation of it. In WEBVOCLE, which stands for web-based vocabulary learning material, the contextual presentation of vocabulary were enriched with audible online dictionary, pictures and animations / target words were repeated by the learners with interactive exercises, such as gap-filling, cloze and multiple choice test, games, puzzles, in &lsquo / spaced repetitions&rsquo / . In the study both qualitative and quantitative data were gathered through attitude questionnaires, checklists, interviews, focus group interviews and through vocabulary retention tests. The qualitative data were analyzed according to qualitative data analysis techniques and quantitative data were analyzed using SPSS statistics software. Feedback obtained from the learners demonstrated that they not only developed a positive attitude toward English vocabulary language learning but also increased their vocabulary retention level of the target vocabulary through spaced repetitions.

Previous evidence has shown that older adults may have specific declines in prefrontal cortex (PFC)-mediated processes supported source memory retrieval, such as strategic retrieval and post-retrieval monitoring. This decline may manifest in the form of attenuated late-frontal ERP effects. Behavioral research suggests that explicitly integrating a target context, or source, with a stimulus during encoding will improve subsequent source memory performance for both younger and older adults. Explicit item-feature binding instructions during encoding may alleviate source memory impairments, in part, by reducing the need for strategic processing during episodic retrieval. The present ERP study investigated whether explicit direction of attention toward item-feature integration may reduce age-related deficits in source memory by alleviating the necessity of frontally-mediated strategic processing at retrieval. Results demonstrated that explicit direction of attention improved source memory accuracy for both young and older adults, but older adults benefited less than the young, indicating additional age-related deficits. ERPs revealed that explicit encoding support attenuated post-retrieval monitoring effects in the young. In the old, explicit encoding instruction resulted in earlier onset of early frontal effects, possibly related to familiarity. Results suggest explicit direction of attention toward item-source integration at encoding may improve source memory by alleviating the need for strategic retrieval, but age-related deficits persist.