A general concern in science education is that change in the curriculum has had little impact on the classroom practice. Following the introduction of a new curriculum called the Botswana Government Certificate in Secondary Education (BGCSE) curriculum in Botswana senior secondary schools, this study set out to investigate issues relating to implementation of the proposed curriculum, that is, mapping teaching effectiveness intended to improve students’ learning of chemistry compared with teaching during the old curriculum. This thesis reports the extent to which some chemistry teachers in Botswana senior secondary schools are implementing classroom methodologies that focus on learner-centred and hands-on activities. This investigation involved working with eleven chemistry teachers in four secondary schools in Botswana. The case study research methodology included observations and semi-structured interviews. The sub-constructs from Rogan and Grayson’s (2003) theory were used to guide data collection as well as analysis and interpretation of data. From the categories, it was possible to identify level of operation for the schools as well as the Zone of Feasible Implementation (ZFI) which spelt possible routes for interventions in individual schools. There were common areas observed about the teachers and the schools, in that they · All possessed the right qualifications to teach chemistry at senior school level. · All were relatively young in the teaching field · According to Rogan and Grayson’s (2003) scale, the teachers are operating at a very low level in the science practical and contextualisation dimensions. · Classroom dimensions were characterized by patches of rich interactions for most teachers. These were evidenced by some teaching interactions at level 3 on Rogan and Grayson’s operational levels. Some teachers’ lesson activities were more interactive in that there were presentations that encouraged the use of various communication skills. Learners presented organised information to support their positions, showing there had been a search for information before presentations. The other teachers limited involvement by learners, as their focus was on articulating the content. · Otherwise teachers were generally operating at lower levels in Rogan and Grayson’s (2003) scale. This is a clear indication that to some extent the teachers are not doing much in implementing the teaching ideas intended by the new curriculum. Mind and hands-on activities are still limited. Though teachers possess the right qualifications, there seems to be little desire to try new things. According to the operational levels on classroom interaction, practical work and contextualisation, it was found that teachers generally operated moderately on Rogan and Grayson’ scale. Though interviews results showed that teachers saw the need to have practical work as a way to actively engage learners, classroom observations showed that it was not a favoured method. Classroom observations revealed that the lecture method was still the favoured approach. Some learner-engaging activities in the form of group discussions, group experiments and demonstrations were practiced. Contextualizing of science was still generally low in all schools. The study also looked at the construct of capacity to support innovation. The three sub-constructs which were investigated in this study were physical resources, teacher factors and ecology and management systems. These factors had a great impact on how the sub-construct on profile of implementation panned out. The three factors were found to be higher on the Rogan and Grayson’s (2003) scale than the profile of implementation. This was found to be linked with a great deal of improvement of infrastructure by the Botswana government soon after the curriculum implementation e.g. science related facilities (laboratories, apparatus, chemicals) and teacher qualifications. Though this was the case, it was found out that classroom implementation was not as inflated as the resources on ground seemed to suggest. Several influential factors were found to be linked to the unfolding of a curriculum inside the classroom such as departmental contexts. The contexts were found to relate closely with the nature of communities that existed in science departments, which were linked to how teachers were distributed within departments.

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / The present research is a study of case and offers a model which focuses on the effective participation of operational level collaborators in detecting flaws in the process through the Participative Management System. The study was carried out at John Deere Montenegro / RS, with the operational level collaborators and their managers. The Participative Management System is a means of getting to the causes and possible solutions of operational flaws, creating greater people s involvement at operational level in order to find an alternative and possibly efficient solution for the proposed problem. The research used was the descriptive through a quali-quantitative method. The execution of the study was carried out through bibliographical sources and analysis of evaluation protocols filled in by the collaborators and their managers. Based on the analysis, a Participative Management System was suggested in order for the Company to search for cooperation in mutual effort so as to make a better use of the collaborators potential in suggesting, participating, identifying and solving problems, and therefore aiming at reducing the operational flaws. It was suggested that, in future works, the proposed model is applied in a Company with the same line of business as John Deere s or even a remodeling of the system is done in order to adapt it to other Company trades and, in these cases, with an effective application of it. Moreover, statistical tools should also be applied so as to enable production comparisons before and after the changes in the management model. / Esta pesquisa é um estudo de caso e propõe um modelo com vistas à efetiva participação dos colaboradores de nível operacional na detecção de falhas do processo, através do Sistema de Gestão Participativa. O estudo realizou-se na John Deere Montenegro / RS, com os colaboradores de nível operacional e seus dirigentes. O Sistema de Gestão Participativa é uma forma de se chegar às causas e às possíveis soluções de falhas operacionais, criando um envolvimento maior das pessoas de nível operacional, a fim de encontrar uma solução alternativa e possivelmente eficiente para o problema proposto. O tipo de pesquisa utilizado é o descritivo pelo método quali-quantitativo. A execução do estudo deu-se por meio de fontes bibliográficas e análise de protocolos de avaliação preenchidos pelos colaboradores e seus dirigentes. Com base nas análises, sugeriu-se um modelo de Sistema de Gestão Participativa para a empresa, que consiste na busca da cooperação no esforço conjunto para aproveitar potenciais dos colaboradores para sugerir, participar, identificar e solucionar problemas, com o objetivo da redução das falhas operacionais. Sugere-se que em trabalhos futuros, aplique-se o modelo proposto em alguma organização do mesmo ramo da John Deere ou que até mesmo se remodele o Sistema com vistas a adaptá-lo a outros ramos de organizações e nestes casos com efetiva implantação do mesmo, sugere-se ainda, que sejam aplicadas ferramentas estatísticas que possibilitem o comparativo da produção antes e depois da mudança no modelo de gestão.

Bakgrund och Problem: Hållbarhetsarbete blir allt viktigare för organisationer att ta hänsyn till för att möta intressenters krav och för att få legitimitet i samhället. Då hållbarhetsarbetet påverkar många delar av organisationen är det viktigt att arbetet integrerar alla dess delar. Idag är många organisationer aktiva med att implementera hållbarhetsarbete i verksamheten vilket ofta leder till att arbetssätten i organisationens olika enheter förändras. Syfte: Denna studie syftar till att få en djupare förståelse för hur hållbarhetsarbetet i butikerna förhåller sig till den koncerngemensamma hållbarhetsstrategin. Teoretisk referensram: Studien utgår från intressentteorin, legitimitetsteorin, möjlighet och risker samt informella och formella styrverktyg. Metod: En fallstudie har gjorts på tre dotterbolag tillhörande Axfoodkoncernen. Studien är utformad enligt en kvalitativ undersökningsmetod och har en abduktiv forskningsansats. Det empiriska materialet har samlats in via fem semistrukturerade intervjuer samt Axfoods hållbarhetsstrategi “Mat 2030” som är koncernens vision för de nästkommande åren. Slutsats: På operativ nivå är det dagliga arbetet påverkat av hållbarhetsarbetet. Ute på enheterna arbetar man med att lyfta fram hållbara produkter, källsortera, informerar kunder och minska matsvinn. Arbetet på operativ nivå i de olika butikskedjorna skiljer sig åt på grund av att de riktar sig till olika kundgrupper. Axfood skapar dock genom utbildningar en enighet kring värderingar vad gäller hållbart arbete genom koncernens enheter. Detta bidrar till en företagskultur som lägger stor vikt i hållbarhetsarbete med grund i samhälleligt ansvar och legitimitet snarare än ekonomisk vinning. Nyckelord: Hållbarhetsarbete, Operativ nivå, Styrverktyg, Intressentteorin, Legitimitetsteorin. / Background and Problem: Sustainability work is becoming increasingly important for organizations to consider meeting stakeholder demands and to gain legitimacy in society. As the sustainability work affects many parts of the organization, it is important that the work is integrated in all its parts. Today, many organizations are active in implementing sustainability work in the business, which often lead to changes in the way the organization's various units work. Purpose: This study aims to gain a deeper understanding of how the sustainability work in the stores relates to the Group-wide sustainability strategy. Theoretical reference frame: The study is based on stakeholder theory, legitimacy theory, opportunity and risks and management tools. Method: A case study has been conducted on three subsidiaries belonging to the Axfood Group. The study is designed according to a qualitative research method and have a deductive research approach. The empirical material has been collected via five semi-structured interviews and Axfood's sustainability strategy “Mat 2030” which is the Group's vision for the next few years. Conclusion: At operational level, the daily work is affected by the sustainability work. Out on the units, work is being done to highlight sustainable products, source sort, inform customers and reduce food waste. Work at the operational level in the various retail chains is different because they target different customer groups. Through training, however, Axfood creates an agreement on values regardingsustainable work through the Group's units. This contributes to a corporate culture that places great emphasis on sustainability work against social responsibility and legitimacy rather than financial gain. Key words: Sustainability work, Operational level, Management tools, Stakeholder theory, Legitimacy theory.

Uppsatsen syftar till att undersöka hur controllerns roll ser ut i ett stort tjänsteföretag samt hur denna samverkar med chefer på den operativa nivån. Vidare studeras även vilket inflytande controllern har på den operativa nivåns arbete.  Studien bygger på intervjuer med controllern och ekonomidirektören på PayEx Solutions, ett företag som utvecklar elektroniska betalningslösningar. Därutöver har en enkätundersökning besvarats av chefer på den operativa nivån inom företaget. Controllerns uppgifter är inte väldefinierad i litteraturen och den har idag många olika arbetsuppgifter beroende på vilket företag som den är verksam i. De olika förväntningarna personer inom en organisation har på controllern påverkar också controllerns roll. Relationen mellan controllerns olika roller och verksamheten är därför ett genomgående tema i studien. Balansen mellan dessa två är något som PayEx Solutions controller och chefer på den operativa nivån ställs inför varje dag. Å ena sidan skall de förhålla sig till verksamheten, samtidigt som de skall styra mot de mål som koncernen satt upp. Detta sker via en indirekt samverkan mellan den operativa nivån och controllern. Resultatet pekar på att de båda förhållningssätten kombineras inom PayEx Solutions på ett sådant sätt att controllern bör benämnas som den mångsidiga controllern. / The purpose of this study is to explore the role that a controller has who operates within a major service business. Also the influence of the controller on the operative processes is studied. The research is based on qualitative interviews with the controller and the CIO at PayEx Solutions, a large service company within the financial payment industry. Furhtermore a questionerre have been distributed to and answered by managers on the operative level of the company. The profession of the controller is not well defined in the current literature. The controller has many different tasks, depending on which company she works within. Furthermore the people within an organization all have different expectations on the controller. The balance between the different roles is something that the controller at PayEx Solutions has to deal with in her everyday job. In the analysis it is recognised that both the controller at PayEx Solutions, is a versatile controller. This conclusion is based on the identified characteristics of the cooperation between the controller and managers at the operational level.

The development, the education and the capacity of learning become indispensable to employability of people, to organizations and to society, considering the present context increasingly dynamic, interdependent and unexpected, marked by only one certainty, a permanent change. The main focus of this dissertation is to analyze how the processes which relate to the management of knowledge happen in a metal-mechanical industry, in the vision of the components of the tactical and operational level of the metal-mechanical sector, situated in the central region of the state of Rio Grande do Sul. The theoretical presuppositions which have given basis to this dissertation have dealt with the relation between the management of knowledge and the organizational environment, regarding as focus the model of Spiral of Knowledge (Nonaka and Takeuchi, 1997) which worries about the ways of conversion of knowledge and the process of learning, fruit of social interactions which establish in the work environment. In order to implement the present research one has adopted a qualitative method, developed in a study of simple case of an exploratory type. The data have been collected through semistructured individual interviews with managers, and workers of operational level of the metal-mechanical industry, object focus of this study, and documental sources. To the systematization and interpretation of data, an analysis of content has been adopted, trying to understand the theme of research from the speech of the participants. The results of the research evidence that the contacts and the interrelationships between people constitute a key factor which allows the process of learning in the individual, organizational and group levels. These premises are put into effect by the company, where it is possible to affirm that the tactical level of the company differs from the operational level in what concerns the processes of dissemination of new knowledge. In the variables externalization, combination, internalization and management of knowledge, it is visible the greater participation of it, having only in the process of socialization of new knowledge a balance between the tactical and operational levels. One also characterizes that the informal processes are more effective in the company than the formal processes of dissemination of new knowledge. The study points out to the necessity of recognizing explicitly that the organization has a fundamental role in the process of creation of its knowledge, facilitating the accomplishment of group activities, in a way that permits the recreation and the storing of individual knowledge because the processes of creation of organizational knowledge happen with the action of supporting the creative individual and to cultivate an adequate environment to its creation / O desenvolvimento, a educação e a capacidade de aprendizagem se tornam imprescindíveis para a empregabilidade das pessoas, para as organizações e para a sociedade, face ao contexto atual cada vez mais dinâmico, interdependente e imprevisível, marcado por uma única certeza, a permanente mudança. O principal foco desta dissertação é analisar como ocorrem os processos que se relacionam com a gestão do conhecimento em uma indústria metal-mecânica, na visão dos integrantes do nível tático e operacional do setor metal-mecânico, situado na região central do Estado do Rio Grande do Sul. Os pressupostos teóricos que deram base à dissertação abordaram a relação entre a gestão do conhecimento e o ambiente organizacional, tendo como foco o modelo da Espiral do Conhecimento (Nonaka e Takeuchi, 1997) que se preocupa com os modos de conversão do conhecimento e o processo de aprendizagem como fruto de interações sociais que se estabelecem no ambiente de trabalho. Para implementar a presente pesquisa adotou-se o método qualitativo, desenvolvido em um estudo de caso do tipo exploratório. Os dados foram coletados por meio de entrevistas individuais semiestruturadas com gerentes, e trabalhadores do nível operacional da indústria metal-mecânica, foco objeto deste estudo, e fontes documentais. Para a sistematização e interpretação dos dados foi adotada a análise de conteúdo, buscando entender a questão de pesquisa a partir das falas dos participantes. Os resultados da pesquisa evidenciam que os contatos e as inter-relações entre as pessoas constituem-se num fator-chave que permite o processo de aprendizagem nos níveis: individual, grupal e organizacional. Estas premissas são levadas a efeito pela empresa, onde pode-se afirmar que o nível tático da empresa se diferencia do nível operacional no que tange aos processos de disseminação de novos conhecimentos. Pois nas variáveis externalização, combinação, internalização e gestão do conhecimento, é visível a maior participação do mesmo, havendo somente no processo de socialização de novos conhecimentos um equilíbrio os níveis tático e operacional. Caracteriza-se também que os processos informais são mais efetivos na empresa do que os processos formais de disseminação de novos conhecimentos. O estudo aponta para a necessidade de se reconhecer explicitamente que a organização tem um papel fundamental no processo de criação do seu conhecimento, facilitando a realização de atividades em grupo, de forma a permitir a recriação e o armazenamento do conhecimento individual. Pois os processos de criação do conhecimento organizacional acontecem com a ação de apoiar o indivíduo criativo e cultivar um ambiente adequado à sua criação

The branch Logistics is often given lower priority during field exercises when combat units are supposed to be trained. In wars, conflicts and operations do the interest increase remarkably of being delivered ammunition, fuel and food. Without logistical support it is hard to advance on the scene, but is it even so hard that the lack of logistics can generate the own culmination? The purpose with this Bachelor’s thesis is to show the logistics importance during the planning and transaction phases for an operation. On June 6 1944, the Allied forces invaded Normandy, in order to defeat Hitler’s imperium and reach the end of the Second World War. The operation was called Overlord, and was both in the number of men and combat power, as well as, in a logistical manner an enormous achievement. In consideration of answering the research questions, the author has by literature studies analyzed operation Overlord and its impact on the culmination of the Second World War. Research questions: How does logistics affect the culminating point in warfare? What logistical maneuvers during Operation Overlord can be referred to reasons for the Second World War’s culmination point? The results manifests how the logistical maneuvers, like Mulberry Harbour, Red ball Express and PLUTO, caused a possibility to advance through Normandy, France and thereafter against Germany. Although that, it is hard to automatically say that innovations like these are the absolute reason for the culminating point. By using the factors in Mårtensson’s model, that is increasing or decreasing the speed towards the culmination, the analysis shows that logistics has a huge impact on the outcome.

Research &amp; Development (R&amp;D) departments are becoming increasingly structured and routine-based, with tight schedules and daily follow-ups. This way of working stems from increased demands for delivering products to customers quickly and with high quality at a low price. At the same time, these organisations are faced with the challenge of coming up with new ideas that can become the foundations of tomorrow’s innovations. This means that R&amp;D departments must achieve both exploration, in terms of coming up with new ideas, and exploitation in terms of turning existing ideas into products available on the market. If these dual perspectives are to be met within a single work unit, the employees in that unit must achieve what we call contextual ambidexterity. Previous research has shown this to be difficult to achieve and has offered little guidance for organisations about how to organise and manage their operations in order to increase their chances of achieving contextual ambidexterity.The aim of this thesis is to explore challenges related to innovation that are encountered at the micro-level in contextually ambidextrous organisations and to shed light on factors that explain those challenges.This study has combined survey data with interview data from several organisations to analyse the relationship between aspects of efficiency and aspects of creativity. It was found that employees in a contextually ambidextrous organisation struggle to ensure enough micro-level exploration space, in other words, they have trouble finding time to explore ideas and making room for novel ideas.This research shows that a contextually ambidextrous approach in R&amp;D will likely exert two main challenges related to innovation. The first challenge is a crowding out of exploratory activities in favour of exploitatory activities. One reason for this is the combination of using productivity goals for exploitation and not using any similar targets for exploration activities. Large discrepancies in how these two types of activities are treated runs the risk that the one that is less monitored – most often exploration – is likely to be crowded out in favour of the one that is more intensely monitored.A second possible challenge is the demand on predictability in project progress that is often built into organisations as a means to enhance exploitation. This aim for predictability might create a reluctance to introduce new projects with high levels of novelty because the introduction of novel ideas contains uncertainties that jeopardise the adherence to the project plan. The combination of this view of novelty in the later phases of product development and the crowding out of exploratory activities could possibly lead to insufficient room for novel ideas to gain ground in the organisation, and this could lead to less innovative output. / <p>QC 20150225</p>

Made available in DSpace on 2009-11-18T19:01:17Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2003 / This research intends to analyze the influence of organizational change which occurred in the Arsenal de Marinha do Rio de Janeiro (AMRJ) about the perception in relation of the roles played by their employees of the tactical and operational leveI in concern with their believes and values upon their jobs. This research constitutes a case study and took place in field research in a qualitative way and therefore the data was carefully analyzed in a descriptive-interpretative mode. Primary data \Vere collected from analysis on documents such as reports, norms, publications and internaI rules; and the secondary data carne from the semi structured interviews and enabled an analytical and categorical checking. The samples for the interviews were selected from populations, inside the AMRJ, that were similar to populations of private industries and each person of the population having similar functions to other industries or enterprises in order to be representative for the research. The collected data concluded that the AMRJ is still in a process of changing and that the job became more fulfilling to the tactical leveI, having a challenging and a professional growth perspective, as for the operational leveI it did not mean fulfillment, but frustrating despite their good feelings towards the institution. There is also the conclusion that the change is necessary despite their challenges and if influences the employee's perception, but it may become negative if there isn't a fair distribution of its benefits among all leveIs of the institution. / O Objetivo desta pesquisa é analisar a influência da mudança organizacional sofrida pelo Arsenal de Marinha do Rio de Janeiro (AMRJ) sobre a percepção em relação aos papéis desempenhados pelos seus servidores, dos níveis gerencial e operacional, no que tange a valores e crenças sobre o seu trabalho. Esta pesquisa constitui um estudo de caso, e se deu por meio de pesquisa de campo, de cunho qualitativo, e por isso, os dados foram analisados de forma descritivo-interpretativa sobre a avaliação documental e do seu conteúdo. Os dados primários foram obtidos a partir de análise de documentos, tais como relatórios, normas, publicações e regulamentos internos; e os dados secundários foram provenientes de entrevistas semiestruturadas; e possibilitaram averiguar as categorias analíticas envolvidas na pesquisa. As amostras para as entrevistas foram selecionadas de populações, dentro do AMRJ que fossem semelhantes ou equivalentes a populações de indústrias privadas e os sujeitos das mesmas, que, igualmente, tivessem equivalência funcional em outras indústrias ou empresas a fim de serem representativas para a composição do conteúdo da pesquisa. Os dados coletados permitiram concluir que o AMRJ ainda se encontra em processo de acomodação à mudança que se iniciou, e que o trabalho passou a ser mais gratificante para o nível gerencial, assumindo uma perspectiva de desafio e crescimento profissional a partir de um novo enfoque dado a ele, porém, para o nível operacional, devido a uma motivação decrescente e a interesses frustrados, sua percepção considera o trabalho como menos gratificante que o outro nível, apesar do sentimento positivo que tem pela instituição. Concluiu-se, também, que as mudanças são necessárias, apesar das dificuldades inerentes a ela, e influenciam a percepção das pessoas, mas podem ficar comprometidas caso não seja levado em conta que deve haver uma equivalência na distribuição, entre todos os níveis, dos benefícios que podem favorecê-la.

This cross-sectional qualitative study explored and described the role and contribution of operational level employees towards corporate entrepreneurship (CE) in the long-term insurance sector in Johannesburg, South Africa. Individual face-to-face semi-structured interviews took place with 13 operational level employees. Data analysis was done through thematic analysis where themes and sub-themes emerged. The findings indicate that operational level employees acknowledge that CE positively influences their entrepreneurial activity within the organisation. While operational level employees implement the CE strategy, they emphasise non-engagement in the CE initiatives as one of the main barriers to contributing to CE. This study concludes that management should focus on the antecedents of CE such as management rewards/reinforcement, work discretion, organisational boundaries, organisational structure and organisational culture. / Applied Management / M. Com. (Business Management)