Interest in wood-based bio-energy systems in the United States is increasing and may play a part in future renewable energy initiatives (Dincer 2000). Family forests have potential to play an important role in supplying wood biomass for energy production. However, access depends mostly on the management intentions among family forest owners. Enhanced biomass markets in regions where family forest ownership dominates could increase productivity by reinvigorating the low-value merchandizing required to accomplish silvicultural objectives. Given diverse owner objectives and forest types on family forests, estimates of biomass availability must include both biophysical and social aspects of procurable feedstock. This thesis chronicles a biosocial case study that estimates potential biomass supply from 51 family forests in Virginia and North Carolina. The study occurred within a woodshed centered on the future site of an impending ethanol plant in Mecklenburg County, Virginia. A survey instrument using the theory of planned behavior was used to measure ownership characteristics and intention to harvest. Forest attributes were collected during property visits to estimate potential yields resulting from silvicultural simulations. Results reveal that forest cover-type and tree size significantly affect owner intentions to harvest and owner attitudes toward harvesting partially mediate this relationship. Outputs from silvicultural simulations correspond with those made using Forest Inventory and Analysis data within the study region. Disproportionality was examined by coupling social and biological drivers of sustainable wood biomass availability. Implications of the research include refined estimates of potential supply and demonstrating a multi-scalar, mixed-method approach for assessing wood biomass availability. / Master of Science

Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)-authorized store environments could be improved to favor consumer purchase of healthy products. Engaging with the key intermediaries who can use marketing-mix and choice-architecture (MMCA) strategies to encourage low-income consumers to purchase healthy products aligned with the Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA), 2015-2020 is essential. This PhD research describes five investigations that explored the perspectives of food store owners, managers, and corporate or independent businesses (e.g., retailers) to inform healthy food retail approaches: (1) a systematic review of the literature (1980-2017) identified social-ecological influencers of food store retailers' decision-making and ability to use MMCA strategies to encourage healthy dietary purchases in the United States (US); (2) SNAP-authorized retailers' perceived feasibility and costs to implement healthy MMCA strategies in rural stores were assessed (n=29); (3) SNAP-authorized retailers' healthy food and beverage perceptions and DGA-aligned product offerings were documented; (4) prevalent SNAP-authorized food store retailers in the US and between two states were identified to inform settings where healthy food retail approaches could reach numerous SNAP consumers; (5) and the availability of corporate social responsibility commitments to use MMCA strategies to improve consumers' diet quality among prevalent SNAP-authorized food store chains was explored. The collective findings from the review and four studies were that multiple social-ecological factors (e.g., skills/knowledge, consumers, suppliers) influenced US retailers' decision-making and ability to use MMCA strategies that favor healthy products. Rural retailers perceived prompting and proximity (e.g., labeling and location) strategies as feasible and less costly compared to other MMCA strategies. Some misalignments of healthy food perceptions and food store availability were identified and indicated a need for trainings to enhance the success of healthy food retail programs. To reach numerous SNAP consumers, healthy food retail programs should target nontraditional (e.g., non-grocery) food stores with varied approaches by state. However, few prevalent SNAP-authorized retailers have made public, voluntary commitments to reduce obesity and may reflect a low readiness to engage in partnerships to establish healthy food retail environments. Future research should document approach to and the impact of using MMCA strategies to encourage healthier consumer purchases on business outcomes among diverse store contexts. / Doctor of Philosophy / Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) consumers are low-income Americans who could benefit from exposure to store cues or marketing-mix and choice-architecture (MMCA) strategies that ‘make the healthy choice the easy choice’. However, food store owners, managers, and businesses (e.g. retailers) ultimately decide if they will initiate and continue MMCA changes. This research prioritized the retailer perspective to inform healthy food retail approaches. A systematic review of literature (1980-2017) explored multifaceted influencers of food store retailers’ decision-making and ability or willingness to use MMCA strategies to encourage healthier dietary purchases in the United States (US). Additionally, four original research investigations were conducted: (1) a mixed-methods and cross-sectional investigation in rural, central Virginia assessed SNAP-authorized retailers’ perceived feasibility and costs to implement MMCA strategies that encourage healthy consumer purchases in stores; (2) an investigation of SNAP-authorized retailers’ healthy food and beverage perceptions and healthy food store offerings informed healthy food retail approaches in this setting; (3) an examination of prevalent SNAP-authorized food store retailers in the US and between two US states informed targeted healthy food retail approaches that could benefit numerous SNAP consumers; and (4) the availability of corporate social responsibility commitments to use MMCA strategies to promote consumer health among prevalent SNAP-authorized food store chains was explored. Main findings of these investigations indicated that there are multiple factors (e.g., skills/knowledge, consumers, suppliers) that influence US retailers’ decision-making. Also, rural retailers perceived prompting and proximity (e.g., healthy food labeling and moving healthy foods to an ideal location) strategies as feasible and low cost. There were some misalignments of healthy food perceptions and food store availability, indicating a need for trainings to enhance the likelihood for healthy food retail programs to succeed. In approaching SNAP-authorized retailers for partnership opportunities, targeting nontraditional (e.g., non-grocery) settings may reach more consumers and varied approaches by state are warranted. However, many of these prevalent SNAP retailers lack publicly available commitments to reduce obesity which may hinder partnership approaches. Future work should document approach to and the impact of using MMCA strategies to encourage healthier consumer purchases on diet quality and business outcomes among diverse store contexts.

Yes / The academic literature widely acknowledges changes and variation in the practices of small firms but only a small amount of empirical work has explored the processes through which HRM practices undergo change. Research has tended, instead, to examine the presence and effectiveness of HRM in small firms and has often viewed this in terms of a deficit model relating such practices to an understanding of HRM derived from larger firms. This chapter focuses on the recruitment and selection and staff payment practices in use in three small services firms to explore the everyday, ongoing detail of their HRM processes and practices. Identifying the different processes through which recruitment and selection and staff payment practices changed in the participant firms provides a base for discussing persistent forms of informality and the lack of stability that reflects the everyday realities of the firms, not only in contrast to their formalized policies but in engagement with them. This chapter advances understanding of selected HRM practices in small services firms after periods of formalization and adoption of HRM policies and practices. The chapter also discusses how developing knowledge of small firms’ HRM practices in this way has implications for researchers and practitioners.

Cette thèse a pour objectif d’explorer la relation entre les caractéristiques socio-culturelles et les politiques de reconstruction post-séisme dans les zones rurales de Azad Jammu et du Cachemire, au Pakistan. L’objet principal est d’examiner les pratiques architecturales traditionnelles : dhajji-dewari et la composition sociale de la communanuté pendant et après la reconstruction. Différents processus sont analysés: comment les aspects socio-culturels des sociétés rurales sont affectés par les politiques de reconstruction? Comment les politiques sont touchées par les aspects socio-culturels des commmunautés? Comment la combinaison des deux influence le processus final?Ce travail de thèse part du constat que 80% des 600 000 bâtiments endommagés ou détruits lors du séisme du 8 octobre 2005 au Cachemire, étaient des maisons rurales provisoires (Katcha). Il s’agit d’examiner jusqu’où le Programme de Reconstruction de Logement Rural (RHRP) qui a concerné quelque 100 000 maisons dhajji, a réduit ou augmenté la vulnérabilité de la zone pour l'avenir. Ce programme a été initié à partir de l’expérience de précédents programmes de reconstruction post-tremblements de terre, qui ont été d’une grande utilité pour les experts. Il restait à analyser les erreurs commises ou répétées par les différents acteurs pendant les phases d’élaboration, de validation, de mise en œuvre, et de suivi des politiques de reconstruction. Les principaux résultats de la thèse couvrent trois thèmes relatifs aux différentes étapes de la reconstruction : la durabilité de la reconstruction ; la réduction de la vulnérabilité de la reconstruction ; les résultats qui n’entrent pas dans les catégories “durabilité” et “vulnérabilité” selon les experts du Cachemire rural. La satisfaction des communautés est l’indicateur principal permettant d’évaluer les principaux résultats. L'étude conclut que la non-prise en compte des aspects socioculturels des communautés pendant la reconstruction peut augmenter la vulnérabilité du scénario de post-reconstruction. Le suivi du programme de reconstruction consiste à évaluer les tendances liées aux maisons en construction. En présentant par des illustrations les détails architecturaux de ces maisons reconstruites, l’écart avec les recommandations est évalué. Après que quelques années, les populations oublient les impacts du séisme et leurs besoins immédiats dictent leurs priorités de décision. Il est suggéré qu'à la fin du programme de reconstruction, la présence des autorités dans la zone reconstruite permette d’assister les populations dans leurs besoins actuels et futurs, et de contrôler le développement des constructions non conformes. / This thesis is aimed at exploring the relation of socio-cultural characteristics and policies with post-quake reconstruction of rural areas of Azad Jammu & Kashmir, Pakistan. The primary concern of the study is limited to examine the traditional architectural practice ; dhajji-dewari and social composition of the community during and after reconstruction. It is analyzed that how the socio-cultural aspects of rural communities are affected by the policies, how policies are affected by the socio-cultural aspects of the community and how both of these can influence the final product. The thesis was rooted in the fact that 80% of the 600,000 damaged/destroyed buildings during 8th October, 2005 Kashmir earthquake were rural temporary (Katcha) houses. It was hence to be investigated that how far the Rural Housing Reconstruction Program (RHRP) has reduced (or increased) the vulnerability of the area for future. The impact of any policy launched during this program was not limited to few housing units rather more than 0.1 million dhajji houses could be affected through this. The rural Kashmir reconstruction was commenced with the in-hand knowledge of several previous post-quake reconstruction programs and was appreciated widely by experts. It was yet to be explored that which mistakes were committed/repeated by the stakeholders during policy making, delivery, implementation and post implementation phases. Covering the phases of policy making, delivery and implementation, the major findings of the thesis are categorized into three sections ; the sustainability generating aspects of reconstruction, vulnerability enhancing dimensions of reconstruction, and, those outcomes of reconstruction which are not yet categorized under ”sustainability” or ”vulnerability” by the experts focusing particularly rural Kashmir. Community satisfaction is given primary focus to rate different outcomes.The study concludes that ignoring socio-cultural aspects of the community during reconstruction may lead to vulnerability in post-reconstruction scenario. Considering the post implementation phase, the current trends are observed by examining under-construction houses. By pictorially presenting the architectural details of these houses it is examined that deviations from guidelines are in practice. People start forgetting the disaster impacts after few years and their immediate needs drive their decision priorities. It is suggested that after reconstruction program ends up, some authorities must be present in the reconstructed area to guide people for their current requirements and future needs and also to control the spread of non compliant construction.

L'objectif de cette thèse est d'étudier la nature de la collaboration productive entre capital investisseur et dirigeant-propriétaire dans le cadre d'une opération OBO et son influence sur la création de valeur à travers l'identification des leviers et mécanismes organisationnels de création de valeur. Pour ce faire, nous avons opté pour une méthodologie mixte. Dans un premier temps, en observant les pratiques managériales de 42 investisseurs en private equity, nous avons cherché à identifier les critères mobilisés par les investisseurs financiers spécialisés en vue de réduire l'asymétrie informationnelle dans la phase de pré-investissement. Grâce à une analyse typologique, nos résultats ont montré que les critères de présélection de la cible à un OBO doivent faire l'objet d'une différenciation en fonction des profils-types des groupes d'investisseurs identifiés (les financiers et les stratèges). La différence entre les deux classes est d'ordre cognitif et concerne essentiellement la perception qu'ont les investisseurs des enjeux stratégiques d'une opération OBO. Dans un deuxième temps, grâce à des entretiens semi-directifs auprès de 17 capital-investisseurs, nous avons cherché à mettre en exergue les leviers et mécanismes organisationnels à l'origine du processus de création de valeur. Notre étude a montré que les modalités liées à leur mise en œuvre doivent elles aussi être nuancées selon la perception qu'ont les investisseurs des enjeux stratégiques associés à une opération OBO. En effet, les investisseurs qui se réclament d'un mode de gestion de type « hands-on » participent activement à la mise en place de stratégies de développement et de transmission de l'entreprise. Ils accordent un intérêt particulier à la viabilité économique à long terme du projet, à la performance des dirigeants en matière de gestion, à leurs motivations et à celles de leurs équipes de direction et notamment à la présence d'un repreneur dès le début de l'opération. En revanche, les contributions des investisseurs qui se réclament d'un mode de gestion de type « hands-off» demeurent limitées à l'apport de ressources financières et à l'alignement des intérêts des différentes parties prenantes afin de garantir un retour sur investissement sur un horizon relativement court. De même, l'absence d'un repreneur potentiel au démarrage d'OBO n'est pas considérée comme rédhibitoire pour cette catégorie d'investisseurs. L'étude a notamment montré que la nature des conflits qui peuvent surgir entre les protagonistes et les mécanismes de résolution sont en corrélation avec le mode de gestion des participations dont se proclament les investisseurs. / The subject of my study is to investigate the nature of productive collaboration between investor capital and owner­manager in an OBO operation and its influence on value creation through the identification of organizational levers and mechanisms of value creation. In order to achieve it, we opted for a mixed methodology. First, by observing the management practices of 42 private equity investors, we have identified the criteria mobilized by specialized financial investors to reduce the information 's asymmetric in the pre-investment phase. Through cluster analysis, the obtained results suggested that the target preselecting's criteria to an OBO must be qualified in terms of the typical profiles of the identified groups of investors (financial and strategists). The difference between the two classes was cognitive and mainly concerned the investor perception of the strategic issues of an OBO operation. Secondly, through selective interviews with 17 capital investors, we highlighted the levers and organizational mechanisms at the origin of the value creation proccss. Our stud has shown that the modalities associated with their implementation must also be qualified according to investors' perceptions of the strategic issues associated with an OBO operation. Indeed, investors who claimed to have a "hands-on" type of management are actively involved in setting up the company's development and transmission strategies. They paid particular attention to the long-term economic viability of the project, the performance of managers in management, their motivations and those of their management teams, and in particular to the presence of a potential buyer at the beginning of the operation. On the other hand, the contributions of investors who claimed to have a "hands-off" type of management are limited to providing financial resources and aligning the interests of the various stakeholders in order to guarantee a retum on investment on a relatively short horizon. Similarly, the absence of a potential buyer at the start of the OBO was not considered as prohibitive for this category of investors. The study showed, in particular, that the nature of the conflicts that can arise between the protagonists and the mechanisms of resolution are correlated with the mode of management of the participations that investors claimed.

O objetivo da pesquisa foi potencializar a explicação da relação da aprendizagem e do trabalho do dirigente da pequena empresa conhecendo objetivamente o estilo e os papéis e compreendendo o seu significado subjetivo. O tema da pesquisa foi estudar o trabalho do dirigente da pequena empresa objetivamente, por meio de um levantamento e subjetivamente por meio da abordagem etnometodológica, juntamente com os estilos de aprendizagem do dirigente. Para isso o trabalho de campo foi realizado em duas fases: na 1ª fase a abordagem foi quantitativa: levantamento sobre os estilos de aprendizagem - por meio do inventário de estilos de aprendizagem de Kolb - e dos papéis do administrador - por meio do questionário utilizado na pesquisa de Oliveira (2010) que foi desenvolvido com base na abordagem dos papéis de Mintzberg (1973); na 2ª fase a abordagem foi qualitativa com estudo de caso etnometodológico e análise da conversação a fim de compreender a percepção dos dirigentes sobre seu estilo de aprendizagem e seu trabalho. Ao final, quantitativamente não foi possível estabelecer uma relação significante entre as variáveis estilo de aprendizagem, trabalho do dirigente e desempenho organizacional, porém, qualitativamente essas relações foram identificadas e explicadas. Também foi realizada uma triangulação dos dados quantitativos e qualitativos a fim de comparar os resultados e identificar a importância de cada técnica. / The aim of the study was to improve the relationship explanation between learning and work manager objectively knowing the style and the roles and understanding their subjective meaning. The theme of the research was to study the small business work manager objectively, through a survey and subjectively through the ethnomethodological approach, along the learning styles of the manager. So the fieldwork was conducted in two phases: the 1st phase was quantitative approach: survey on learning styles - through the Kolb inventory of learning styles - and administrator roles - through the questionnaire used in Oliveira survey (2010) that was developed based on the approach of Mintzberg roles (1973); the 2nd phase was a qualitative approach with ethnomethodological case study and conversation analysis in order to understand the perception of the managers on your learning style and your work. Finally, quantitatively could not establish a significant relationship between the variables learning style, manager work and organizational performance, however, these relationships were qualitatively identified and explained. A triangulation of quantitative and qualitative data was also performed to compare the results and identify the importance of each technique.

This thesis proposes a privacy protection framework for the controlled distribution and use of personal private data. The framework is based on the idea that privacy policies can be set directly by the data owner and can be automatically enforced against the data user. Data privacy continues to be a very important topic, as our dependency on electronic communication maintains its current growth, and private data is shared between multiple devices, users and locations. The growing amount and the ubiquitous availability of personal private data increases the likelihood of data misuse. Early privacy protection techniques, such as anonymous email and payment systems have focused on data avoidance and anonymous use of services. They did not take into account that data sharing cannot be avoided when people participate in electronic communication scenarios that involve social interactions. This leads to a situation where data is shared widely and uncontrollably and in most cases the data owner has no control over further distribution and use of personal private data. Previous efforts to integrate privacy awareness into data processing workflows have focused on the extension of existing access control frameworks with privacy aware functions or have analysed specific individual problems such as the expressiveness of policy languages. So far, very few implementations of integrated privacy protection mechanisms exist and can be studied to prove their effectiveness for privacy protection. Second level issues that stem from practical application of the implemented mechanisms, such as usability, life-time data management and changes in trustworthiness have received very little attention so far, mainly because they require actual implementations to be studied. Most existing privacy protection schemes silently assume that it is the privilege of the data user to define the contract under which personal private data is released. Such an approach simplifies policy management and policy enforcement for the data user, but leaves the data owner with a binary decision to submit or withhold his or her personal data based on the provided policy. We wanted to empower the data owner to express his or her privacy preferences through privacy policies that follow the so-called Owner-Retained Access Control (ORAC) model. ORAC has been proposed by McCollum, et al. as an alternate access control mechanism that leaves the authority over access decisions by the originator of the data. The data owner is given control over the release policy for his or her personal data, and he or she can set permissions or restrictions according to individually perceived trust values. Such a policy needs to be expressed in a coherent way and must allow the deterministic policy evaluation by different entities. The privacy policy also needs to be communicated from the data owner to the data user, so that it can be enforced. Data and policy are stored together as a Protected Data Object that follows the Sticky Policy paradigm as defined by Mont, et al. and others. We developed a unique policy combination approach that takes usability aspects for the creation and maintenance of policies into consideration. Our privacy policy consists of three parts: A Default Policy provides basic privacy protection if no specific rules have been entered by the data owner. An Owner Policy part allows the customisation of the default policy by the data owner. And a so-called Safety Policy guarantees that the data owner cannot specify disadvantageous policies, which, for example, exclude him or her from further access to the private data. The combined evaluation of these three policy-parts yields the necessary access decision. The automatic enforcement of privacy policies in our protection framework is supported by a reference monitor implementation. We started our work with the development of a client-side protection mechanism that allows the enforcement of data-use restrictions after private data has been released to the data user. The client-side enforcement component for data-use policies is based on a modified Java Security Framework. Privacy policies are translated into corresponding Java permissions that can be automatically enforced by the Java Security Manager. When we later extended our work to implement server-side protection mechanisms, we found several drawbacks for the privacy enforcement through the Java Security Framework. We solved this problem by extending our reference monitor design to use Aspect-Oriented Programming (AOP) and the Java Reflection API to intercept data accesses in existing applications and provide a way to enforce data owner-defined privacy policies for business applications. / Im Rahmen der Dissertation wurde ein Framework für die Durchsetzung von Richtlinien zum Schutz privater Daten geschaffen, welches darauf setzt, dass diese Richtlinien oder Policies direkt von den Eigentümern der Daten erstellt werden und automatisiert durchsetzbar sind. Der Schutz privater Daten ist ein sehr wichtiges Thema im Bereich der elektronischen Kommunikation, welches durch die fortschreitende Gerätevernetzung und die Verfügbarkeit und Nutzung privater Daten in Onlinediensten noch an Bedeutung gewinnt. In der Vergangenheit wurden verschiedene Techniken für den Schutz privater Daten entwickelt: so genannte Privacy Enhancing Technologies. Viele dieser Technologien arbeiten nach dem Prinzip der Datensparsamkeit und der Anonymisierung und stehen damit der modernen Netznutzung in Sozialen Medien entgegen. Das führt zu der Situation, dass private Daten umfassend verteilt und genutzt werden, ohne dass der Datenbesitzer gezielte Kontrolle über die Verteilung und Nutzung seiner privaten Daten ausüben kann. Existierende richtlinienbasiert Datenschutztechniken gehen in der Regel davon aus, dass der Nutzer und nicht der Eigentümer der Daten die Richtlinien für den Umgang mit privaten Daten vorgibt. Dieser Ansatz vereinfacht das Management und die Durchsetzung der Zugriffsbeschränkungen für den Datennutzer, lässt dem Datenbesitzer aber nur die Alternative den Richtlinien des Datennutzers zuzustimmen, oder keine Daten weiterzugeben. Es war daher unser Ansatz die Interessen des Datenbesitzers durch die Möglichkeit der Formulierung eigener Richtlinien zu stärken. Das dabei verwendete Modell zur Zugriffskontrolle wird auch als Owner-Retained Access Control (ORAC) bezeichnet und wurde 1990 von McCollum u.a. formuliert. Das Grundprinzip dieses Modells besteht darin, dass die Autorität über Zugriffsentscheidungen stets beim Urheber der Daten verbleibt. Aus diesem Ansatz ergeben sich zwei Herausforderungen. Zum einen muss der Besitzer der Daten, der Data Owner, in die Lage versetzt werden, aussagekräftige und korrekte Richtlinien für den Umgang mit seinen Daten formulieren zu können. Da es sich dabei um normale Computernutzer handelt, muss davon ausgegangen werden, dass diese Personen auch Fehler bei der Richtlinienerstellung machen. Wir haben dieses Problem dadurch gelöst, dass wir die Datenschutzrichtlinien in drei separate Bereiche mit unterschiedlicher Priorität aufteilen. Der Bereich mit der niedrigsten Priorität definiert grundlegende Schutzeigenschaften. Der Dateneigentümer kann diese Eigenschaften durch eigene Regeln mittlerer Priorität überschrieben. Darüber hinaus sorgt ein Bereich mit Sicherheitsrichtlinien hoher Priorität dafür, dass bestimmte Zugriffsrechte immer gewahrt bleiben. Die zweite Herausforderung besteht in der gezielten Kommunikation der Richtlinien und deren Durchsetzung gegenüber dem Datennutzer (auch als Data User bezeichnet). Um die Richtlinien dem Datennutzer bekannt zu machen, verwenden wir so genannte Sticky Policies. Das bedeutet, dass wir die Richtlinien über eine geeignete Kodierung an die zu schützenden Daten anhängen, so dass jederzeit darauf Bezug genommen werden kann und auch bei der Verteilung der Daten die Datenschutzanforderungen der Besitzer erhalten bleiben. Für die Durchsetzung der Richtlinien auf dem System des Datennutzers haben wir zwei verschiedene Ansätze entwickelt. Wir haben einen so genannten Reference Monitor entwickelt, welcher jeglichen Zugriff auf die privaten Daten kontrolliert und anhand der in der Sticky Policy gespeicherten Regeln entscheidet, ob der Datennutzer den Zugriff auf diese Daten erhält oder nicht. Dieser Reference Monitor wurde zum einen als Client-seitigen Lösung implementiert, die auf dem Sicherheitskonzept der Programmiersprache Java aufsetzt. Zum anderen wurde auch eine Lösung für Server entwickelt, welche mit Hilfe der Aspekt-orientierten Programmierung den Zugriff auf bestimmte Methoden eines Programms kontrollieren kann. In dem Client-seitigen Referenzmonitor werden Privacy Policies in Java Permissions übersetzt und automatisiert durch den Java Security Manager gegenüber beliebigen Applikationen durchgesetzt. Da dieser Ansatz beim Zugriff auf Daten mit anderer Privacy Policy den Neustart der Applikation erfordert, wurde für den Server-seitigen Referenzmonitor ein anderer Ansatz gewählt. Mit Hilfe der Java Reflection API und Methoden der Aspektorientierten Programmierung gelang es Datenzugriffe in existierenden Applikationen abzufangen und erst nach Prüfung der Datenschutzrichtlinie den Zugriff zuzulassen oder zu verbieten. Beide Lösungen wurden auf ihre Leistungsfähigkeit getestet und stellen eine Erweiterung der bisher bekannten Techniken zum Schutz privater Daten dar.

O objetivo da pesquisa foi potencializar a explicação da relação da aprendizagem e do trabalho do dirigente da pequena empresa conhecendo objetivamente o estilo e os papéis e compreendendo o seu significado subjetivo. O tema da pesquisa foi estudar o trabalho do dirigente da pequena empresa objetivamente, por meio de um levantamento e subjetivamente por meio da abordagem etnometodológica, juntamente com os estilos de aprendizagem do dirigente. Para isso o trabalho de campo foi realizado em duas fases: na 1ª fase a abordagem foi quantitativa: levantamento sobre os estilos de aprendizagem - por meio do inventário de estilos de aprendizagem de Kolb - e dos papéis do administrador - por meio do questionário utilizado na pesquisa de Oliveira (2010) que foi desenvolvido com base na abordagem dos papéis de Mintzberg (1973); na 2ª fase a abordagem foi qualitativa com estudo de caso etnometodológico e análise da conversação a fim de compreender a percepção dos dirigentes sobre seu estilo de aprendizagem e seu trabalho. Ao final, quantitativamente não foi possível estabelecer uma relação significante entre as variáveis estilo de aprendizagem, trabalho do dirigente e desempenho organizacional, porém, qualitativamente essas relações foram identificadas e explicadas. Também foi realizada uma triangulação dos dados quantitativos e qualitativos a fim de comparar os resultados e identificar a importância de cada técnica. / The aim of the study was to improve the relationship explanation between learning and work manager objectively knowing the style and the roles and understanding their subjective meaning. The theme of the research was to study the small business work manager objectively, through a survey and subjectively through the ethnomethodological approach, along the learning styles of the manager. So the fieldwork was conducted in two phases: the 1st phase was quantitative approach: survey on learning styles - through the Kolb inventory of learning styles - and administrator roles - through the questionnaire used in Oliveira survey (2010) that was developed based on the approach of Mintzberg roles (1973); the 2nd phase was a qualitative approach with ethnomethodological case study and conversation analysis in order to understand the perception of the managers on your learning style and your work. Finally, quantitatively could not establish a significant relationship between the variables learning style, manager work and organizational performance, however, these relationships were qualitatively identified and explained. A triangulation of quantitative and qualitative data was also performed to compare the results and identify the importance of each technique.

This thesis maps the situation in information technology management on the interface between informational services delivery and business users with focus on one of the key roles -- service owner. From the theoretical point of view it's done on the basis of common IT methodologies, from the practical point of view on the basis of comparison of four insurance companies. The thesis concludes possible definitions of the role with regard to benefits achievable for the studied companies.

Several studies and government reports have indicated that a large number of apartments in Sweden built during the 1960s and 1970s require extensive refurbishment and that there is concern that some companies in the rental housing sector and in the tenant-owner cooperative (TOC) sector may have difficulties carrying out the needed activities. The overall purpose of the thesis is to increase the understanding of the factors that influence the decisions made within the multi­ faceted property management of multifamily housing in Sweden which would mitigate some of the shortcomings. Econometric analysis and semi-structured interviews as well as questionnaires carried out within the TOC sector as well as the public and the private rental housing sectors provide the basis of the conclusions arrived at. The aim is to contribute to raising efficiency in maintenance and property management within the housing sector in Sweden. The major conclusions presented in the thesis are that: maintenance as a concept is unnecessary from a decision-making perspective as the concept of investment embraces all the relevant decisions; maintenance models in manufacturing industries could be applied within the housing sector but building maintenance is different and should be grounded on a strategy that allows for the continuous adjustment of maintenance plans based on a regularly up-to-date decision support system in the company or TOC; reported maintenance costs within the municipal (public) and the private rental sectors in Sweden continuously diverge mainly due to principal-agency issues of a socio-political character, in the form of political involvement in the operations of public housing companies, as well as the way companies define maintenance together with the timing of the maintenance measures; hidden incentives in the form of cooperative members, managers or service providers that seek short term gains together with the lack of a long-term perspective in the decision-making as well as a high turnover rate of committee members are major challenges to efficient property management within the Swedish TOC sector. Similarly, the information asymmetry between the professionals (constructors as well as service providers) and the amateur decision-makers in the managing committees, especially in cooperatives with newly constructed buildings, is a substantial source of losses in efficiency within the operations of the TOCs. Major contributions of the thesis are that: it promotes the view of maintenance as an investment and highlights the possibility of cost saving through the linking together of several measures as well as the challenges involved; it points to the need within the housing sector for better decision support tools as well as knowledge transfer and sharing; it calls for the government to promote policies that would reduce the degree of information asymmetry between the procurers of services within the TOC sector and the construction companies as well as other service providers. A requirement of formal competence and certification could be a step towards increasing the degree of qualified decision making and efficiency in property management within the housing sector. How this could be implemented nationwide in the different housing sectors is an issue worth further investigation. / Flera studier och statliga rapporter har visat att ett stort antal lägenheter i Sverige som byggdes under 1960- och 1970-talet kräver omfattande renovering och att det finns oro för att vissa företag i bostadshyressektorn och i bostadsrättssektorn kan ha svårigheter att utföra nödvändiga åtgärder. Det övergripande syftet med avhandlingen är att öka förståelsen av de faktorer som påverkar beslutfattning inom den mångfacetterad fastighetsförvaltning av flerfamiljshus i Sverige, vilket skulle mildra några av bristerna. Ekonometriska analyser och semistrukturerade intervjuer samt enkäter som genomföddes inom Brf sektorn samt den offentliga och den privata hyresbostadssektorn utgör grunden för de slutsatser som dragits. Syftet är att bidra till att höja effektiviteten i underhåll och fastighetsförvaltning inom bostadssektorn i Sverige. De viktigaste slutsatserna i avhandlingen är att: underhållet som begrepp är onödigt från ett beslutsperspektiv eftersom begreppet investering omfattar alla relevanta beslut; underhållsstrategier i tillverkningsindustrin skulle kunna tillämpas inom bostadssektorn men byggnadsunderhåll skiljer sig och bör grundas på en strategi som gör det möjligt för kontinuerlig anpassning av underhållsplaner baserat på ett reguljärt uppdaterad beslutsstödsystem i företaget eller TOC; redovisade underhållskostnader inom den kommunala och den privata hyresbostadssektorn i Sverige kontinuerligt avviker från varandra främst på grund av principal-agent frågor av sociopolitisk karaktär, i form av politisk inblandning i verksamheten inom de allmännyttiga bostadsföretag, och hur företag definierar underhåll samt tidpunkten för underhållsåtgärderna; effektiv fastighetsförvaltning inom den svenska Brf sektorn kompliceras av olika aktörer (kooperativets medlemmar, che fer eller tjänsteleverantörer) med dolda incitament, avsaknaden av ett långsiktigt perspektiv i beslutsfattandet, en hög omsättning av kommittémedlemmar samt informationsasymmetri mellan yrkesverksamma (konstruktörer samt tjänsteleverantörer) och amatör beslutsfattare inom Brfer, särskilt i kooperativ med nybyggda hus, vilket utgör en stor källa till effektivitetsförluster inom verksamheten i Brf sektorn. Avhandlingens viktiga bidrag är att: det främjar synen på underhåll som en investering och understryker möjligheten till kostnadsbesparingar genom att knyta ihop flera åtgärder samt de utmaningar som kan finnas; det pekar på behovet inom bostadssektorn för bättre beslutsunderlagsverktyg liksom kunskapsöverföring och delning samt uppmuntrar den regeringen att främja en politik som skulle minska graden av informationsasymmetri mellan beställare av tjänster inom Brf sektorn och byggföretag samt andra tjänsteleverantörer. Ett krav på formell kompetens och certifiering kan vara ett steg mot att öka graden av kvalificerad beslutsfattande och effektivitet inom fastighetsförvaltning i bostadssektorn. Hur detta skulle kunna genomföras i hela landet i de olika bostadssektorerna är en fråga som ytterligare skulle kunna undersökas. / <p>QC 20160223</p>