published_or_final_version / Urban Planning and Environmental Management / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

<p>In society today large corporations are striving to regain the trust, which has been lost dur-ing the many accounting scandals that occurred lately. As a response to minimize the con-flicts countries have introduced codes of corporate governance. It is common knowledge that a company’s stakeholders and shareholders have different knowledge and interest in the company and the annual report is the agent’s main communication channel towards the principals. The Swedish code of corporate governance was implemented in July 2005 in an attempt to reduce the information gap between the managers of the company and the own-ers.</p><p>The purpose of this thesis is to examine if and how the Swedish code of corporate govern-ance has affected the content in annual reports in Sweden. We will evaluate and explain why listed companies have changed the information provided in their annual reports from the year 2001 prior to the codes existence, during the code’s implementation in year 2005, and after the implementation in 2006.</p><p>A deductive method created our research model, which was used as a tool to gather the empirical findings. Agency Theory, Institutional Theory and the Swedish code constitute the foundation for our evaluation of 65 companies’ annual reports from three individual years. Once our research model was created, an explorative and inductive method was used analyse and interpret the empirical findings.</p><p>Our conclusion is that corporate governance information in annual reports has increased, and the implementation of the Swedish code of corporate governance has affected the in-formation provided to the shareholders. Between 2001 and 2005 a rapid growth in infor-mation can be view, while only minor improvement can be found between 2005 and 2006. The Swedish code has been successful in its implementation as stakeholders and share-holders have received more information from the annual reports. However, we are ques-tioning the Swedish code for its extensive dimensions. Some areas of the Swedish code are provided with sufficient guidelines, while others would bring with it improved information to the shareholders by more detailed instructions. Many of the investigated companies have had their corporate governance information reviewed by an external auditor in 2005 and it is unexpected to see that this has been excluded in 2006. The examined companies provide information regarding many of the Swedish code’s rules, but we found the information re-lated to internal control, managing director and attendance at the general meeting insuffi-cient.</p>

Hensikt: Hensikten med oppgaven har vært å undersøke om sykepleierapport, epikrise og dagens samhandlingspraksis ved utskrivning fra alderspsykiatrisk spesialisthelsetjeneste oppleves som nyttig av leger og sykepleiere i kommunene. Metode: Tverrsnittsundersøkelse. Et spørreskjema ble utviklet og sendt til 497 leger og sykepleiere. Data ble analysert med både kvalitative og kvantitative metoder Resultat Informantene vurderer innhold i epikrise og sykepleierapport som nyttig for videre arbeid med pasienten. Dokumentene beskrives som grundige, nyttige og informative. Dagens samhandlingspraksis vurderes som nyttig. Ambulante pasientrettede tiltak, deltagelse i møter, pasientrettet undervisning og veiledning vurderes som positive tiltak kommunene ønsker mer av. Medarbeidere i kommunene har i varierende grad erfaring med og kjenn-skap til det tilbudet Seksjon for alderspsykiatri gir. Konklusjon Undersøkelsen viser at samarbeidspartnere i kommunene i Telemark er tilfreds med epikrise, sykepleierapport og dagens samhandlingspraksis. De ønsker enda bedre tilgjengelighet / Aim: This study aimed to examine the opinions of physicians and nurses in the municipalities in Telemark, Norway regarding information given in written reports from the old age psychiatri unit and to examine the usefulness of collaboration when patients leave the hospital. Methods: This study used a cross-sectional survey. A questionnaire was developed and sent to 497 health professionals. The data were analyzed by both qualitative and quantitative methods. Results: Physicians and nurses in the municipalities have different knowledge and experiences regarding the services offered by the old-age psychiatry hospital. They described the reports from the hospital as informative and useful for further treatment of the patient. Collaboration practices were also evaluated as useful. Ambulant examination of patients and participation in meetings, education and guidance were evaluated as positive approaches. Conclusions: Physicians and nurses in the municipalities in Telemark county expressed satisfaction with the information in the reports and the existing collaboration practice when old age psychiatry patients leave the hospital. They want more of the services offered today. / <p>ISBN 978-91-86739-24-9</p>

Over the last 5 decades, the retrospective pretest has been used in behavioral science research to battle key threats to the internal validity of posttest-only control-group and pretest-posttest only designs. The purpose of this study was to compare outcome measures resulting from four research design implementations incorporating the retrospective pretest: (a) pre-post-then, (b) pre-post/then, (c) post-then, and (d) post/then. The study analyzed the interaction effect of pretest sensitization and post-intervention survey order on two subjective measures: (a) a control measure not related to the intervention and (b) an experimental measure consistent with the intervention. Validity of subjective measurement outcomes were assessed by correlating resulting to objective performance measurement outcomes. A Situational Leadership® II (SLII) training workshop served as the intervention. The Work Involvement Scale of the self version of the Survey of Management Practices Survey served as the subjective control measure. The Clarification of Goals and Objectives Scale of the self version of the Survey of Management Practices Survey served as the subjective experimental measure. The Effectiveness Scale of the self version of the Leader Behavior Analysis II® served as the objective performance measure. This study detected differences in measurement outcomes from SLII participant responses to an experimental and a control measure. In the case of the experimental measure, differences were found in the magnitude and direction of the validity coefficients. In the case of the control measure, differences were found in the magnitude of the treatment effect between groups. These differences indicate that, for this study, the pre-post-then design produced the most valid results for the experimental measure. For the control measure in this study, the pre-post/then design produced the most valid results. Across both measures, the post/then design produced the least valid results.

The purpose of this study was to assess the effectiveness of computer-assisted instruction (CAI) as a method of delivery. Student attitude toward method of instruction was examined. Additionally, the amount of study time required by the students was observed.

Mémoire numérisé par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal.

Over more than forty years many proposals have been drawn up to complement, integrate and overcome the traditional methodologies measuring the financial dimension of corporate performance. In parallel, thousands of companies, and especially the listed ones, have introduced, developed and implemented different practices of non-financial reporting. So, what is the state of the art with regard to the most important initiatives aimed at supporting companies in managing social, environmental and sustainability performance? And, what are the current corporate approaches to sustainability evaluation and reporting? In order to answer the two research questions, the study introduced a collaborative paradigm, based on a relational view of the firm, which recognizes the strategic value of stakeholder relationships. The stakeholder framework (that is, the multiple bottom line approach) is the lens adopted to conduct the study. With regard to the first question, a broad and up-to-date review of the most important standards and tools – aimed at managing, controlling, evaluating, and reporting the social, environmental and sustainability performance of companies – has been carried out. In reference to the second question, a qualitative content analysis, based on an interpretive perspective, of the current corporate practices has been conducted. The investigation mainly explored the social/CSR/sustainability reports of sixteen leading companies from four crucial industries (i.e., four firms per each of the four industries: banks, retailing, telecommunications, and utilities). In comparison with previous contributions in this area, the analysis is characterized by depth (that is, the number of items checked for every company), breadth (i.e., the number of stakeholders and documents/information sources covered), and complexity because of the interpretive nature. What emerged from the overall study is that, because of several and different reasons (essentially, complexity and the still prevailing focus on financial value for management tools; redundancy and incompleteness for corporate reports; and lack of innovation, that is, isomorphism, for both), the prevailing methodologies and the corporate evaluation and reporting activities are unable to fully assess the sustainability, that is, the quality, of the corporate relationships with the stakeholder groups. Therefore, in order to fill the gap new solutions are needed. As an attempt to address this point and reconnect theory and practice, a sustainability evaluation and reporting system, that is, the SERS2 methodology, characterized by an innovative, stakeholder-based scheme of integrated report, has been advanced.

This diploma thesis deals with forms of cooperation between family - school, their meaning at the beginning of the school attendance, the benefit of the individualization of the child's needs and the educational progress. Action research seeking to answer the question under what conditions the cooperation with parents has a positive impact on the learning progress of the child and in the individual case reports we describe the effective forms of the cooperation which contribute to the principle of the individualization in the education of children. Other methods in the context of the action research are: interview, e-mail correspondence, observation, recording, tripartite meetings, performances, evaluation. During our research we managed to establish cooperation with all parents of the pupils of the language course and also individualize their needs with regard to their cognitive abilities and home background. We have found that the parents are willing to cooperate if the teacher is able to create conditions for that not only at school but also whether he or she can choose appropriate strategies and forms of cooperation with regard to domestic conditions of the pupil. The contribution of this study is to implement an approach focused on the child and its individual development and to verify the...

Thesis deals with secondary school teachers traveling abroad in the first third of the 20th century. The main theme of the particular path of teachers, which includes a selection of the country you wish to visit, motives, during the journey, and ultimately outcomes, or if the use of knowledge acquired in the classroom. Teachers focus on natural sciences, humanities and vocational subjects influenced the selection of the target country and its further learning, so teachers are divided according to the following criteria into three groups. On the basis of articles and reports that teachers had left on the road, the focus inter alia on the following themes: everyday life, local residents and Czech countrymen. Teachers also noticed foreign schools and compared them with schools Czech. To a lesser extent, the work deals with the possibilities of traveling in general at this time, the development of transport and tourism, which contributed to increased people's interest in exploring foreign countries.

This research analyses central bank communication on financial stability. First, most important international comparable features of the communication are identified, such as Financial Stability Reports, Stress tests, Financial soundness indicators, etc. These are then used for the construction of Financial stability transparency index (FST index) for 110 countries from 2000 to 2011. FST index is used to determine the most important drivers of central bank communication. In particular, the level of transparency towards financial stability depends most on monetary policy transparency, size and development of the economy. Finally, the impact of financial stability transparency on financial stability is under investigation. Using two proxies for financial stress, for the first time, evidence of the influence of central bank communication on financial soundness was found. It is concluded that the communication still has not reached its steady state and markets have only limited experience using it. However, the communication has a strong potential to influence financial stability in the future.