Strategic change projects allow companies to align their strategy to the turbulent external environment in today’s marketplace and are therefore crucial for retaining the competitive advantage of the firm. The identification of the critical success factors for these projects has become increasingly important, because of the reported high failure rates in the implementation of such projects. The important role of SMEs for the social and economic development of a country is well-known. However, SMEs as an area of study are not often discussed by researchers and an appropriate set of critical success factors for them is lacking. Therefore, it is vital to identify the critical success factors for the implementation of strategic change projects in SMEs to ensure the success of their efforts. This study, which seeks to determine the critical success factors for the implementation of strategic change projects within the context of SMEs makes use of a multiple-case study strategy. The cases are based in two companies where semi-structured interviews were conducted in order to obtain the primary data required. The information retrieved from the selected cases was analysed using a qualitative approach. For the elaboration of the conclusion, an iterative process was followed, moving from the data collected, to the theoretical background and to the development of theory. At the end of the study it was possible to identify a set of eleven critical success factors that answers the research question of this thesis. In addition, a conceptual model was derived from the theoretical and empirical studies of this work, outlining three dimensions that are considered to influence strategic change project success in the SME-setting. The present study would be beneficial to the practitioners of SMEs as the identified set of critical success factors can be used as a checklist of points to concentrate on when implementing strategic change projects. This will assist them in ensuring that the crucial factors and issues are addressed during implementation. For academics, the study contributes new knowledge to the field and offers a common language for discussing the critical success factors of strategic change projects in SMEs.

Vårt syfte med den här uppsatsen är att undersöka de relationer som uppstår på anstalten X. Relationer i allmänhet är något synnerligen centralt i det sociala samspelet, d.v.s. vi är alla individer i behov av att skapa relationer. Fängelset är därför den miljö där vi kommer att fokusera på relationerna som finns inom den miljön. När vi intervjuade våra respondenter på anstalten X så stötte vi på termer som vi kommer att förklara för en förståelse av vilken komplex värld de intagna på anstalten lever i. Dessa termer kommer att vara grundläggande för vår undersökning. Kontentan av vår uppsats, och därmed också det som kommer att lyftas fram i avsnittet "sammanfattning", är de faktiska relationer som uppstår mellan de intagna och vårdarna på anstalten X. Vad är det för utveckling som sker inom dessa relationer och hur påverkar denna utveckling individerna, d.v.s. vilken effekt har utvecklingen av relationerna?

The topic of this thesis is “Gender Differences in Computer games/ Video games Industry”. Due to rapid development in technology and popularization of computers all around the world, computer games have already become a kind of common entertainment. Because computer games were designed especially for boys at the very beginning, there are still some remaining barriers when training female game designers and expanding game markets among female players.This thesis is mainly based on two studies which have enormous contributions to gender issue in computer games area. A simple model is established by summarizing factors mentioned and discussed in those two books. The main purpose consists of two comparisons under Gender Differences: one comparison is between the current data with the previous one, in order to check whether there are any changes during the past 10 years. The other one compares the young people in two regions, Sweden and China, in computer games perspective.Model designing, test, questionnaire and interview methods are used in this paper aiming to collect and categorize the data, which facilitates to analyze the results of the comparisons. The results reflect that although computer becomes a familiar “friend” in modern daily life, there are not obvious changes of girls‟ perspectives in computer game industry. Certainly, there are some differences between the young people coming from two regions which will be expounded in the thesis.

<p>Studien behandlar bemötandet under det samordnade vårdplaneringsmötet, en vårdsituation där brukaren ofta har en utsatt position. Under dessa möten ska deltagarna gemensamt komma fram till lösningar för brukarens eftervård och situation efter utskrivning från psykiatrisk avdelning. Syftet med min studie är att beskriva och bidra med kunskap och förståelse om hur brukare med psykiska funktionshinder blir bemötta utav personal under samordnade vårdplaneringsmöten. Studien belyser frågan utifrån personalens synvinkel. Studiens empiriska data har samlats in genom kvalitativa intervjuer som utgår från olika samtalsområden, där respondenterna relativt fritt får själva berätta om sina upplevelser om bemötandet av brukare. Empirin är hämtad från en medelstor kommun i Mellansverige. Empirin har analyserats med hjälp av Habermas teori om kommunikativt handlande och teorin om samtidsdiagnosen (livsvärld och system) för djupare förståelse för de mekanismer som kan påverka bemötandet under vårdplaneringsmötet. Teorin bidrar till att förstå deltagarna under vårdplaneringsmöten har sina egna normer, värderingar och kulturer som formar och påverkar deras handlingar och bemötande, men även de lagar, regler och strategier som präglar kommun och landsting. Tidigare forskning om vårdplaneringsmöten inom en annan sektor visar att de föreskrifter i hälso- och sjukvårdslagar som tar upp vikten av delaktighet och inflytande inte efterföljs under vårdplaneringar. Resultatet visar att variationen av vårdplaneringsmötena och bemötandet beror på uppsättningen av människor som ska delta under mötena. Det finns vissa riktlinjer för vårdplaneringsmötets genomförande, men få känner till dessa, vilket gör att vårdplaneringsmötets genomförande hänger på deltagarna och personen som leder mötet. Ifall personen ifråga har en bra mötesteknik kommer brukaren till tals och blir delaktig i mötet.</p>

<p>During the Cold War era, the edifice of the world configuration was built on a bipolar structure. The security of west European countries was not only important in the eyes of the Europeans but also in the American ones. But the end of this era in 1989-91 also put an end to this world structure and brought it into a unipolar one. The US became the world hegemon and Europe started to fear that US security priority would not remain Europe in the awakening of this structure. Therefore, some improvements occurred in terms of EU cooperation security in the framework of the conflict in Kuwait, but the main change happened because of the conflict in Ex-Yugoslavia. Especially Great Britain and France became aware of the need to develop an EU military capability in order to handle autonomous peace-keeping operations, outside of the NATO framework. The EU understood that any action developed by NATO was reliant on the US and without the support of the US the possibility to operate was restrained.</p><p>The move towards a more autonomous European security from the cooperation within NATO created a fear of loss of American influence over European politics. However, when the EU stated that NATO would remain the primary organisation to handle European security matters and that the CFSP would only reinforce the European pillar of NATO, the US appeared to support the cementation of this pillar.</p><p>France, Germany and Great Britain are contributing actively to the development of this pillar and they have all their reasons to support it. Germany is self-committed to the European integration process and cooperation in order, on one hand, to inhibit the raise of nationalism into Germany and on the other hand, to use it as a mean to play a major role in the international arena. France is a medium size power trying to keep its voice in the world arena. Its presence in the EU is marked by its strong link with Germany to enhance its role internationally. France uses the EU in order to promote its national interests. Great Britain maintains special relations vis-à-vis of the US and has not the desire to commit to any European cooperation that could hurt or threaten this link. But Great Britain changed its attitude towards its foreign and security policy due to its new interpretation of the structure during the Ex-Yugoslavian conflict. Therefore, its policy shifted in the need to develop a closer EU cooperation within the security, even if they stated that NATO still remains the primary organisation to handle European Security. This change is also strategic because Great Britain is motivated to become a EU leader instead of a spoiler.</p><p>The EU has to face a number of issues in different areas before it will be able to implement an efficient CFSP. First of all, the military capability gap that has widened the dependence on NATO military assets. Secondly, the difficult decision making process that has to deal with the domestic demands of all MS generated by a reluctance in ceding sovereignty of security matters to a qualified majority vote.</p><p>The development of the CFSP has electrified the transatlantic relations creating tensions but nothing that will damage the transatlantic link between the EU and the US. The CFSP will become complementary of NATO and not a competitor at all. The military capabilities and the domestic demands of all EU MS will guarantee this statement. The US will remain an unenthusiastic global actor in a unipolar world, pushing the international agenda in favour of a unilateral approach.</p>

<p>Den här uppsatsen handlar om organisationsteorier, konflikthantering och kommunikation, i syfte på att upprätthålla så bra miljö som möjligt i organisationen. Under studiens gång kommer vi att fokusera på personalen vid psykiatriska kliniken och kommer i samband med detta att utesluta patienternas yttranden. Trots att vi kommer att avstå från att ta initiativ kring patienternas uttalanden, kommer vi genom personalens yttranden få en inblick i de anställdas och patienternas välmående på verksamheten. Uppsatsen kommer att omfatta sex respondenters intervjusamtal, vilka kommer att framläggas under presentationen av materialet.</p><p>    Tack vare de intervjuer som vi har genomfört tillsammans med de anställda vid de olika avdelningarna på psykiatriska kliniken, har vi på ett indirekt sätt kunnat måla upp en bild av hur patienter påverkas av personalens välmående på jobbet.</p><p>Via dessa ovannämnda intervjuer och annat litteraturmässigt material, har vi kunnat komma med förslag till hur man genom aktiviteter och terapeutiska metoder skall kunna frambringa bättre relationer och genom dessa skapa bra social miljö för både personal och patienter. </p><p>    Kvalitativ metodgranskning och hermeneutik har här varit de principiella förhållningssätten inför dessa iakttagelser av att finna lämpligt material. Det vi under undersökningens gång kommit fram till är bland annat att kommunikation och olika terapeutiska samtalsmetoder är ett redskap för personalen och dess utveckling i arbetet inom vården.</p> / <p>This paper deals with organizational theories, conflict management and communication, in order to maintain the best environment as possible in the organization. During the study we will focus on the staff of the psychiatric clinic and in this context to exclude patients' opinions. Although we will refrain from taking the initiative on patients' statements, we will by staff opinions get an insight into the employees' and patients' well-being in the business. The essay will include six professionals respondent interviews, which will be presented during the presentation of the material.</p><p>    Thanks to the interviews we have conducted together with the staff of the various departments at psychiatric clinic, we have in an indirect way could paint a picture of how patients are affected by the staff well-being at work.</p><p>Through the above-mentioned interviews and other literature in terms of materials, we have been able to come up with proposals for how the activities and therapeutic methods to produce better relationships and through them to create good social environment for both staff and patients.</p><p>    Qualitative examination method and hermeneutics have been the basic approaches here to these observation by finding appropriate materials. The course of the investigation we concluded that include communication therapy sessions and various methods are a tool for staff and their development in the work of care.</p>

<p>The refugee problem is a canker in contemporary human affairs without the ‘limboness’ that protractedness adds to it. Yet many refugee situations, especially in Africa, become forgotten emergencies as women assume new roles both at the family and community level, whilst children are born and bred in camps which were meant to be temporary in the first place.</p><p>This study explores the life situation of Liberian Refugee Women and Children at the Gomoa Budumburam Refugee Settlement in Ghana. It examines the livelihood means they employ as a means of coping, emphasisng their security and educational concerns. It touches on the challenges faced by the camp children or the youth a they strive to deal with their situation and assign meaning to their lives. Actor-oriented theories help conceptualise ways in which the refugees display agency in mediating the structures that enable them and/or constrain them in their protracted displacement. In view of the need to find solutions to the refugee problem, the three proposed solutions are examined in the light of the reasons informing refugees’ choice of one solution over the other. The concepts of Space and Place help analyse the realities of the solutions available vis-à-vis the preferred choice of the refugees. Highlighting the importance of hearing refugees’ voice on problems and solutions they consider viable in their situation, a qualitative methodological approach is employed. This is complemented by observations, focus group discussions, informal conversations as well as secondary data sources.</p><p>The analysis relates the data collected to the outlined objectives, research questions and theories. It brings to the fore the resourcefulness displayed by the refugees as they employ various strategies to cope on a short and long term basis. The study has also revealed the refugees’ ideas about “home” as where one makes it, rather than a nostalgic country of origin to which one must return for life to be complete. (S) GBV has been highlighted as an area needing more attention than that accorded it presently if the causes of women’s vulnerabilities are to be addressed in a wholesome way. Suggestions have been made based on refugees’ recommendation as well as that of the organizations in place and the researcher’s.</p>

No description available.

The prime objective of a client in a building project is to attain a successful project, a project that has been properly planned, designed and constructed in accordance with plans and specifications, and completed within time and cost originally anticipated. However the success of a building project depends on a number of variables one of them is the way the building team approach conflicts facing the project. This study examines the causes and management approaches of conflicts in building projects in Tanzania. The main objective of the study is to identify issues/areas on which conflicts occur, factors causing them and how conflicts are managed in building projects in Tanzania. As a means to achieve the above objective, the study was structured into two main parts; the first part aimed at mapping up the nature of conflicts in building projects in Tanzania by establishing critical symptoms of conflicts, factors causing them and the approaches used in resolving the conflicts. This was done through literature review, interviews and questionnaire survey. The second part aimed at in-depth study of conflicts from their root cause, how they develop/progress and how they are managed in a real building project setting. Four case studies of building projects were studied for this part. The study found that factors causing conflicts are in several forms. There are those related to the nature of contracts, where the contracts are unclear and ambiguous they give room for contracting parties to develop opportunistic behaviour when post adjustments are needed. There are those factors which are related to role functions when the parties fail to perform as expected. As such the study confirmed that contractual incompleteness and consequent post contract adjustments and opportunistic behaviour of some project participants are root causes of conflicts in building projects in Tanzania. However, the study established that there are sufficient mechanisms to deal with conflicts in the standard forms of building contracts used and when the provisions are against the interests of the parties, the parties resort to amicable resolution approaches. Notwithstanding the availability of mechanisms in the standard forms of contracts to deal with conflicts, the study proposes the framework as a strategy that could reduce effectively the occurrences of conflicts in building projects. / QC 20110223

The refugee problem is a canker in contemporary human affairs without the ‘limboness’ that protractedness adds to it. Yet many refugee situations, especially in Africa, become forgotten emergencies as women assume new roles both at the family and community level, whilst children are born and bred in camps which were meant to be temporary in the first place. This study explores the life situation of Liberian Refugee Women and Children at the Gomoa Budumburam Refugee Settlement in Ghana. It examines the livelihood means they employ as a means of coping, emphasisng their security and educational concerns. It touches on the challenges faced by the camp children or the youth a they strive to deal with their situation and assign meaning to their lives. Actor-oriented theories help conceptualise ways in which the refugees display agency in mediating the structures that enable them and/or constrain them in their protracted displacement. In view of the need to find solutions to the refugee problem, the three proposed solutions are examined in the light of the reasons informing refugees’ choice of one solution over the other. The concepts of Space and Place help analyse the realities of the solutions available vis-à-vis the preferred choice of the refugees. Highlighting the importance of hearing refugees’ voice on problems and solutions they consider viable in their situation, a qualitative methodological approach is employed. This is complemented by observations, focus group discussions, informal conversations as well as secondary data sources. The analysis relates the data collected to the outlined objectives, research questions and theories. It brings to the fore the resourcefulness displayed by the refugees as they employ various strategies to cope on a short and long term basis. The study has also revealed the refugees’ ideas about “home” as where one makes it, rather than a nostalgic country of origin to which one must return for life to be complete. (S) GBV has been highlighted as an area needing more attention than that accorded it presently if the causes of women’s vulnerabilities are to be addressed in a wholesome way. Suggestions have been made based on refugees’ recommendation as well as that of the organizations in place and the researcher’s.