The aim of this thesis is to describe and analyse pupils’ and teachers’ views on pupils’ responsibility for their schoolwork and how this relates to a more comprehensive ideology of school and today’s high modern society. The analysis is inspired by Anthony Giddens’ structuration theory and the concepts of discursive consciousness, practical consciousness, rules, routines and resources. At school level pupils’ and teachers’ views of pupils’ responsibility is shown in their practical and discursive consciousness. To capture this consciousness, observations were made during fifteen lessons in school year 9 (15-16 years of age). These lessons - “study times” - were introduced to increase freedom of choice, flexibility and responsibility. Sixty-eight pupils and twenty-two teachers were interviewed. The ideology expressed in pupils’ and teachers’ views on pupils’ responsibility was related to the official school ideology expressed in the national curriculum. Finally, an analysis was carried out inspired by Anthony Giddens’ and Ulrich Beck´s concepts used in their descriptions of the high modern society, individualism and value-relativism. The results showed a discursive consensus between teachers and pupils concerning their views pupils’ responsibility for their schoolwork. The meaning of responsibility was taken for granted and implied doing the school tasks and to complete them in time. Both teachers and pupils expressed that many pupils’ have difficulties in taking this responsibility. A discrepancy between the pupils’ discursive and practical consciousness was found. Rules and routines were created by the teachers to control the freedom of space offered during the “study times”. The pupils legitimated the teachers’ controlling function but in practice they offer resistance against the demand for responsibility. The overall analysis identified three issues that are important for further discussions in research and educational practice. Responsibility and learning: Responsibility was observed as a part of a “culture of doing” separated from learning as such. Also, responsibility was linked to individual work. The freedom offered during the “study times” was used by both pupils, and teachers, to build relationships. This means that relationships were not created through work but rather despite it. Responsibility and the view of the pupils’: In pupils’ and teachers’ view of responsibility pupils were easy going, ruled by lust and/or responsible but not always according to the conditions stipulated by the school. The pupils were offered a freedom to choose but they were also held responsible for the consequences. While they could make the choice not to work, this would influence the evaluation of the achievements, and in reality make it a “non-choice”. The freedom was limited and conditioned. Responsibility as a democratic principle: The connection between responsibility and pupil participation expressed in the national curriculum was not to be found in pupils’ and teachers’ views of responsibility. While the pupils were offered participation in relation to which assignments to choose to work with during the “study times”. They were not invited to shape the rules and the routines for the schoolwork or to have influence on the contents of the work or the working environment. The pupils’ did not ask for more participation, but rather feared it would lead to chaos. The separation between participation and responsibility indicated in the study is suggested to weaken the idea of responsibility as one of the democratic principles. In conclusion: The view of pupils’ responsibility for their schoolwork was built upon an individualistic ideology. known from Giddens and Becks description of high modernity. In contrast to their description, however my results show no signs of value-relativism

In recent years, due to severe global market competition, increase of manpower costs and decrease in foreign trade, plus low-price labor costs from China and southeastern Asia countries (eg. Vietnam), all these factors enforce Taiwan manufacturing, such as motorcycle industry, moving their production factories to those countries. This phenomenon has been brought to Taiwan government¡¦s attention, and this crisis has encouraged our industrial circles to develop higher-level R&D and design center. Furthermore, the official department (eg. Industrial Development Bureau) also supplies enterprises with expenses support to conduct R&D and design. Within New Product Development (NPD) is one of the major subsidiary entries. Take Taiwan motorcycle industry as an example. To develop NPD is an essential competitive strategy for enterprise. On the one hand, this strategy has helped Taiwan motorcycle industry to be independent of technical domination from Japan; on the other hand, it has created differentiation in motorcycle industry and consolidated the foundation marching into international market. This is also what internal manufacture enterprises strive for. NPD process involves several stages. For example, in 1994 Cooper brought up product composition, initial evaluation, concept design, product development, product test, engineering trial production and limited quantity to market, these 7 stages, and NPD participant units or departments are quite a lot. For example, in motorcycle development process, participant units include merchandise plan, sales, R&D, manufacture, mold design, and quality control departments, and even parts supplier or motorcycle agent. This kind of collaborative development method has the advantages of putting heads together so as to get better results and cooperation. However, it remains existing problems with wasting time and efforts on inter-department interaction and manual data communication, and data accuracy (eg. version of design chart). To cope with the above problems, most enterprises are solving via existing IT system, such as simplex e-mail, more complex ERP (enterprise resources planning, ERP) or PDM (product data management, PDM). These systems have their own functions. E-mail focuses on communication; ERP integrates information of manufacture, human resources, finance, and marketing; PDM puts emphasis on engineering data management. In the viewpoint of NPD, these systems can only provides partial functions, but are incapable of support the requirements of entire collaborative process. For example, e-mail cannot supplies simultaneous communication; ERP lacks of design mold required by R&D department; PDM only has engineering data. If other departments need related data, they must develop other software to obtain. Because of swift progress in IT plus the cooperation demands in business operation among enterprises, departments and individuals, all these arouse attention on collaborative commerce, and it can also recover the disadvantages of e-mail, ERP or PDM while operating in NPD process. Collaborative commerce contains collaborative scheme, collaborative marketing, collaborative product commerce (or development) and collaborative service, these system classifications. Within them, collaborative product development binds NPD most. In current, the main manufacturers are PTC, HP and IBM. The merits of the system lie in effective controlling NPD process, constructing NPD operation standard, and accumulating experiences in new product design and manufacture. For example, in1995 Airbus in France had used PTC Windchill to conduct collaborative aircraft design. In 1999, there was Taiwan manufacturer under government¡¦s subsidy applying this system on new motorcycle model design. The main objective to introduce collaborative product development software is applying IT to support NPD process. IT introduction process is an important period for enterprises to identify whether it is successful or not, and the adaptation during the process is the key accordance to determine success or failure of IT. Therefore, some scholars discuss IT introduction process from adaptation point of view. For example, Leonard ¡V Barton¡]LB¡^¡]1988¡^addresses mutual adaptation mode between technology and organization to resolve misalignment during introduction process in technology (original IT specification), delivery system (training courses), performance criteria (impact upon activity). Susman et al.¡]2003¡^addresses that while using collaborative technology, the misalignments between technology and work, team and organization should be solved. DeSantics and Poole¡]1994¡^ bring up adaptive structuration theory¡]AST¡^. The theory emphasizes on appropiration in technology, work, organizational environment and group. The higher the appropiration is, the higher the decision performance will be. Tyre and Orlikowski¡]1994¡^deem the technology adaptation is not gradual and continuous, but highly discontiunous. They indicate that in adaptation discrepancy events will discontinuously occur. This event provides enterprise an opportunity to review the suitability of existing process or a method to modify present process. Although above researches have provided vital results, research result from Majchrzak et al.¡]2000¡^about new technology introduction process still cannot clearly describe all phenomena. Hence, they have discussed adaptation in project process via rocket design project and used collaborative technology (such as e-mail, data sharing or electric board) Majchrzak et al. has connected collaborative technology and NPD, but the research has discussed small and simple collaborative technology only (such as e-mail), but lacked of result of large and complex collaborative product development software. Meanwhile, although the result is the application of NPD, it does not provide the adaptation of each NPD stage (such as engineering trial manufacture). Furthermore, the mature experiences from western countries, such as Airbus in France, in introduction of collaborative product development software in NPD is worthy of consultation, but the specific situations in different countries should be taken into consideration. In Taiwan, cases which application of collaborative product development software supports NPD are still rare, but these introduction experiences are worthy of making thorough inquiry for other enterprises¡¦ reference. Therefore, the article has selected a case closed study of Taiwan manufacturing that introduced collaborative product development software and accompanied with related adaptation theory (such as LB mode, AST, discrepancy event, etc.) to thoroughly investigate adaptation conditions and result analysis before, in the middle of, and after introduction.

This paper explores the political behavior process in information system implementation process. The organizational politics is the critical success/failure factor in the IS implementation process. We expect to understand, in different organizational contexts, what kind of political behavior will occur? What will be the events and processes of these political behaviors? Who's idea? At what time? In what setting? What will be the interaction among these dimensions? How will these political behaviors affect IS outcome and organization? This study will explain political behavior in IS implementation process from different interpretations and perspectives. This study relies on qualitative data collected from two cases--manufacturer Theta and government enterprise Delta--in the forms of interviews, documented data, archival data, and observation over eight month. The data are interpreted through five internally coherent theoretical perspectives: personal perspective, strategic contingency theory, conflict theory, social exchange theory, and structuration theory. Contributions include the following. In practice, we group 35 kind of political behavior into four types: aggression, defense, strengthen, withdrawal. Besides the adverse effects, some kinds of political behavior can lead to the success of the project. The detailed descriptions we use to describe the political behavior process in IS implementation process can help in similar cases to show how to reduce or prevent any negative consequences. Academically, we conduct contextual and process theory analyses of these processes, and use five theoretical perspectives to interpret these phenomena.

Supply chain management is one of the newest and most fashionable managerial concepts to be sponsored by those organisations responsible for setting the change agenda in the construction sector. Its success elsewhere, its promise of productivity improvement and 'best practice' pedigree form the basis of arguments for its adoption in the construction sector. There are a number of assumptions that underpin this argument that are largely ignored by the promoters of such change and the construction management research community. Most notably, the transferability and utility of supply chain management in the context of organisations competing in the construction sector. However, it is argued in this thesis that these arguments fail to engage with the recursive relationship between context and practice. Managerial practice does not exist in a vacuum. The research therefore sets out to test the theory of supply chain management in the construction sector. In doing so, the research approach is informed by and draws on contextual approaches that are highly sensitive to the recursive relationship between context and practice. A multiple case study research strategy was chosen that sought to provide explanations for how practitioners make sense of supply chain management in the context of their organisations and forms the basis of theory testing. These explanations also provided a wealth of empirical evidence to test the assumptions that underpin calls for change in the construction sector. It is concluded that supply chain management does not make sense in the construction sector and that calls for its adoption lacked intellectual rigour and were indeed acontextual.

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This thesis investigates the role of technology-use mediation in supporting the work of global virtual teams. The work is set in the context of a longer term action research programme into collaborative computing and global virtual teams, initiated by Auckland University of Technology in New Zealand and Uppsala University in Sweden. Over the period since 1998, global virtual collaborations involving teams of students from both universities have been conducted annually. This thesis investigates the 2004 collaboration cycle, in which participants from St Louis University Missouri joined the collaboration. This was the first triadic collaboration, and covered Northern, Southern and Western aspects of the globe while traversing three widely divergent time-zones. In spite of the extensive experience in collaboration possessed by the coordinators at all three sites, the results of the global virtual trial were at best mixed. This repeated experience of dissatisfaction in our global virtual collaborations, in spite of the technology being in place has been a primary motivator for this work. Why is global virtual collaboration difficult? What roles and activities are critical? How can we do it better? These are not issues solely to do with the student actors in the global virtual teams, but more to do with the supporting cast, engaged in “activities which involve the shaping of other users activities of [technology] use” (Orlikowski et al., 1995, p.425). Thus came about my interest in exploring the topic of technology-use mediation. This thesis applies a research framework adapted from DeSanctis & Poole’s “Adaptive Structuration Theory” (1994) by the author. Initially applied to “facilitation” in virtual teams “Extended Adaptive Structuration Theory (EAST)” (Clear, 1999a), has undergone further development. The resulting research framework “Technology-use Mediated AST (TUMAST)” is applied here for the first time to investigate technology-use mediation activities performed during the global virtual collaborative trial. A corpus of data based on the email communications of supporting parties to the collaboration is analysed in depth in this study, applying a combination of grounded theoretic and structurational techniques. Thus a very rich and firmly grounded picture of the processes of technology-use mediation is built. This thesis represents the first known in-depth longitudinal study of technology-use mediation in a real global virtual team setting. From this exploratory study some novel theorizations have resulted. Methodologically it demonstrates analysis of technology-use mediation applying the TUMAST framework in a manner that captures the richness and evolution over time of these complex activities. Substantively it proposes a novel theory of “Collaborative Technology Fit (CTF)”. It is hoped that future global virtual team coordinators and researchers may apply the theory in order to map their situation, and diagnose their degree of collaborative alignment on multiple dimensions, thus enabling corrective actions to be taken. While the work arises in a tertiary education context, it reflects the reality of professionals at work in a global virtual team. Its application within other domains remains to be proven, but readings from the literature, and personal experience within global virtual software development teams suggest its wider applicability.

In the past decade, there has been rampant growth in healthcare service delivery options, based on the Internet and related information and communication technology. As a result, there is a great deal of expectation among national governments, regulators, healthcare organisations, and other stakeholders about the role of the Internet in healthcare service provision. Given the global crisis in healthcare services generally and the funding of healthcare services specifically, a number of policymakers view the advances in Internet-based self-service technology as a potential enabler of more efficient and effective healthcare service delivery. Proponents of consumer-driven healthcare in particular who seek to use the Internet to make consumers more informed about healthcare funding decisions and to reduce the cost of servicing consumers have been actively experimenting in this area. Despite the accelerating growth in the deployment of Internet-based self-service technologies, their protracted uptake by users is giving rise to concerns about the effectiveness of the implementation and acceptance of these contemporary forms of service delivery. Furthermore, little is known about how the social healthcare context shapes Internet-based self-service technology implementations. This thesis presents an in-depth qualitative case study that documents a healthcare insurer’s efforts to implement an online self-service technology for the period 1999 to 2005. A research framework was adopted that draws on key theoretical concepts from structuration and actornetwork theory (ANT) to link the social context to implementation processes. These two conceptual lenses, which are compatible with the thesis’s interpretive stance, reveal several new insights, confirming that the challenges associated with the implementation of information system innovations such as Internet-based self-service technologies cannot be understood in isolation. From a structuration perspective analysing the various enactments of self-service provision of healthcare afforded a deeper understanding of how social practices influence the design and use of the technology. From an ANT perspective, the study showed how the major translations in the design and use of the self-service technology emerged from a process where technological and social elements co-evolved. This study also reveals that the implementation problems and opportunities facing this particular healthcare insurance organisation were historical and systemic. This approach demonstrates that the complex interdependencies and interactions among contrasting social, political, economic and technological issues shaped the contemporary channel as it exists today and therefore advances theory in yet another important way. Using the insights obtained from these two theories, a conceptual framework was derived. The conceptual framework demonstrates that in order to develop a comprehensive understanding of Internet-based self-service technology implementation, such an analysis must incorporate the interconnectedness of four perspectives – meaning, process, context and the technology artefact – and their respective conceptual elements from both structuration and actor-network theory. Future studies attempting to deepen our understanding of information systems implementation can also provide constructive insights by focusing on the interdependent, interconnected and historical nature of the implementation phenomenon. Some important practical applications for future self-service technology implementations are also discussed. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2009. / Informatics / unrestricted

According to some commentary, employees are empowered by simple, flexible and lightweight social software such as blogs and wikis. Using such software, it is claimed they will be able to connect and collaborate beyond boundaries and to benefit organisations in innovation and growth. Extending such claims, commentators also argue that social software challenges existing ways of networking, communicating and collaborating and is likely to cause disruption to some organisations. However, a literature search reveals that it is still unclear for both researchers and practitioners how social software can be exploited for work purposes, and what are the grounds for its adoption. Systematic investigation of the adoption of social software for work collaboration is found to be absent in academic writing. Organisations continue experimenting on social software, seeking ways to encourage their employees to adopt the tools, and expect to benefit from self-organised, distributed collaboration. This technology adoption is a contingent process. The way members use social software is embedded within the social interaction process, group characteristics, tasks and environments. Adaptive structuration theory (AST) is adopted for social software-supported collaboration in a way that emphasised its value as a contextual analysis approach. A conceptual framework was developed from the researcher's experiential knowledge, AST and empirical evidence, and then revised with the findings from exploratory studies. The main theoretical insights induced from empirical evidence are: influence from 'meta-users', e.g., supervisors and managers, affects both users' use intention and behaviour. Social structures embedded in social capital can enable or inhibit the adoption of social software. Nevertheless, new social structures do emerge from online conversations. Additionally, the results show that task-technology fit has little relevance to social software adoption. A case study approach with mixed methods is adopted in this study. Social network analysis and statistical analysis provide complementary support to qualitative analysis. The UK public sector was chosen as the research context. Individuals are knowledge workers in distributed and cross-boundary groups. The asynchronous social software applications studied are blogs and wikis.

Le gouvernement égyptien a lancé en 1997, sous la pression des bailleurs de fonds, dans un contexte dediffusion du New Public Management une réforme visant à améliorer la qualité dans les hôpitaux publics.Cette réforme a été globalement un échec, à tel point qu’une nouvelle réforme a été mise en œuvre en 2007.L’échec de ces deux réformes a été largement documenté dans la presse.Nous montrons que les approches qualité retenues par ces réformes sont essentiellement d’inspiration nord-américaine.Leur transplantation dans un contexte culturel différent, celui de l’Egypte, pose un problème demanagement interculturel, mais aussi, plus globalement, de prise en compte du contexte économique etsocial. Les méthodes de travail, le style de communication, les conceptions du temps ou de l’autorité sontdifférentes et engendrent des malentendus. Nos enquêtes de terrain ont montré à quel point il existe undécalage entre les textes sur la qualité, conçus dans un contexte nord-américain, et leur application enEgypte.Cependant, malgré la différence entre des normes conçues dans un contexte qui est essentiellement celui del’Amérique du Nord et le contexte culturel égyptien, le succès a occasionnellement été au rendez-vous. Cecinous a amenée à analyser la manière dont la transposition des outils de management de la qualité s’étaitopérée dans les rares cas de succès. Nous mettons en évidence le rôle des acteurs.Nous mobilisons donc dans notre recherche la théorie néo-institutionnelle et la théorie de la structuration, eten particulier le concept d’interaction action/structure. / In 1997, the Egyptian government launched a reform aimed at improving quality in public hospitals. Thisreform has largely been a failure, to the point that a new reform was implemented in 2007. The failure ofthese two reforms has been widely documented. Our masters’ degree research shows what gap there isbetween texts on quality, probably imported without thinking, from other countries, and their application.Working methods, styles of communication, conceptions of time and authority are different and causemisunderstandings. It appears difficult to make systems and people with different cultures and norms ofbehaviors work together.Our research focuses on the confrontation between two cultures through the implementation of qualityprocedures in public hospitals in Egypt. We show that these approaches are essentially of North Americaninspiration. However, despite the difference between standards developed in a context different from theEgyptian one, success has occasionally been achieved. This leads us to formulate the following question:How is, in a case of success, the transposition of management tools performed from the North Americancontext to an Egyptian context?In order to answer this question we are using the concept of interaction between action / structure, borrowedfrom the neo-institutional theory and from structuration theory.