Magistro darbo tikslas - išanalizuoti klientų aptarnavimo kokybę viešajame sektoriuje remiantis „Sodros“ Tauragės skyriaus atveju. Darbe analizuojami klientų aptarnavimo kokybę įtakojantys veiksniai: klientų aptarnavimo kokybę gerinantys metodai ir priemonės, efektyvumo kriterijai, paslaugų teikimo ypatumai. Tyrimui atlikti pasirinkta klientų anketinių duomenų bei darbuotojų interviu analizė. Gauti duomenys parodė, kad „Sodros“ Tauragės skyriaus klientai aptarnaujami kokybiškai, o įstaigos darbuotojai vertinami kaip kvalifikuoti bei savo darbą išmanantys specialistai. Nustatyti pagrindiniai veiksniai įtakojantys klientų aptarnavimo kokybę: informatyvumas, konfidencialumas, aptarnavimo greitis bei kultūra. Patvirtinta darbe iškelta hipotezė, kad „Sodros„ klientų aptarnavimo standartai padeda užtikrinti klientų aptarnavimo kokybę. / The aim of the master thesis is to analyze the quality of customer service in National social insurance Taurage‘s department. The paper analyzes the customer service quality influencing factors for improving the quality of customer service techniques and tools, performance criteria, service providing features. The research was based on customer’s questionnaire data and staff interview analysis. The data of analysis showed that the National social insurance Taurage‘s department’s customers have a good quality service and the office staff are recognized as a qualified and knowledgeable specialists. The main factors influencing the quality of customer service are informative, confidentiality, service speed and culture. The hypothesis that National social insurance’s customer service standards help to ensure quality customer service was confirmed.

In 2014-2015 a large-scale Ebola epidemic occurred in West Africa. The Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency was given the order to conduct the Swedish response. The purpose of this case study was to investigate the impact on project planning of the three factors: the nature of the crisis, political initiative and developing countries. In this case study the crisis was an epidemic, and the project was initiated by the Swedish Government and conducted in two developing countries. The results were intended to contribute to developed understanding and recommendations for future project managers in similar projects. The data collected came from six qualitative interviews, where all respondents were directly involved in the project planning. The project managers suggest that the three external factors had significant effects on project planning. The nature of the crisis led to impaired recruitment processes and personnel safety, and that it was difficult to predict the development of the epidemic, which led to frequent replanning. The political initialization generated pressure on project managers and executives, as well as an increased workload as more reports had to be compiled and presented. Developing countries have a less developed infrastructure, and political and economic aspects, that contributed to a complicated planning process. Many project managers had previous knowledge of the influencing factors but did not have sufficient routines for how to handle them. The study's main conclusion is therefore that project organizations increasingly need to learn from past experiences. / Mellan åren 2014 och 2015 pågick det en storskalig ebolaepidemi i Västafrika. Myndigheten för Samhällsskydd och Beredskap fick uppdraget att genomföra Sveriges respons. Syftet med denna fallstudie var att undersöka hur de tre faktorerna krisens karaktär, politisk initiering och utvecklingsland påverkade planeringsfasen i detta storskaliga krishanteringsprojekt. I det aktuella fallet var krisen en epidemi, projektet initierat av Sveriges regering samt utfört i två utvecklingsländer. Resultaten ämnade bidra med förståelse och rekommendationer för framtida projektledare vid liknande projekt. Den insamlade datan i studien kommer från sex stycken kvalitativa intervjuer, där samtliga respondenter var direkt involverade i fallstudiens projektplanering. Projektledarna upplevde att de valda påverkansfaktorerna hade betydande influenser på projektplaneringen. Krisens karaktär medförde försvårad rekryteringsprocess och personalsäkerhet, samt att det var svårt att förutspå epidemins utveckling vilket ledde till frekvent omplanering. Den politiska initieringen skapade press på projektledare och chefer, samt ökade arbetsbördan då fler rapporter skulle sammanställas, men gav samtidigt bättre samarbetsmöjligheter med övriga aktörer och en ledande roll i dessa relationer. Utvecklingsländer har en mindre utvecklad infrastruktur samt politiska och ekonomiska aspekter vilket bidrog till att planeringen komplicerades. Många av dessa påverkansfaktorer hade projektledarna kunskap om sedan innan men inte tillräckliga rutiner för hur de skulle hanteras. Studiens främsta slutsats är att projektorganisationer i större utsträckning måste ta lärdom av tidigare erfarenheter.

Uppsatsens utgångspunkt är samverkansarbete mellan det offentliga och civilsamhället inom ramenför den nationella Överenskommelsen inom sociala frågor. Kontexten är den samhälleligaomvandling och de välfärdsförändringar som skett sedan 1970-talet. Tidigare forskning inom ämnethar visat att konfliktperspektivet saknats inom forskningen av samverkan mellan det offentliga ochcivilsamhället. Uppsatsen bygger på det emancipatoriska kunskapsintresset vars strävan är att identifiera orsakertill missförhållanden och missförståelse som ligger bakom vissa fenomen, i det här falletkonsensusbegreppet. Uppsatsen lyfter fram maktasymmetri som en begränsande faktor inomramen för samverkansarbete mellan det offentliga och civilsamhället. Uppsatsen visar att det råderen oklar rollfördelning inom samverkansarbetet och de idéburna organisationerna vet inte huruvidaman är en röstbärare eller en serviceutförare. De idéburna organisationerna är även rädda för attframstå som kritiska gentemot det offentliga eftersom man då riskerar att tappa ekonomiskt stöd. Uppsatsen lyfter det trilaterala sanningsbegreppet för att uppdaga dold mening, hur dennakorresponderar med verkligheten och slutligen hur detta kan komma till praktisk användning.Resultatet kan ses som både teorigenererande och kunskapsproducerande med anledning avambitionen att integrera den kritiska teorins metaperspektiv med konkret empiriskt material, dvs.den nationella Överenskommelsen inom sociala frågor.

The public sector often invests in large projects in different sectors, such as education, health care and infrastructure. It can be argued that investment appraisal process in these projects should differ from conventional approaches due to the complex interests the public sector holds, which often implies that several aspects need to be considered. Conventional techniques may not suffice and therefore this thesis aims to investigate the applicability of real options analysis and multi-criteria analysis in a combined approach. The study is conducted in the form of a case study at publicly owned Sundsvalls Logistikpark, where options in the form of the utilization of development areas and the non-monetary aspect reduction of carbon dioxide are included in the appraisal. The model developed compares two alternative strategies where one is based upon conventional usage of the area and the other represents the environmentally friendly alternative. The results show that including the value of flexibility in the appraisal significantly raises the initial valuation, whereas the comparison of the strategies show that the results either details which strategy is preferred, if input to both strategies are available, or where the threshold for indifference lies. It is concluded that this model is applicable in terms of its ability to capture the value of flexibility and inclusion of several aspects of the decision problem. However, it is also concluded that the numerous simplifications made may lead to unreliability in the results, and the process of obtaining accurate input may time-consuming, depending on the case. The usability of the model is high in terms of its potential, but lower in terms of the knowledge-based threshold required of the user.

Sweden has one of the best elderly cares in Europe and the Swedish care work is also one of the best in terms of quality, compared to other European countries. In recent years, higher demands have been set on the care work and the number of privatizations of public services has increased. In 2009 a new law came into force, the Act on System of Choice (LOV) which increased individual’s right to a greater participation and a free choice in the selection of health and social care providers. This paper aims to highlight the impact of the law, system of choice. By using the method of qualitative surveys and interviews with care managers, and an exploration of relevant studies and reports, I was able to complete this study. With institutional theory and other sociological concepts such as isomorphism and street-level bureaucracy, I made an analysis of both the care managers and also at an organizational level. In the conclusions I argue that the system of choice has had a greater impact at an organizational level rather than on the care managers. The paper also highlights the fact that the knowledge of processes of implementation and political governance has had a significant role. The three main issues are how the law has influenced care managers work, how organizations have changed, how and if the active choices work in practice.

Syftet med studien är att beskriva och förstå hur chefer upplever samarbetet mellan enheterna inom den organisationskultur de är verksamma i. Analysen baseras på semistrukturerade intervjuer med 11 chefer inom en sektor i en kommunal vård- och omsorgsförvaltning, som utifrån LEAN önskar samla sin personalstyrka mot gemensamma mål för att bättre kunna klara sitt uppdrag. Studiens frågeställningar syftar till att undersöka hur cheferna upplever kulturen inom sin organisation och enhet samt hur de värderar samarbetet mellan enheterna. Undersökningen, som tillämpar en kvalitativ metod med hermeneutisk fenomenologisk ansats, analyserar intervjudata utifrån kulturteori och symbolisk interaktionism, med fokus på gemensamma symboler och mönster.  Studien fann att cheferna har nog med sitt och deras upplevelse av samarbetet är att det präglas av konkurrens, revirtänkande och oförenliga perspektiv. Arbetet med att stärka organisationens gemensamma kultur har ännu inte uppnått någon märkbar effekt och de gemensamma symbolerna är få. Enheterna utgör egna subkulturer som krockar med varandra, vilket gör att det gemensamma samarbetet saknar färdriktning och är flegmatiskt. Vår slutsats är att en gemensam kultur är av avgörande betydelse för att samarbete skall värderas och ge goda resultat. / The purpose of the study was to describe and understand how managers perceive the cooperation between units in their own organization. The analysis was based on semi structured interviews with 11 managers from a municipal social services organization. In order to better handle it´s agenda the organization used LEAN to mobilize staff towards common goals. The study questions aimed towards understanding how the managers experience the culture of their organization and unit and how they value cooperation between the units. The study used a qualitative method with a hermeneutic phenomenological approach analyzing data from interviews with culture theory and a symbolic interactive perspective focusing on common symbols and patterns. The results showed that the managers were busy with their own work and that cooperation with other units was seen as full of competition, territorial thinking, and incompatible perspectives. Little had been achieved as far as strengthening the common culture of the organization and common symbols were few. The units were subcultures of their own colliding with each other and giving a lack of direction. The conclusion was that for cooperation to be valuable and give good results a common culture is essential.

Undersökning i denna uppsats har utgjorts av en fallstudie. Fokus i vårt arbetehar legat på implementering, ledarskap och delaktighet.Syftet med vårt examensarbete har varit att studera hur implementeringen avaffärssystem kan gå till i en offentlig organisation och hur medarbetarnasdelaktighet samt chefernas ledarskap ser ut under implementeringen. Detövergripande syftet har varit att identifiera förbättringsområden och ge förslagtill lösningar. Vi har utgått från att kombinera en kvantitativ enkät medkvalitativa djupintervjuer för vår fallstudie.Sammanfattningen av våra slutsatser var följande: Den studeradeorganisationen inom offentliga sektorn är stor, komplex, hierarkisk samt har enspecifik ansvarsfördelning med befattningar och behörigheter och därför har enstegvis implementering tillämpats. Styrkor i implementeringsprocessen harvarit: projektmetodik, planering, stegvis införande, nyckelpersonerna somavancerade användare, testverksamhet och en egen förvaltningsorganisation.Svagheter i implementeringsprocessen har varit: ledarskap, förändringsledning,delaktighet, utbildning, kommunikation, resursplanering, oklart syfte, otydligamål samt vision som inte kommunicerats ut till medarbetarna i organisationen.Svagheter och styrkor sammanfattades i en egenutvecklad modell som delarimplementeringsprocessen i två delar – den tekniska och den organisatoriska.Den avgörande faktorn i implementeringsprocessen visade sig vara denorganisatoriska delen med aspekter som handlar om organisation och ledning. / The investigation in this paper consisted of a case study. The focus of our workhas been on implementation, leadership and participation.The aim of this thesis was to study how the implementation of ERP can go to apublic organization and how employee participation and managers' leadershiplooks during implementation. The overall aim has been to identify areas forimprovement and suggest solutions. We have combined a quantitative surveyand qualitative interviews for our case study.The summary of our conclusions were the following: The studied organizationin the public sector is large, complex, and hierarchical and has a specificresponsibility with roles and permissions and that is why a stagedimplementation with sixth insertion step has been applied. Strengths in theimplementation process were: project methodology planning, gradual entry keypersonnel, and advanced users, testing activities and its own managementstructure. Weaknesses in the implementation process were: leadership, changemanagement, empowerment, education, communication, resource planning,unclear purpose, unclear objectives, and vision that are not communicated tothe employees in the organization. Weaknesses and strengths were summarizedin a proprietary model that shares the implementation process in two parts- thetechnical and the organizational. The decisive factor in the implementationprocess proved to be the organizational part, aspects of which involveorganization and management.

Titel: Den kommunalt fängslade mellanchefen: En kvalitativ beskrivning av mellanchefers utövande av ledarskap.  Inledning: Kommunal verksamhet är starkt påverkbar av sin omgivning och måste kontinuerligt anpassa sig till denna samtidigt som den strävar efter en förutsägbarhet. Denna komplexa miljö inverkar på mellanchefers möjlighet att utöva sitt personliga ledarskap, och därför ställs det krav på att man som chef är anpassningsbar och medveten om sitt personliga ledarskap. Problemformulering: Hur ser chefer i olika hierarkiska positioner på sin möjlighet att utöva sitt personliga ledarskap? Syfte: Syftet med vårt arbete är att undersöka, beskriva och skapa en förståelse för chefers möjlighet att, på olika hierarkiska nivåer, utöva sitt personliga ledarskap i ett sammanhang påverkat av inre och yttre faktorer. Metod: För att besvara vårt forskningsproblem valde vi att använda oss av en kvalitativ metod. Genom ett hermeneutiskt tolkningssätt och ett abduktivt angreppssätt så analyserade vi de sex semi-strukturerade intervjuer vi utförde. Slutsats: Den slutsats vi drog är att ledarskapsutbildningens utformning och den begränsade rörelsefrihet som ges, resulterar i en konflikt mellan organisationens mål och en chefs möjlighet att utöva sitt personliga ledarskap. / Title: The municipally captured middle manager: A qualitative description of middle managers exercises of Leadership. Background: Municipal agencies are strongly influenced by the environment and must continuously adapt while striving for predictability. This complex environment impact middle managers possibility to practice one's own Personal leadership, and therefore demands are places upon managers for adaptability and a consciousness regarding ones personal leadership. Research Question: How do middle managers at different hierarchical positions view their opportunity to practice their own personal leadership? Purpose: The purpose of our study is to investigate, describe and create an understanding for how managers, on different hierarchical levels, practice their personal leadership in a context affected by internal and external influences. Method: To answer our research question we chose to utilize a qualitative methodology. Through a hermeneutic interpretation method and an abductive approach we analysed the six semi structured interviews we conducted. Conclusions: The conclusion we derived to is that the design of the leadership education and the restriction of freedom of movement that exists create a conflict between the goals of the organisation and managers ability to practice their own personal leadership.

South Africa is experiencing a process of formidable and fundamental change. Public administrators as well as politicians are under tremendous pressure as heavy demands are being placed on them. These demands include coping with interventions such as Affirmative Action, Employment Equity, and the importance of managing diversity in the workplace. Despite improvements in race relations in the past twenty years, dysfunctional and ineffective behaviour still occur. This may be a reflection of the discomfort and anxiety experienced by employees in the work setting. In order to comply with legislation, organisations created opportunities for Black, Asian and Coloured males and females, White females and disabled people. This, in return, leads to perceptions of preferential hiring. The view that Affirmative Action involves preferential hiring and treatment based on group membership creates resistance to its implementation and original purpose. The reason for this resistance might be linked to the fact that people still perceive discrimination and injustice in the workplace. These perceptions seem true in public organisations even though public organisations have taken a positive stance with regard to implementing Equal Employment and Affirmative Action plans. A qualitative design with an availability sample (N = 20) of employees working in a public organisation was used. The qualitative research makes it possible to determine the subjective experience of employees in a public organisation. Semi-structured interviews based on the phenomenological method were conducted with employees working in different sections and different positions in a public organisation. Non-directive questions were asked during the interview. The tape-recording of the interview was transcribed verbatim in order to analyse the information. Content analysis was used to analyse and interpret the research data in a systematic, objective and quantitative way. A literature-control has been done to investigate relevant research in order to determine the comparativeness and uniqueness of the current research. Results indicated that Affirmative Action has been used as a tool in achieving its goal by focusing on preferential hiring. From the responses it was clear that the majority of the participants are of opinion that preferential hiring led to the appointment of incompetent candidates. It appears from the interviews that appointments are made without basing it on merit. This is against the basic principle of the public organisation of hiring and promoting employees by set standards. Due to the fact that previous disadvantaged groups are being placed in positions of which they have no experience or are not trained in, job related knowledge seems to present a problem. From the interviews it appeared that employees felt that poor customer service increased across the organisation due to the appointment of incompetent candidates. This also seems to have an effect on the workload being handled. It seems that predominantly white employees tend to be ambivalent towards Affirmative Action. Part of the reason for this ambivalence is the fear of change, especially when that change involves a radical re-thinking of past strategies. White employees, employed by the old apartheid system, feel alienated and/or marginalised in the new Affirmative Action process. White employees are also leaving organisations because they seem not to be part of the Affirmative Action process. This leads to loss of expertise occurring in organisations. Though organisations show a considerable amount of improvement on relationships between black and white, discrimination still seems to present itself through the implementation of Affirmative Action. Managing diversity is crucial for the effective management and development of people. It is important not to focus only on cultural differences but also concentrate on individual needs and perceptions. Unfortunately, it appears that South Africa is in the process of making the same mistakes as other countries in focusing on a power game and corruption. Black employees in particular, seem to be actively recruited, placed in senior positions and given the related finishing. In other words top management are using their 'power' to enforce Affirmative Action. There are also those who want to abuse the system or maybe understand the system incorrectly. Corruption coming from top management tends to make employees negative. In order to address these issues, a succession and career planning process needs to exist which is closely tied to the organisations' strategic plan. Employment Equity, as a strategic objective, is managed by the organisation, but needs the Human Resources function in a support and consultancy role. As such, it requires translation into practical objectives for departments, managers and employees. Recommendations were made for future research. / Thesis (M.A. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2006.

BACKGROUND: Powerful public-private partnerships (PPPs) can only be established if the partners are able to deal with complexity. Such partnerships may serve to stimulate local community and economic development. Thus, it may maximise the effectiveness of local groups and resources in meeting the needs for rebuilding a community through a partnership representative of the public and private sectors. A problem that exists in South Africa, is the uneven distribution of population ratios dependent on public and private sector health care service delivery, in relation to the proportion of pharmaceutical service providers in the different sectors. OBJECTIVE: The main objectives of this qualitative research investigation were to examine the prospects for PPP development in the pharmaceutical sector of South Africa as well as to explore the possibilities of a proposition for a proposed generic public-private partnership model to be managed and used in the pharmaceutical sector of South Africa. METHOD: The study comprises of the exploration of the research questions by means of a qualitative research design. The study design implicated a balance between the in-depth literature study and a qualitative research process. The researcher employed a grounded theory approach to collect and analyse the data. Data collection represented the identifiable role players and opinion formulators in the South African health care sector. By following a combination of the various qualitative sampling methods and techniques, a total of 38 (n=38) interviews were conducted. The data collected from the interviewees and from the literature study were integrated and analysed by making use of computer assisted data analysis. SETTING: The researcher selected interviewees from the South African health care sector. The interviews included role players in the pharmaceutical sector in both the public and private sectors. The interviewees further represented eight different spheres of the pharmaceutical setting in South Africa. KEY FINDINGS: The investigation identified a range of prospects for PPP development in South Africa and these were reported in terms of views, expectations and scope for success. The management elements for developing and sustaining joint ventures between the public and private sectors were identified and a proposition was formulated in theory to serve as a proposed generic PPP model (PGM) in the pharmaceutical sector for the South African health care milieu. CONCLUSION The exploratory qualitative investigation surfaced the various facets of the complexity of PPPs. The investigation concluded that several barriers, such as competition and market entry disparities between the macro and micro level pharmaceutical entities, which impede PPP development, affected the prospects for PPP development in South Africa. The South African legislation, South African Treasury guidelines, regulations and the views of the SA Competition Commission need transformation to accommodate both the micro and macro level pharmaceutical service providers in the formation of PPPs. Capacity building within the sphere of pharmaceutical service delivery to the bigger population of South Africa may become sustainable on removal of these barriers. A series of recommendations were presented and several critical issues in need of supplementary research, have been identified. / Thesis (Ph.D. (Pharmacy Practice))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2007.