A framework to analyze argumentative knowledge construction in computer-supported collaborative learning

Computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) is often based on written argumentative discourse of learners, who discuss their perspectives on a problem with the goal to acquire knowledge. Lately, CSCL research focuses on the facilitation of specific processes of argumentative knowledge construction, e.g., with computer-supported collaboration scripts. In order to refine process-oriented instructional support, such as scripts, we need to measure the influence of scripts on specific processes of argumentative knowledge construction. In this article, we propose a multi-dimensional approach to analyze argumentative knowledge construction in CSCL from sampling and segmentation of the discourse corpora to the analysis of four process dimensions (participation, epistemic, argumentative, social mode)

The management of academic workloads: full report on findings

The pressures on UK higher education (from explicit competition and growth in student numbers, to severe regulatory demands) are greater than ever, and have resulted in a steady increase in measures taken by universities to actively manage their finances and overall quality. These pressures are also likely to have impacted on staff and, indeed, recent large surveys in the sector have indicated that almost half of respondents find their workloads unmanageable. Against this background it would seem logical that the emphasis on institutional interventions to improve finance and quality, should be matched by similar attention given to the allocation of workloads to staff, and a focus on how best to utilise people’s time - the single biggest resource available within universities. Thus the aim of this piece of research was to focus on the processes and practices surrounding the allocation of staff workloads within higher education. Ten diverse organisations were selected for study: six universities in the UK, two overseas universities and two non higher education (but knowledge-intensive) organisations. In each, a crosssection of staff was selected, and in-depth interviews carried out. A total of 59 such interviews were carried out across the ten organisations. By identifying typical practices, as well as interesting alternatives, views on the various strengths and weaknesses of each of their workload allocation approaches was collated; and associated factors requiring attention identified. Through an extensive process of analysis, approaches which promoted more equitable loads for individuals, and which might provide synergies for institutions were also investigated

New public management and administrative reforms in the Kingdom of Bahrain : implementing performance and programme-based budgeting

This research explores the opportunity for administrative reform in the government of Bahrain. In particular it offers an awareness and better understanding of how political elites construe and enact the principles of “NPM” in public sector organisations,explores the institutional capability of Bahrain’s public sector to initiate and sustain reform, and develops a conceptual model of reform applicable to Bahrain. In order to do so, it investigates the drivers of administrative change in Bahrain, examines how elements of NPM express themselves in management practice in Bahrain’s public sector organisations, and identifies facilitators and challenges to reform. Taking an interpretive approach, data was collected through a survey of ministries and semi-structured interviews with change leaders. Moreover, a case study was undertaken in the attempt to introduce a Performance and Programme Budgeting System (PPBS) in ministries, as a test case for an NPM-oriented initiative transferred outside its origin context. Drivers of reform were found to include, first and foremost, internal and external socio-economic forces, such as globalisation and demographic change, and, secondly, pressure from citizens for greater transparency and responsiveness. NPM elements expressed themselves to varying degrees in five key dimensions: organisational structure, the decision-making process, a movement to customer-driven, output-based funding,improvement of HRM performance and, finally, quality management in pursuit of efficiency in public services. However, certain constraints, including a lack of commitment from the political-administrative leadership and a lack of the prerequisite preparation, have impeded implementation. The research builds upon and extends existing theorising about NPM and draws practical implications for subsequent reform initiatives, in Bahrain and beyond

ADAPTING THROUGH ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE IN CAPITAL PROJECTS ORGANIZATIONS

Organizational change can be defined as an alteration of a core aspect of an organization’s operation, structure, or culture. Previous research on organizational change mainly has focused on different types of technical changes, such as alternative project delivery methods and strategies to adopt the design-build approach successfully. Also, previous studies have focused on the project level changes instead of organizational level responses. Here I show using a proposed change model and performing thematic, and analysis, that there exist common responses, and challenges across different types of capital projects organizations studied. The results show that responses to change will differ as a function of the type of change, and the organization’s capabilities and resources. Furthermore, when performing organizational changes, the impact on “people” within the organization should be closely studied and monitored, while taking into account other challenges that might impact the organization. For drivers of change, the main themes were related to Market shift. Clients/owners’ needs, and Sustainability. On the other hand, the organizational responses’ main themes were related to Restructuring, Communication, Partnerships, Training, Recruitment, Internal capabilities, organizational design, and supportive leadership. While for challenges, the main themes were mainly related to Resistance to change, the nature of the industry, and retaining the workforce. One of the major challenges faced during the research was motivating the organizations to participate. Various organizations showed interest and then decided not to join, while others that participated had to review their responses multiple times, and were concerned about revealing their “Trade secrets”. Future work should build on this effort and consider the responses and analyze them as a function of types of change, Moreover, future research should consider asking the interviewees to “weight” the responses to avoid wrong conclusions due to the low number of in-text mentions. This research will help capital project organizations to be aware of the main areas of concern during the journey of change and help them to learn from previous experiences from other organizations

Reengineering the management process of hospital consumable medical supplies to reduce cost and improve quality: an empirical study in China

JEL: M00As the society continues developing and people’s living standards rise in China, the top priority of its new medical reform has become pushing forward public hospital reform and optimizes the medical service system. At the same time, the medical reform’s guiding principles for operating the country’s hospital system have changed into maintaining non-profit medical institutions as the main body of the healthcare system, for-profit medical institutions as supplements; public medical institutions playing the leading role, and encouraging the concurrent development of non-public medical institutions. This change in guiding principles has led to intensified competition among hospitals. To survive in the competition, hospitals are emphasizing on reducing cost and improving service quality. Therefore, reducing cost and providing high quality medical services has become an important goal for hospital management. With continued advancement of medical technologies, the type and the quantity of medical supplies have been continuously increasing. The number of wasted medical supplies has also been increasing rapidly. Medical supplies include three major categories, namely, pharmaceuticals, consumable medical supplies, and medical logistical materials (Fu, 2009). This thesis aims to study the management of consumable medical supplies. This thesis examines how hospitals can achieve inventory reduction of hospital consumable supplies, improve management quality, and lower cost by reengineering and optimizing the management process of the whole lifecycle of consumable medical supplies, including production, circulation, hospital, units and utilization, and by utilizing information management systems. The first half of the thesis describes the theoretical bases of reengineering and optimization as well as information systems utilized to achieve improved hospital consumable supply management. The second half uses three groups of data, namely, interviews, a case study and questionnaire surveys, to provide analysis results of successful use of reengineering and optimization as well as information system to improve hospital consumable supply management process in China. The first group of data includes interviews of several managers from three companies providing hospital consumable medical supplies which offer qualitative analyses regarding the problems in hospital consumable medical supply management process, solutions to resolve those problems, and challenges in solution implementing. The second group of data includes a case study of a large hospital in Shanghai, from the supplier’s perspective, of their consumable medical supply management process resulted from the restructured information systems platform. The third group of data includes questionnaire survey responses from leaders of multiple hospitals regarding comparisons of its consumable medical supply management process and results between before and after the implementation of the information systems platform.À medida que a sociedade Chinesa se desenvolve e as condições de vida melhoram, a prioridade da reforma médica tem vindo a concentrar-se na reestruturação dos hospitais públicos e na otimização do sistema médico nacional. Ao mesmo tempo, os princípios orientadores do funcionamento do sistema hospitalar nacional mantêm as instituições médicas não orientadas para o lucro como o corpo principal da sistema de saúde, e as instituições orientadas para o lucro como suplementares; em suma, enquanto as instituições médicas públicas desempenham o papel principal no sistema de saúde, o desenvolvimento de instituições privadas é incentivado. Esta mudança de princípios desencadeou uma concorrência entre hospitais. Para sobreviverem no ambiente cada vez mais concorrencial, os hospitais concentraram-se na redução de custos e na melhoria da qualidade dos seus serviços. Deste modo a redução dos custos e a melhoria dos serviços médicos prestados transformaram-se em objetivos principais, para os gestores hospitalares. Com a evolução contínua das tecnologias médicas, o tipo e a quantidade de fornecimentos hospitalares tem vindo a aumentar. A quantidade de desperdícios resultantes dos fornecimentos hospitalares tem também aumentado de uma forma muito rápida. Os fornecimentos hospitalares consumíveis incluem três categorias: farmacêutica, consumíveis médicos e materiais de logística (Fu, 2009). Esta tese tem como objetivo principal investigar a gestão dos fornecimentos médicos consumíveis. Esta tese investiga como os hospitais podem diminuir o inventário dos fornecimentos hospitalares consumíveis, melhorar a qualidade da gestão e baixar o custo através da reengenharia e otimização da gestão de todo o processo de vida dos consumíveis médicos, incluindo a produção, a circulação e utilização, apoiando-se sistemas de informação para a gestão. A primeira parte desta tese descreve as bases teóricas da reengenharia e otimização, assim como dos sistemas de informação utilizados para conseguir a melhoria da gestão dos fornecimentos. A segunda parte utiliza três tipos de dados, nomeadamente, dados recolhidos através de entrevistas, dados provenientes de um caso, e dados recolhidos através de um questionário. Estes dados permitem-nos descrever casos de sucesso na melhoria da gestão dos fornecimentos hospitalares na China. Os dados provenientes das entrevistas a gestores de três empresas fornecedoras de consumíveis médicos permitem-nos, uma visão qualitativa dos problemas e soluções para os resolver. Os dados provenientes do estudo de caso de um grande hospital de Shanghai, na perspetiva dos fornecedores fornecem-nos uma ideia da importância da existência de plataforma de sistemas de informação. O terceiro grupo de dados é proveniente dos questionários administrados a gestores de hospitais onde se questiona sobre a situação da gestão dos consumíveis médicos hospitalares antes e depois da existência de plataformas de informação

An analysis of Eastern European liner shipping during the period of transition

NoneMerged with duplicate record 10026.1/1187 on 07.20.2017 by CS (TIS)Transition in Europe is one of the most important transformations in modern history. This research investigates the impact of economic and political transition on the liner sector of post-Soviet Europe. Former socialist shipping corporations have begun to offer services under market conditions and left behind the rigid leeway of central planning (Cottam and Roe 2007). Extensive adjustments in ownership, organisation, fleets and markets have transpired. Successful transformation of the maritime industries has a major influence upon the speed and route of economic development in transition countries (Von Brabant 2011). Despite this, liner shipping has received very little attention from academia. There have been no profound investigations, nor a recognised transition model concerning the Eastern European liner sector. However, developments within this field and its importance for liner shipping internationally make transition shipping a topic worthy of rigorous analysis. A review of Eastern European liner shipping during the period of transition was undertaken in order to assess the level of adaptation to the demands of the free market placed upon the Eastern European liner shipping corporations by the post-1989 transformations. Eastern European maritime literature supported the application of the concept from a transition context and assisted in the development of a conceptual model. The role of the model is to provide a visual representation of the most important elements of restructuring processes used in the facilitation of liner shipping in the European free market. Analysis of the research synthesis resulted in the identification of key dimensions crucial to successful transition. A three-tiered Delphi survey classified major areas of change and the relationship of changes to the liner industries. From a systemic point of view, research findings indicate the existence of a number of transitional processes utilised in the restructuring of liner shipping fleets. These are: liberalisation, deregulation, commercialisation, privatisation and European Union accession. Such processes are intricately linked and deeply dependent upon evolutionary timing and sequencing. A discussion of the results provides serious implications for world practitioners. Based on the findings of this study, European Union competitors may take advantage of the fact that transitional liner shipping has largely lost touch with market decisive players, although it has undergone broad privatisation and restructuring. Conversely, Eastern European liner corporations can analyse the effect of transition upon shipping, and draw comparisons between the varying techniques applied and the results achieved by national fleets in order to identify the most advantageous commercialisation strategies. Government initiative will now be required to overcome the conflict between the interest of the liner industry and that of the national citizen, such that there will be public acceptance of free competition, privatisation and foreign investment.Self-funde

Staff perception on the impact of management control system changes in altering operating behaviour to align with strategic imperatives : a university case study

The thesis explored the attempts of management to respond to stakeholder pressures through selection of strategies supported by revised management control systems. Particular emphasis was on understanding the implementation of the management control system in its organisational context. As part of that, the study examined the effectiveness of these efforts to realigning staff behaviour to match the strategic goals. Over the past three decades the rapid changes in political and economic environmental (external and internal) factors put pressures on the universities to adopt strategies, policies and performance measurement systems similar to any business organisation and this was also reflected in the change in leadership (management) positions within the organisation. The replication of the private sector performance measurement systems in the newly adopted MCS has significantly changed the reporting structures, responsibility and accountability measures of universities by replacing the traditional collegial-based model with a much more centralised management-imposed style. However, it is not known whether staff equally perceived the same pressures as legitimate enough for the implementation of the dramatic reconstitution and there is very little understanding of staff perceptions on how many of these factors were responsible for strategic changes in the higher education sectors. The motivation for the research therefore originated from curiosity to understand whether/how the staff at different levels perceived the impact of those strategic changes and whether they have significantly changed operational behaviours. An element of this case study was to identify, from staff perceptions, the major external and internal factors responsible for strategic changes of a university and their consequential impact on the Management Control Systems (MCS). It also addressed whether and/or how the change in the MCS has changed the operational behaviour of staff to achieve the University’s strategic goals. The study is based on a social constructionist approach and has utilised the intellectual merits of Institutional Theory and Resource Dependence Theory to understand the legitimacy and resource dependency aspects of the change process. The two main theories have been complemented with the use of Silence Theory to understand the changes in staff operational behaviours. It is expected the in-depth understanding provided by the study would help in future strategy development and the implementation process with a stronger focus on the behavioural aspects of change. The major findings of the study show that the three groups of interviewees displayed a mix of attitudes towards identifying the major influential factors. The Government influence was identified as the strongest external factor that regulated the University’s responses to the remaining influential factors. It was identified that staff attitudes towards any external factor was not influenced by the merit of that factor but rather the way the University implemented the changes within the organisation. Some staff at both the mid-level and the operational level displayed negative attitudes towards how the strategic changes were implemented. The study identified perception gaps among the three levels of staff on the impact of the Management Control Systems on staff operational behaviours. It was identified that the overall impact of the MCS changes tended to show the behaviour of the operating level group was often goal incongruent although the formal reporting indicators showed the opposite. The internal resource allocation process had been used as the major lever of control. Tone of communication had also been used by the top management as a control tactic. Decoupling behaviours emerged from the major external pressure (government) and was adopted by different levels of individuals in different ways. These differences created confusion and contributed to the perception gap between the top management and operating level staff. One of the most important findings of the study is the level of covert resistance among operating level staff. A significant number of them adopted the ‘silent treatment’ as a resistance strategy that had affected achievement of strategic goals; a behaviour that was overlooked and/or neglected by the management. The study also found that the strategy implementation based on the new business model approach adopted by the University was not accepted by staff as it conflicted with their traditional values. In this case it was found that the emphasis placed on the technical aspects of the MCS was inadequate in addressing the behavioural elements of achieving goal congruence

A critical analysis of the investigative capacity of general detectives in handling fraud cases

This study investigates the question of investigative capacity of South African Police Service general detectives at the local station level with regard to fraud investigation. The research presented in this thesis is based on a qualitative thematic analysis of the systemic investigative capacity of the detectives handling fraud and related offences. Fraud related crimes are consistently dismissed and perceived as less serious than violent crime, yet the impact of fraud affects individuals, organisations, and society. This study includes interviews with n = 15 (83%) participants out of 18 (100%) using a semi-structured interview schedule for data collection. The available literature indicates the increasing incidents of general fraud being inadequately investigated at the local police stations because of investigative incapacity. The complexities of any criminal investigation require sufficient resources to achieve the highest level of investigative performance. In this regard, criminals are gradually outwitting the conventional methods of fraud investigation, especially in terms of technological advancements. The study’s findings reveal how general detectives are systematically tested to their capacity in relation to fraud investigation – inter alia, participants identified the following challenges to meeting investigative objectives: ambiguous general fraud investigation directives, poor training, limited resources, abuse of available resources, unreasonably high workloads, and human resource shortages. These institutional factors need consideration to allow progress in criminal investigation procedures. This study creates the context for the recommendation that a series of systemic reforms be introduced, based on a professional model, pertaining specifically to fraud investigation at the local police station level. This means some of the distinct investigative practices that are effective be inverted and strengthened in recognition of the scope and complexity of general fraud, and the influence this complexity has on investigative methodology. For example, setting up proper and recognised station-level fraud units to handle incoming “general fraud” cases, staffed with trained detectives, who have access to adequate resources. This would create an opportunity to address institutional issues around training to rectify general detectives’ core skill deficiencies prior to them being assigned to criminal cases. Training should include case management, investigative procedures, and the use of technology (to effectively combat digital fraud). Moreover, it is vital to maintain an oversight over the fraud mandates which differentiate the scope of practice between vii specialist and general detectives, with a thorough understanding of what constitutes general fraud and complex, organised fraud. It is furthermore suggested that local and international best practice trends be implemented by general detectives in their fraud investigations.Thutopatlisiso eno e sekaseka ntlha ya bokgoni jwa go batlisisa jwa matseka a kakaretso a Tirelo ya Sepodisi sa Aforikaborwa kwa legatong la seteišene sa selegae malebana le dipatlisiso tsa boferefere. Patlisiso e e tlhagisitsweng mo thesising eno e theilwe mo tshekatshekong e e supang, e tlhatlhoba le go kwala ditiragalo tsa bokgoni jwa go dira dipatlisiso jwa matseka a a dirang ka ditlolomolao tsa boferefere le tse di amanang le tseo. Bosenyi jo bo amanang le boferefere gantsi bo kgaphelwa thoko mme bo tsewa e le bosenyi jo bo sa tsenelelang go tshwana le bosenyi jwa tirisodikgoka, fela ditlamorago tsa boferefere di ama batho, ditheo le setšhaba. Thutopatlisiso eno e akaretsa dipotsolotso le banni le seabe ba le n = 15 (83%) go tswa go ba le 18 (100%), go dirisiwa sejule ya dipotsolotso e e batlileng e rulagane go kokoanya tshedimosetso. Dikwalo tse di gona di supa koketsego ya ditiragalo tsa go se batlisisiwe go go lekaneng ga boferefere jwa kakaretso kwa diteišeneng tsa selegae tsa sepodisi ka ntlha ya tlhaelo ya bokgoni jwa go batlisisa. Marara a patlisiso epe fela ya bosenyi a tlhoka ditlamelo tse di lekaneng go fitlhelela tiragatso e e kwa godimo ya patlisiso. Mo ntlheng eno, disenyi di tlhalefetse mekgwa ya tlwaelo ya dipatlisiso tsa boferefere, bogolo segolo mo ntlheng ya tswelelopele ya thekenoloji. Diphitlhelelo tsa thutopatlisiso di bontsha ka moo bokgoni jwa matseka bo lebaganang le teko e e boitshegang ka gona malebana le dipatlisiso tsa boferefere – gareng ga tse dingwe, banni le seabe ba supile dikgwetlho tse di latelang malebana le go fitlhelela maitlhomo a dipatlisiso: dikaelo tse di sa tlhamalalang ka kakaretso malebana le dipatlisiso tsa boferefere, katiso e e bokoa, ditlamelo tse di tlhaelang, tiriso e e botlhaswa ya ditlamelo tse di gona, selekano sa tiro se se kwa godimo moo go sa amogelesegeng mmogo le tlhaelo ya badiri. Dintlha tseno tsa mo setheong di tlhoka go lebelelwa go kgontsha gore go nne le tswelelopele mo ditsamaisong tsa dipatlisiso tsa bosenyi. Thutopatlisiso eno e tlhoma bokao jwa dikatlenegiso tsa gore go itsesewe diphetogo tsa thulaganyo di le mmalwa, di theilwe mo sekaong sa porofešenale, se se totileng dipatlisiso tsa boferefere kwa legatong la seteišene sa selegae sa sepodisi. viii Seno se kaya gore ditiragatso dingwe tsa dipatlisiso tse di dirang sentle di rulaganngwe sešwa le go maatlafadiwa go lebeletswe bogolo le marara a boferefere ka kakaretso, mmogo le tshusumetso ya marara ano mo mokgweng wa dipatlisiso. Seno se kaya, go naya sekai, go tlhoma diyuniti tsa boferefere tse di siameng le tse di lemogwang kwa legatong la seteišene go samagana le dikgetse tse di tsenang tsa "boferefere jwa kakaretso", di na le matseka a a katisitsweng, a a kgonang go fitlhelela ditlamelo tse di maleba. Seno se tlaa dira tšhono ya go samagana le dintlha tsa setheo malebana le katiso go lolamisa tlhaelo ya bokgoni jwa botlhokwa jwa matseka a kakaretso pele ga ba ka rebolelwa dikgetse tsa bosenyi. Katiso e tshwanetse go akaretsa tsamaiso ya dikgetse, tsamaiso ya dipatlisiso le tiriso ya thekenoloji (go lwantsha boferefere jwa dijitale ka nonofo). Mo godimo ga moo, go botlhokwa go nna le tlhokomelo ya dithomo tsa boferefere e e farologanyang tiro ya matseka a baitseanape le a kakaretso, go tlhaloganngwa sentle pharologano magareng ga boferefere jwa kakaretso le boferefere jo bo marara jo bo rulaganeng. Gape go tshitshinngwa gore matseka a kakaretso a diragatse mekgwa ya tiragatso e e gaisang ya selegae le ya boditšhabatšhaba mo dipatlisisong tsa ona tsa boferefere.Police PracticeD. Litt. et Phil. (Police Science