Management Science and Engineering

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This is the collection for the University of Waterloo's Department of Management Science and Engineering.

Research outputs are organized by type (eg. Master Thesis, Article, Conference Paper).

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Now showing 1 - 20 of 367

Some Problems in One-Operator Scheduling
(University of Waterloo, 1999) Baki, Mohammed Fazle
A flexible workforce or a versatile machine is employed to perform various types of operations. Often these resources are associated with setups. Whenever a worker or machine switches from processing one type of operation to another a setup time may be required although several operations of a same type can be processed in succession after a single setup. The presence of setups gives rise to the problem of choosing batch sizes that are neither too large nor too small. In the last one and a half decade, many researchers have addressed the problem of scheduling with batching. A majority of articles assumes that there is only one type of scarce resource, which is typically machine. Often there can be two scarce resources such as a worker and a machine or a machine and a tool. We propose a resource constrained scheduling model with a single operator and two or more machines. Whenever the operator changes machine, a setup time is required that may be sequence dependent or sequence independent. We consider the two cases of an open shop and a flow shop. In the open shop case, the order in which a job visits the machines is unrestricted. In the flow shop case, every job must visit the machines in the same order. We consider various scheduling objectives. For variable number of machines, many cases are intractable. We discuss some dominance properties that narrow down the search for an optimal schedule. We present a dynamic programming approach which solves a large number of cases. The running time of the dynamic program is polynomial for a fixed number of machines. For the case of two machines, we show that the dominance properties have a nice interpretation. We develop some algorithms and justify their use by establishing running times, comparing the running times with those of the existing algorithms, and testing the performance of the algorithms.
Acceptance of a Remote Desktop Access System to Increase Workspace Awareness
(University of Waterloo, 2000) Williams, Jennifer
Awareness systems are being designed and implemented to improve employee connections. This study examines the variables that affect the acceptance of an awareness system. The awareness system that was used for this research was a remote desktop access system. The independent variables investigated were the degree of detail that can be viewed on a desktop, whether the users can control who can access their desktops, whether the users can control when others have access to their desktops, the equality of access to others' desktops, and task-technology fit. In determining the effect of the independent variables on acceptance, the dependent variable, the mediating variables of privacy and fairness were taken into account. There was a preliminary survey conducted to determine appropriate situations to be used in the scenario descriptions for the survey for the main study. The methodology of policy-capturing surveys was utilized to conduct the survey for the main study in order to investigate the model developed in this study. The policy-capturing survey was pre-tested on University of Waterloo students. The main study was conducted in two different organizations, the subjects for the first study were employees from the Information Systems and Technology Department at the University of Waterloo and the subjects for the second study were employees from Ciber Incorporated. Results indicate that perceptions of privacy and perceptions of fairness have significant effects on acceptance. Also, perceptions of privacy and fairness are related to details in the design of the remote desktop access system. This research may be a contribution to this field since little research has been conducted in this area and implications can be drawn for future research on acceptance of awareness systems.
Distinguishing successful from unsuccessful venture capital investments in technology-based new ventures: How investment decision criteria relate to deal performance
(University of Waterloo, 2001) Pries, Fred
This study investigates variability in the importance of investment decision criteria used by venture capitalists in assessing new technology-based ventures and relates the criteria to the subsequent performance of the investment in the new venture. Variability was measured using interval and ordinal scale approaches for both criteria ratings and rankings. The analyses found that the criteria used by venture capitalists form a general hierarchy that is consistently ranked across ventures. However, there are some criteria that do not form part of this hierarchy and whose importance varies depending on the specific venture being evaluated. The criteria that are consistently considered important by venture capitalists can be thought of as necessary conditions for investment. The hypotheses concerning the relationship between the criteria and subsequent deal performance are that:· deal performance can be assessed by venture capitalists earlier for Internet-related ventures than for other-technology based ventures (H1);· Internet-related ventures have more extreme levels of deal performance (H2);· a small number of criteria will distinguish between successful and unsuccessful deal performance (H3);· criteria that do distinguish have above average variability (H4); and· criteria related to first-mover advantage distinguish between successful and unsuccessful deals (H5). The study was conducted in two parts. The original study (n=100) conducted by Bachher (2000) gathered information about the importance of the investment criteria using a web-based survey. The follow-up study (n=40) gathered information about the success of the investments by surveying the original participants and gathering information from the Internet. Limitations of the study include a nonrandom sample, a small sample size for the follow-up survey and the very small number (n=5) of unsuccessful investments identified. Evidence for hypotheses H1 and H2 was in the predicted direction but failed to achieve statistical significance. The evidence is supportive of H3. Evidence for H4 and H5 was not found. Additional analysis of the results suggests that venture capitalists whose investments were ultimately unsuccessful placed less importance on technology-related criteria than did venture capitalists investing in the other ventures. This finding implies that venture capitalists need to perform detailed assessments of the technology of new ventures.
A Statistical Assessment of a Process To Evaluate the Commercial Success Of Inventions
(University of Waterloo, 2001) Sampson, Glen
In over twenty years of operations the Canadian Innovation Centre has evaluated, through its Inventor's Assistance Program (IAP), the commercial potential of over 12,000 early stage inventions. Prior to 1989, the Canadian Innovation Centre (CIC) used a version of the Preliminary Innovation Evaluation System (PIES), developed by Gerald Udell at the Oregon Innovation Center in 1974, to evaluate the commercial potential of early stage inventions. Since 1989, the CIC has used a modified version of PIES in their evaluation process. I first estimate the ability of this program's analysts to forecast the probability that an invention will become commercialized. I also estimate a model to predict the probability that an invention will become commercialized based on the IAP's evaluation of several underlying early stage characteristics of the invention. I find that such a statistical model is based on a limited set of variables and predicts future commercial success almost as well as the IAP's forecast of success. I then use factor analysis to determine if the ratings provided by the CIC evaluation service are representative of the underlying theoretical variable structure of PIES or their modified version. Factor analysis is applied to two distinct periods that are separated by a distinct alteration of the theoretical variable structure in 1989. While I find that the factor analysis provides evidence that the post 1989 theoretical structure does provide interpretation of some of the dimensions in the ranking variables, when a combination of the post 1989 and the pre 1989 structure are examined interpretability of the extracted factors is significantly improved. Finally, I compare the model estimated on the underlying early stage characteristics with a model estimated on the extracted factors. When the predictive accuracy of the two models is compared, I find that both procedures produce models that predict almost equally well. The models and the IAP perform better than R&D managers' predictions of their own R&D projects' successes. The thesis provides recommendations for the assessment and maintenance of evaluation models for inventions, innovations and R&D projects.
Integration of Learning, Situational Power and Goal Constraints Into Time-Dependent Electronic Negotiation Agents
(University of Waterloo, 2002) Mok, Wilson Wai Ho
In the past decade, electronic negotiation has become an important research topic in the field of information systems. A desirable goal of negotiation agents is to understand their owners' requirements, and to learn their opponents' behavior, thereby lessening the involvement of human beings. Studies on human negotiation bring out that several issues can affect a human's negotiation behavior, including learning an opponent's behavior, exerting power on an opponent, and setting an individual goal to improve the level of accomplishment. Research on incorporating these issues into negotiation agents is, however, still at an infancy state. We therefore take up this topic in this thesis. Researchers have proposed many different negotiation agents that follow a preset behavior based on human models of negotiation. In this thesis, we consider one such model, known as the time-dependent-tactical model, which is used by human negotiators and in which the values of the negotiating issues are determined based on the time elapsed in the negotiation. A learning mechanism for this model might be beneficial, because this model is frequently used in electronic negotiation. Thus, we propose heuristic algorithms that estimate the parameters of an agent's time-dependent-tactical model, and that then react to the estimated parameters for achieving higher negotiation performance. Besides learning, we incorporate two other factors that have been found to affect a human negotiation outcome. These are situational power, which represents differences in negotiators' status based on market conditions, and goal constraints, which stand for the levels of accomplishment negotiators try to strive for. To validate the impacts of learning, situational power and goal constraints in electronic negotiation, we first present how to integrate these features into negotiation agents, and then conduct simulations. With 187,500 simulation runs, we observe that our learning algorithms are effective in improving both individual and dyadic negotiation performances. For the effects of situational power and goal constraints, we obtain congruent results between human and electronic negotiations. By incorporating learning into situational power and goal constraints, we achieve significant joint effect between learning and situational power as well as that between learning and goal constraints. In summary, this thesis provides three primary contributions to the fields of information systems and electronic-commerce research. First, we have designed algorithms for learning an opponent's negotiation behavior. Second, our learning algorithms are found to be effective in improving negotiation performance. Third, we have shown how learning can be integrated with situational power and goal constraints, although this is not a major focus in this study. Finally, the agreement on the joint effects of learning, situational power and goal constraints between human and electronic negotiations suggests that our integrated design of the agent appears to be effective.
The Impact of Co-operation Policies on Participation in Online Learning Object Exchange: A Preliminary Investigation
(University of Waterloo, 2002) Jin, Lei
This research investigates the impact of cooperation policies on participation in, and benefits from, online learning object exchanges. First, an in-depth study of issues encountered in other online contexts (peer-to-peer systems, discussion group with lurkers, reputation systems) provided evidence that explicit cooperation policies and motivation techniques could bring benefits to online object exchanges. A case study is presented based on the comparison between two peer-to-peer systems, Mojo Nation and Gnutella, to show how cooperative policies could add value to online communities. This case study highlights several issues, such as the algorithm of pricing/exchange mechanism. Successfully solving these issues will be the key to identifying the benefits of an e-marketplace based online object exchange. An outline of an experimental exchange mechanism is presented, along with a prototype interface for users. To investigate further issues for users, an online scenario-based questionnaire was set up to measure potential users' attitudes towards cooperation policies. The detailed analysis on questionnaire results shows that cooperation policies hold promise to make the online object exchange more efficient. The results also illustrated how a transaction-based community could achieve the following benefits: increase of ROI object value discovery faster repository expansion better motivation through reputation recognition
A Design Experiment on Students' Perceptions of a Knowledge Management System
(University of Waterloo, 2002) Liang, Xiaohui
Although there is a large body of literature exploring the topic of knowledge management, most of the focus is on its application to industry. Seldom has a research priority been placed on the use of knowledge management in a university setting. This research investigated the impact of applying a knowledge management system -- Knowledge Net -- to the students in a course about designing learning activities with interactive multimedia at the University of Waterloo. A design experiment method was employed. Eight students were engaged in the study. The purpose of the design experiment was to investigate the students' response towards Knowledge Net, their ability to absorb and apply the knowledge gained from Knowledge Net, and the incentives that encouraged them to share and retrieve knowledge from the system. The findings will be helpful for the people who want to practice knowledge management in a university setting. The study results revealed that initially students had a positive attitude towards the potential value of the information in Knowledge Net. However, at the end of their design experiment, they reported a low expectation that students could learn from and apply the information in Knowledge Net. The reasons varied. It may be that they failed to truly understand the knowledge or to trust the source of information. Many students habitually prefer face-to-face contact with their counterparts to computers. As a result, the study suggested a few ways to improve the absorption of knowledge and to enhance the behavior of knowledge sharing. These new directions include: arranging personal meetings between the providers and recipients of knowledge, playing videos of other students sharing knowledge on Knowledge Net, increasing the level of encouragement and guidance from the instructor on use of the system, and applying situated learning and case studies. In addition, grading students on their use of Knowledge Net may be a useful incentive to help students make more effective use of Knowledge Net.
Analyzing an acquisition model and optimizing stock abnormal return using simulation techniques
(University of Waterloo, 2003) Liu, Ying
The relative economic efficiency of acquisitions as a means of restructuring financially distressed firms is investigated. Yearly accounting and daily stock price data are extracted for the period between 1979 and 1998 on firms entering financial distress The behaviour and performance of these firms were traced for a five year period following their entry into distress or until their shares were no longer trading. These collected data forms the basis for analyzing the returns acquired from investing in potential takeover targets. Survival analysis is used to analyze the hazard rate for both the acquisition and bankruptcy of distressed firms. The results of the analysis indicate that the ZSCORE, a predictor of the probability of failure, and SPCSRM, the rating by Standard and Poor's, can be used as financial indicators in the screening mechanisms for financially distressed firms. A multinomial-logit acquisition model is used to predict three outcomes of financially distressed firms: survival, acquisition and failure. This model is tested using two methods by simulating the probability of acquisition. The first uses to compare the predicted versus the actual corporate events to maximize the predicted acquisition event. The second uses to compute abnormal return to maximize portfolio return over a given time period, continual on the ZSCORE, probability of acquisition, and the length of holding period. The predictive model of the acquisition probability is applied as a stock entry rule in a buy-sell system. The success of the model will serve two purposes. One is to predict the economic value of acquisition. The other is to provide successful strategies for investing in stocks.
A Social Network Analysis of Corporate Venture Capital Syndication
(University of Waterloo, 2004) Zheng, Ju Kimberly
The importance of social capital can be characterized by a well-known quote: "it's not just what you know, but whom you know". Firms with rich social capital are more informed, more capable, and more competitive, because networks of resources are within their reach. Social capital is embedded in social networks, and social network analysis is the chief topic of this research. The network being examined contains 1126 venture capital (VC) programs, 206 of them being corporate venture programs, and the rest consisting of independent venture capital firms. Venture programs co-invest in portfolio firms following an identifiable pattern. This research attempts to explain this co-investment pattern using social network analysis. Four attributes of social networks are explored during this analysis: prominence, range, brokerage, and cohesion. The findings of the corporate venture capital network provide a number of implications for the theory of social capital. The objective of the thesis is using social capital to examine the syndication patterns in a corporate VC network. The analysis of the corporate VC co-investment pattern supports four hypotheses. First, the corporate VC network is not cohesive. Second, most relationships in the network are indirect. Third, most prominent VCs are also the most powerful resource brokers in the network. Lastly, prominent VCs are likely to syndicate with other prominent VCs.
Anticipatory Batch Insertion To Mitigate Perceived Processing Risk
(University of Waterloo, 2004) Varghese, Smitha
The literature reviewed on lot-sizing models with random yields is limited to certain random occurrences such as day to day administrative errors, minor machine repairs and random supply due to faulty delivery of parts. In reality however, the manufacturing industry faces other risks that are non random in nature. One example would be yield discrepancies caused by non random triggers such as a change in the production process, product or material. Yield uncertainties of these types are temporary in nature and usually pertain until the system stabilizes. One way of reducing the implications of such events is to have additional batches processed earlier in the production that can absorb the risk associated with the event. In this thesis, this particular approach is referred to as the anticipatory batch insertion to mitigate perceived risk. This thesis presents an exploratory study to analyze the performance of batch insertion under various scenarios. The scenarios are determined by sensitivity of products, schedule characteristics and magnitude of risks associated with causal triggers such as a process change. The results indicate that the highest return from batch insertion can be expected when there are slightly loose production schedules, high volumes of sensitive products are produced, there are high costs associated with the risks, and the risks can be predicted with some degree of certainty.
The Market-oriented Contribution of Individuals: Translating Strategy into Action
(University of Waterloo, 2004) Schlosser, Francine
This research explores the management problem of how individuals can influence the development of a strategic orientation within a firm. A market orientation strategy builds upon three dimensions: the organisation-wide acquisition, dissemination, and co-ordination of market intelligence (Jaworski & Kohli, 1993). Such management of market-based information requires a set of distinct dynamic capabilities or routines. Empirical research about the association between market orientation and performance shows that firms that develop these capabilities improve both their organisational and financial performance (Gray, Buchanan, & Mallon, 2003). This research attempts to understand the circumstances that prompt employees in all areas of an organisation to become accountable for the implementation of a market-oriented strategy. To date, studies have inadequately measured individual contribution to the market orientation of a firm and do not understand each employee's personal responsibility and willingness to act in a market-oriented way. In response, this thesis developed a dynamic, multi-dimensional scale of individual market-oriented behaviour. First-stage research used focus groups and extant literature to construct a measure of individual market orientation. Then, a cross-section of financial services employees completed a web-based survey measuring individual market-oriented behaviour and individual and interpersonal antecedents. Confirmatory factor analysis confirmed the presence of a single latent construct with three dimensions. Study results identified a strong and significant relationship between the performance of market-oriented behaviours and the perception of a high-quality fulfilled psychological contract with the employer. Employees who were agile learners and frequently in contact with customers were also more likely to practice market-oriented behaviours.
Factors Influencing Impulse Buying During an Online Purchase Transaction
(University of Waterloo, 2004) Hodge, Rebecca
An important element in retailing is the use of impulse purchases; generally small items that are bought by consumers on the spur of the moment. By some estimates, impulse purchases make up approximately 50 percent of all spending by consumers. While impulse purchases have been studied in the brick-and-mortar retail environment, they have not been researched in the online retail environment. With e-commerce growing rapidly and approaching $20 billion per year in the Canadian and US markets, this is an important unexplored area. Using real purchasing behaviour from visitors to the Reunion website of Huntsville High School in Ontario Canada, I explored factors that influence the likelihood of an impulse purchase in an online retail environment. Consistent with diminishing sensitivity (mental accounting and the psychophysics of pricing), the results indicate that the likelihood of a consumer purchasing the impulse item increases with the total amount spent on other items. The results also show that presenting the offer in a popup is a more effective location and presentation mode than embedding the offer into the checkout page and increases the likelihood of the consumer making an impulse purchase. In addition, the results confirm that providing a reason to purchase by linking a $1 donation for a charity to the impulse item increases the frequency of the impulse purchase.
Complementarities in the Implementation of Advanced Manufacturing Technologies
(University of Waterloo, 2004) Percival, Jennifer
Within the last decade, the importance of flexibility and efficiency has increased in the manufacturing sector. The rising level of uncertainty in consumer preferences has caused many organizations to aggressively search for cost reductions and other sources of competitive advantage. This fact has resulted in an increased implementation of advanced manufacturing technologies (AMT). A number of studies propose that the implementation of AMT must be accompanied by a shift in supporting organizational practices to realize the greatest performance enhancement. As yet, the complementarities between organizational policies and AMT have not been determined. Using assumptions about complementarities in manufacturing made by Milgrom and Roberts (1995) in conjunction with a comprehensive AMT survey (Survey of Advanced Technology in Canadian Manufacturing-1998) a model of manufacturing plant productivity was developed. Constrained regression analysis reveals that the use of AMT, as well as various organizational policies, depends both on the size of the plant as well as the industry in which it operates. Factor analysis of the over 70 variables found that regardless of the nature of the variable (business strategy, source of implementation support, AMT, etc. ), all design elements factored together. The factor analysis also shows that large firms who use AMT also have many design technologies. This result differs for smaller firms where the use of AMT is highly correlated with perceived benefits of the technology and a large number of sources of implementation support. The analysis also supports the distinction of high technology (highly innovative) industries and low technology (low levels of innovation) industries since electronics, chemicals and automotive have a large percentage of plants with all of the model factors whereas the textile, non-metal and lumber industries have very few plants with all of the model factors. The results show that there are important differences that should be considered when creating policies to encourage innovation and the use of AMT for the various manufacturing industries and plant sizes.
Why Do Inventors Continue When Experts Say Stop? The Effects of Overconfidence, Optimism and Illusion of Control
(University of Waterloo, 2004) Adomdza, Gordon
Data shows that many inventors continue to expend resources on their inventions even after they have received expert advice suggesting that they cease effort. Using a sample of inventors seeking outside advice from a Canadian evaluative agency, this paper examines how overconfidence, optimism, and illusion of control explain this fact. While overconfidence did not have a significant effect on inventor's decisions, illusion of control and optimism did have an effect. An additional interesting finding is that the more time people have spent working on inventions, the more likely they are to discount this expert advice.
Interorganizational Partner Selection as Negotiation: A Study of Two Distance Education Consortia
(University of Waterloo, 2005) Pidduck, Anne Banks
The choice of appropriate collaborative partners has consistently been reported as a key issue for contemporary managers. This study reports findings from a study which explored the process and criteria of partner selection - how and why partners are chosen. The results show multiple cycles of deal-making, partnership roles and organizational approval. Partner choice criteria focused on partnership requirements, but was influenced by additional factors. These results suggest that partner selection may be much more complex than previously recognized and could be better described as partner negotiation.

The researcher reviewed recent literature on partnerships, decision-making, and partner selection. Concepts from this previous work were updated with data from three initial interviewees experienced in university-industry partnerships. A conceptual Partner Negotiation Model was developed including three cycles of Deal-Making, Organizational Approval, and Partner Role/Selection. Our hypothesized Partner Choice Criteria centred on requirements, but were influenced by resource availability, social network, reputation, politics, and ambiguity. Two Canada-wide distance education consortia were identified as large-scale case studies for investigation of the research theory. A total of 34 informants were contacted. Written business plans, contracts, documents, partner network diagrams and 231 archival e-mails from 36 correspondents were collected and analysed for the two consortia.

The results showed strong support for partner selection included in negotiation cycles of deal-making and organizational approval. Partner choice criteria supported the need to meet documented requirements, but was also strongly influenced by resource availability, social network, and reputation. Additional issues of interest to the interviewees were motivation, operations, unit of partner, self-sustaining income, and integration to one consortium. As well, the Case Study Narratives offered deep, interesting insight into two specific cases of Canadian consortia.

The findings suggest that the formation of partnerships and the process of partner selection are both very complex. This research has provided new insights linking business negotiation concepts with partner selection. A model has been developed for viewing partner selection as negotiation. Three negotiation cycles of deal-making, organizational approval, and partner role/selection have been proposed. The research has identified four criteria that influence why specific partners are chosen ? requirements, resource availability, social network, and reputation. Finally, based on the complexities and issues from this work, a number of ideas for future research have been summarized.
MODELS OF EFFICIENT CONSUMER PRICING SCHEMES IN ELECTRICITY MARKETS
(University of Waterloo, 2005) Celebi, Emre
Suppliers in competitive electricity markets regularly respond to prices that change hour by hour or even more frequently, but most consumers respond to price changes on a very different time scale, i. e. they observe and respond to changes in price as reflected on their monthly bills. This thesis examines mixed complementarity programming models of equilibrium that can bridge the speed of response gap between suppliers and consumers, yet adhere to the principle of marginal cost pricing of electricity. It develops a computable equilibrium model to estimate the time-of-use (TOU) prices that can be used in retail electricity markets. An optimization model for the supply side of the electricity market, combined with a price-responsive geometric distributed lagged demand function, computes the TOU prices that satisfy the equilibrium conditions. Monthly load duration curves are approximated and discretized in the context of the supplier's optimization model. The models are formulated and solved by the mixed complementarity problem approach. It is intended that the models will be useful (a) in the regular exercise of setting consumer prices (i. e. , TOU prices that reflect the marginal cost of electricity) by a regulatory body (e. g. , Ontario Energy Board) for jurisdictions (e. g. , Ontario) where consumers' prices are regulated, but suppliers offer into a competitive market, (b) for forecasting in markets without price regulation, but where consumers pay a weighted average of wholesale price, (c) in evaluation of the policies regarding time-of-use pricing compared to the single pricing, and (d) in assessment of the welfare changes due to the implementation of TOU prices.
Effects of Threats to Self-Esteem and Goal Orientation on Asking for Help
(University of Waterloo, 2005) Chung, Andrew
This paper studied whether threats to self-esteem and goal orientation affected an individual?s propensity to ask for help. Eighty-two undergraduate students from the University of Waterloo completed a self-esteem and goal orientation questionnaire in addition to completing two tests. One test was designed to be more self-relevant than the other, making that test more potentially threatening to an individual?s self-esteem. In each test, subjects were given the opportunity to ask for help on each question. The results show that the use of social comparison motivates individuals to engage in self-protection by reducing their willingness to ask for help. In situations where many others had asked for help, help seeking behavior increased. These results extend other research in showing the impact of social comparison on individual behaviour.
The Intentional Base-on-ball Phenomenon in Baseball: A Statistical Analysis and Strategic Recommendations
(University of Waterloo, 2005) Kappy, Andrew
The game of baseball is amenable to a variety of strategies that affect short-term outcomes. This paper employs regression analysis, simulation, and cognitive analysis of mental biases to analyze the strategic scenario known as the "Intentional Base-on-Balls" and proposes a model to explain that strategy and predict its effectiveness.

The results of this study suggest that managers are prone to Type II errors, that is, issuing an Intentional Base-on-Ball in a situation where objective analysis suggests otherwise. Results further suggest that the ratio of Type I errors to Type II errors is disproportional to the ratio of their respective costs. This imbalance points to a subjective component to the decision-making process, one that can be explained by biases and cognitive errors.

The results and model described in this paper may allow managers to avoid future mistakes and improve their decision-making ability.
The Influence of Performance Measurement on Actor?s Perception of Task in Goal Oriented Systems
(University of Waterloo, 2005) Bobinski, Michal
This thesis addresses the problem of the influence of a control system on the behaviour of an actor in a social or socio-technical system. In particular, the influence of a performance measurement mechanism on the behaviour of an actor and on the development of workarounds is being studied.

Current literature on those topics generally addresses only selected and rather obvious reasons for the existence of dysfunctional behaviour or the workarounds. However, no precise models of the cognitive processes or the explanation of the mechanisms, which govern this problem, are proposed in a satisfactory manner. In addition, most researchers have focused only on the system?s point of view of the task, paying less attention to the actors? perception of that task. Furthermore, the existing body of work mainly uses a case study format to explain the phenomenon or to validate the proposed solutions and theories.

In this thesis, the problem of the influence control system on the behaviour of the actor is framed in terms of four major concepts: (1) the concept of complexity of the task not being fully captured by the performance measurement mechanism; (2) the concept of an actor perceiving that extra complexity is not being captured by the system and thus choosing alternate paths other than the system-prescribed path; (3) the concept of a network of valence forces associated with alternate paths; and finally, (4) the concept of similarity judgment between the alternative paths and the system-prescribed path based on the actor?s model of the control system?s point of view.

This thesis develops the theoretical framework for analyzing and understanding the issues of dysfunctional behaviour and workarounds. It also presents an empirical experimental study in support of the theoretical discussion and the hypothesis. The experiment examines subjects? rating of quality, defined as a degree of similarity to a target object, of several objects on a page under various performance measurement conditions. The stimulus used for experiment was made up of two dimensional quadrangle figures, including rectangle, parallelograms and trapezes, in various shades of red colour.
The Effect of Tangible Rewards on Perceived Organizational Support
(University of Waterloo, 2005) Silbert, Lisa
Using survey data from 61 employees, a regression analysis was performed to measure the effects that tangible rewards have on the employees? perception of organizational support. The analysis found that when employees have positive valance towards a reward and recall it frequently, they have increased levels of perceived organizational support. The study demonstrates that when organizations provide employees with rewards that the employees? value and recall, the employees will feel more supported by the organization. Employees who feel supported by the organization are more likely to engage in desirable workplace behaviours such as increased job involvement and reduced absenteeism.

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