Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Career in undercover operations'

This dissertation presents the social virtual interface (SVI) model, which was born out of a need to develop a viable model of the complex interactions, information flow and information seeking behaviors among undercover officers. The SVI model was created from a combination of various philosophies and models in the literature of information seeking, communication and philosophy. The questions this research paper answers are as follows: 1. Can we make use of models and concepts familiar to or drawn from Information Science to construct a model of undercover police work that effectively represents the large number of entities and relationships? and 2. Will undercover police officers recognize this model as realistic? This study used a descriptive qualitative research method to examine the research questions. An online survey and hard copy survey were distributed to police officers who had worked in an undercover capacity. In addition groups of officers were interviewed about their opinion of the SVI model. The data gathered was analyzed and the model was validated by the results of the survey and interviews.

Nigerian women have become more integrated into the workforce, but this integration has led to conflicts between work and family responsibilities. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore the lived experiences of Nigerian women regarding challenges and strategies in management and leadership positions in relation to their domestic lives and responsibilities. Liberal and social feminist theory and gendered leadership theory were used as the conceptual framework of the study. The findings of this study came from data obtained from semistructured interviews with 15 Nigerian women in leadership and management positions regarding their perceptions and lived experiences of balancing work and family responsibilities. The data analysis consisted of using a modified Van Kaam process, which resulted in 7 themes including multiple roles make balance difficult, supportive husband as a key to balance, and the role of God in supporting and guiding the women. The findings of this study could contribute to positive social change by providing necessary information regarding how Nigerian women perceive their roles in management and leadership positions as they grapple with the challenges of pursuing a career and maintaining their families, leading to more informed organizations and policymakers. This study includes findings about how women perform and are evaluated as managers, which could eventually influence hiring practices by highlighting the barriers and strategies to overcome them as experienced by Nigerian women in management positions.

Past research has highlighted various problematic issues related to the use of the RCMP undercover operation entitled the “Mr. Big” sting. In a landmark decision, R v. Hart [2014], the Supreme Court of Canada recognized many problems with it and implemented a new admissibility test that would render confessions obtained by the undercover operation presumptively inadmissible. This research project explores the impact that this new evidentiary rule has had on cases involving “Mr. Big” confession evidence since the Hart decision (2014 to 2016). A content analysis was conducted on 16 cases that applied the new admissibility test. The case analysis revealed several important findings from cases that have applied the new admissibility test following Hart. In order to situate these findings, General Systems Theory was used to illustrate the impact that the court’s interpretation of the new evidentiary rule could have on the different components of the criminal justice system. It will be important for future research to further examine the impact of the new admissibility test in order to enhance our understanding of the influence it has had on cases involving “Mr. Big” sting confession evidence.

In 2016, the U.S. Census Bureau indicated only 39.1% of women occupied management and leadership occupations. The absence of women in leadership roles minimizes career aspirations, reduces the benefits of gender diversity, and lowers growth opportunities for women. The purpose of this interpretive hermeneutical phenomenological study was to unveil the lived experiences of a sample of minority women managers and leaders in the finance and insurance sector in Central Florida who encountered general career barriers and self-imposed career impediments that hindered them from advancing. The conceptual framework that guided this study was the social cognitive career theory coupled with the self-efficacy theory. Data were collected through semistructured interviews with 8 minority mid-level managers and leaders in the finance and insurance industry in Central Florida. Data were analyzed using the modified van Kaam method reformed by Moustakas. Five themes emerged from the data: General career barriers, self-imposed career impediments, career challenges, career management strategies, and career barrier counsel. These results may contribute to social change by raising awareness about career impediments that can discourage career paths of women and illuminating strategies regarding how to maneuver through interferences. Women can take control of their lives and modify their career paths. When organizational managers and leaders become more self-aware of the perceived career obstructions, they can initiate the appropriate training to help their employees maneuver, overcome, and navigate through difficulties.

Work values, defined as the end states people desire and expect to realize through work, appear to play a role in career success, but the small number of past studies have reported conflicting results, some of which may be attributed to research methodology. Using a person-centered approach to model the conjoint effects of intrinsic and extrinsic work values, the present study inductively investigated the association between work-value profile and career success using a three-panel longitudinal dataset consisting of 905 lawyers from the After the Juris Doctorate (AJD) study. Latent profile analysis identified five work-value profiles: (i) Neither Intrinsic nor Extrinsic (NIE); (ii) Moderately Intrinsic and Extrinsic (MIE); (iii) Highly Intrinsic (HI); (iv) Highly Intrinsic, also Extrinsic (HI[E]); and (v) Highly Extrinsic, also Intrinsic (HE[I]). Measurement invariance was established across gender, but gender was an antecedent to profile assignment, with males being more likely to belong to the NIE, MIE, or HE[I] profiles compared to the HI profile. The work-value profile construct displayed intuitive and meaningful relationships with objective and subjective career success indicators over time. The results exposed the inadequacies of methods that examine the effects of intrinsic and extrinsic work values separately. The two sets of values appeared to interact in a non-linear fashion in their associations with career variables, such that modelling them simultaneously, but only linearly, might also be misleading. Contrary to claims made by studies based on the self-determination theory, the HI profile was not positively associated with subjective career success. Generally, the more successful lawyers from early to mid-career also tended to report high intrinsic and high extrinsic work values i.e., those with the HI[E] and HE[I] profiles; the former enjoyed higher subjective career success while the latter exhibited the highest objective career success. The absence of the highly extrinsic profile among this sample of lawyers reinforced past calls to restructure the transactional rewards systems in large law firms.

The question of the development and content of personal career goals has received little attention and relatively little is known about the factors influencing career goals and when and how career goal setting occurs. Drawing from Ashforth’s (2001) model of role transitions, I propose that professional identification is an important precursor to the development of career goals. The primary research objectives of this dissertation are to explore how identity motives drawn from experiences in graduate school relate to professional identification and how professional identification relates to both short- and long-term career goals for graduate students. I investigated my conceptual model and research hypotheses using a mixed-methods design. The stage 1 qualitative analysis was used to (1) identify measures corresponding to Ashforth’s (2001) four psychological motives (i.e., identity, control, meaning, and belonging) as antecedents of identification and (2) representative measures of career goals for graduate students. Forty-eight graduate students responded to open-ended questions about graduate school experiences, challenges, and career goals. Content analysis revealed measureable constructs for graduate students that align with Ashforth’s control and belonging motives; graduate students elicited support from advisors (i.e., career and psychosocial mentoring), peers (i.e., peer support), and colleagues (i.e., networking) to provide a framework for identification with their new professional roles. In terms of outcome goal variables, graduate students’ goals reflected two major content themes: extrinsic needs and status attainment. The responses from the Stage 1 qualitative survey along with social identity theory (Tajfel & Turner, 1979) and the goal setting literature served as the basis for the development of the Stage 2 quantitative survey assessing both short-term and long-term career goals. Based on a sample of 312 (short-term career goal model) and 243 (long-term career goal model) graduate students from 28 different universities in fields across both hard and social sciences, results show that one individual characteristic (need for identification) and actions of faculty advisors (psychosocial mentoring) are positively related to professional identification. Professional identification was related to goals in two main ways. First, higher professional identification positively related to short-term career goals which were high quality – that is, the goals were specific, difficult, and graduate students were committed to achieving them. Second, professional identification was positively related to both short-and long-term extrinsic goals, suggesting that graduate students who have internalized the goals and objectives of the profession see that a way to solidify their professional standing is to pursue a position that presents opportunities for high wages and external rewards. Overall, the research findings have implications for theory related to identification motives and identification in role transition processes. The study also contributes to the literature on careers and goal setting, especially as it relates to professional workers. From a practical perspective, faculty advisors should emphasize positive psychosocial mentoring experiences such as counseling and friendship to create a sense of professional identity for students, and professional associations and faculty should consider that identification with a profession is primarily related to career goals associated with high financial success.

Academically and professionally qualified Black women who immigrated to Sweden from the United States and the continent of Africa encounter barriers that may hinder their career opportunities. The unstable labor market position of foreigners required efforts by the Swedish government to address the problem. Little is known about the unique and specific challenges that qualified Black immigrant women experience when integrating into the Swedish labor market with foreign qualifications and professional experience. Guided by Durkheim's social integration theory, the purpose of this phenomenological study was to evaluate the lived experiences of Black immigrant women as they integrated into the Swedish labor market with foreign education and professional experience. Using a Facebook group and an organization promoting Black women in Europe, data were collected through 9 semistructured, open-ended interviews with Black immigrant women who lived in Sweden for at least 7 years. Data were then coded and analyzed using Moustakas' framework. Using thematic analysis produced the following themes: reevaluation of labor market policy and Swedish language, networking, and discrimination. Results from this research provide a framework for the Swedish government, public, and private organizations to direct future research, enhance labor market integration opportunities for academically and professionally qualified Black women and other immigrants, and inform the public about current debates and propositions for modifications to labor integration policies.

In Nigeria, 92% of retirees live in poverty because of insufficient preparation for entrepreneurship that could serve as an alternative income in retirement. Guided by the human capital theory, the purpose of this case study was to explore how 15 civil service employees in Grade Levels 15-17 at the public service attained small scale business information before retirement. All employees had knowledge, training, and experience in small-scale business operation. Fifteen employees participated in individual interviews and 5 participated in a focus group; data were also gathered from, employee training records, organizational policy documents on training, and public service documents regarding capacity building. Using Yin's 5 step data analysis process, member checking, and triangulation, key findings emerged on financial institutions, mentoring, and vocational training opportunities as avenues employees can attain small scale business information required for entrepreneurship. The study findings may create awareness on how employees can attain small scale business information regarding sources of funding, mentorship, and vocational training during their final years of employment. This awareness may promote positive social change by preparing these individuals for entrepreneurship in retirement, thereby reducing the rate of post-retirement poverty.

Females have been discouraged from taking science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) classes during high school and college, resulting in limited access to high-paying STEM careers. Therefore, these females could miss opportunities for these high-paying careers. The rationale of this research was to quantify the relationship between the number of STEM classes the sampled females took, the number of female role models they had during high school and college, their career choices, and salaries. The theoretical construct was based on Erikson's social developmental theory, which postulates a relationship between earlier life events and later life events, and Acker's masculinity theory, which postulates that females in traditionally male fields may be uneasy performing functions opposite to what they naturally perform. Key questions examined the relationships between STEM classes, role models, career choices, and salaries. The sample was a stratified random sample (n = 48) of female alumnae of 4 universities, born after 1980. Data were collected from a designed online instrument, validated by a pilot. The data were analyzed with a multiple regression and an analysis of variance. The findings revealed a significant relationship between the number of STEM classes, career choices and salary. However, there was no significance found between the numbers of role models, career choices and salary The implication for social change is that by making scholars in the fields of education and management aware about the relationship between the number of STEM classes taken, career choices, and salaries, females can be more encouraged to become interested in STEM courses earlier in life, making it more likely they will choose STEM careers This can be accomplished through scholarly journals, which hopefully will improve perceptions of the STEM abilities of females.

This study's purpose was to investigate the importance of mentoring functions and behaviors for lifelong career development as perceived by protégés. The population included individuals in middle to late adulthood (age 40 years and older) who reported they had been a protégé in at least one mentoring association perceived as beneficial to their lifelong career development; and were either employed or had been employed as a middle manager, senior manager, C-level executive, business owner, or member of a profession. The sample was obtained using a chain-sample method; 67 Ambassadors completed an online survey and each invited 10 contacts to complete the survey. The final number of respondents was 503; of these, 456 reported being a protégé. Data were collected using the Perceptions of Workplace Mentoring Behaviors (PWMB) scale, a modification of Noe's (1988) Mentoring Functions Scale. The online survey included the PWMB scale items plus questions designed to engage the respondent's autobiographical memory and questions regarding respondent and mentoring association characteristics. The PWMB scale included seven new items, posited by the expert panel, enhancing the teaching aspect of mentoring. Confirmatory factor analyses were conducted comparing four tenable models for the PWMB scale. The 8-factor model, which was essentially the protégé's view of Kram's (1985) mentoring functions model and included the seven newly developed items, exhibited the best fit of the four possible models. Results indicated that protégés perceived three factors from the Psychosocial category (Role Model, Acceptance-and-Confirmation, and Relationship Fundamentals) as most important to their lifelong career development. Effective Development Opportunities was perceived as the most important factor from the Career category. Professional Issue Counseling from the Psychosocial category was perceived as the least important factor. Significant differences were found for five of six independent variables (protégé gender, mentor gender, dyad, protégé's mentor group, and birth decade) at the item level and for four of six independent variables (protégé gender, dyad, protégé's mentor group, and decade of birth) at the factor level. Implications included designing mentoring programs that provide opportunities for mentors and protégés to develop relationships rather than directly assigning protégés to mentors.

In the 2006 census, Statistics Canada recorded that 23% of immigrant women aged 15 and over had a university degree at the bachelor's level or above. These women could help sustain an organization's competitive advantage and respond to labor shortages posed by an aging population. This phenomenological study highlighted self-initiated migration journey and career advancement experiences of migrant women. Through LinkedIn and referrals from non-profit organizations, a sample of 20 women was recruited. All women had migrated to Canada between the ages 32 to 50, all had 5 to 10 years of residence in Canada and all had college degrees from their home countries. Data were collected through in-depth qualitative interviews and analyzed utilizing Moustakas's framework. The themes were driven predominantly by the data from the study. In order to manage structural barriers to their career development, the participants highlighted the importance of career preparation such as postgraduate education, qualification accreditations and international experience to advancing their careers in Canada. The findings of this study showed that, the principles of meritocracy was influenced by ethic discrimination and educational barriers experienced by participants. The participants challenged inequalities by navigating within organizational structures using these modes of engagement; maintenance, transformation, and entrepreneurship as they developed their careers. The results provide a framework to the Canadian government, businesses, and settlement agencies to understand the implications of ethnicity and international experience to the current debate and proposition for reforms to immigration and hiring policies.

Female retired Army colonels (FRACs) have significant potential to contribute to civilian organizations. To take advantage of that talent, it is important to have a better understanding of their behaviors based on their dual identities as women and leaders. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to understand the under researched factors accounting for the development of FRACs' leader behaviors and the transfer of those behaviors to civilian careers. The 4 underlying meta categories of leadership behavior formed the conceptual framework. The theory of planned behavior was used to explore potential influences on FRAC leader behavior development. The 3 research questions focused on how FRACs developed and used their leader behaviors in their military and civilian careers. Eight FRACs and 6 civilian managers participated in semistructured interviews for this study. The data were analyzed to discern categories and themes to determine the influences that contributed to FRAC leader behavior development. My results indicated FRACs developed leader behaviors through experiential learning, overachieving, and blending masculine and feminine behaviors. The results also suggest that in civilian positions, FRACs employed task-oriented leadership behaviors developed in the military while expanding use of external-oriented leadership behaviors. Consistent Army leader training on the use of blended feminine and masculine leadership behaviors is recommended. Positive social change may result from Army senior leaders and civilian managers using this rich understanding of the FRAC leadership behaviors for leader accession, development, and retention programs.

In academia there are many ways to have a successful and meaningful career, but one—research -- often gets the bulk of the attention. This panel was assembled with the theme of the conference, “Developing the Whole Professor to Change the Organizational World,” to create a space for the conversation about alternative roles in academia, specifically administrative career options and choices. Sometimes an administrative career is part of a strategic career plan to advance outside of the traditional research-teaching-service role; for others, a situation arises and leadership is needed when a position needs to be filled. Whichever way you are called into administrative assignments, participants in this panel will share with you their motivations and concerns as they entered into administrative assignments. The panel includes current and former Dean’s, School Directors, Department Chairs, and Center Directors and was assembled to provide faculty and doctoral students at all career stages an opportunity to think beyond the traditional academic role as they consider their career in academia.

In information technology, few women of color hold senior level executive leadership positions in the United States. Currently, in the high-tech industry, Asian and Black women hold 1.7% of executive/senior-level positions, and only 0.2% are in CEO positions. The purpose of this research was to understand professional executive women of color experiences in career advancement in the high technology fields. The study's conceptual framework included organizational culture theory, Krumboltz's theory of career counseling, and the leadership pipeline model. The overarching research question and subquestions addressed the lived experiences of 15 professional senior executive women of color in relation to career advancement in high technology to understand their perceptions, feelings, and values through a transcendental descriptive phenomenological approach. Through the use of Colaizzi's method of data analysis, 8 major themes and 11 subthemes emerged from interviews with the participants. The results indicated that women of color needed to have access to internal opportunities for advancement, adjusting to longer work hours in a male dominated work environment, and the need to establish networks of women of color for support. This study may support positive social change by prompting organizational leaders to develop gender-neutral, comprehensive strategies that do not impede women from obtaining technical executive positions. If women were extended the same opportunities as their senior executive male counterparts, women executives could thrive as senior leaders.

This study examined the job competencies, career paths, and educational backgrounds of training directors and also compared the responses of male and female training directors in an attempt to identify possible sources of justification for reported male/female salary differences. Data for the study were gathered through the use of two questionnaires. The first was based on a part of the American Society for Training and Development's (ASTD) 1987-1989 Competency and Standards Study. Additionally, a demographic questionnaire dealing with biographical, educational, and professional characteristics was self-developed. Both were mailed to training directors in all Fortune 500 companies. Major findings include: (1) all of the ASTD competencies received at least a moderately useful rating; (2) many of the training directors had worked in the field of training or in a related business field prior to becoming a training director and over one-fifth had worked in the field of education; (3) a number of undergraduate majors were represented among the training directors, but business was the most popular master's major and education was the most popular doctoral major; (4) 95.8% of the training directors had completed a bachelor's degree, over 70% had some graduate education, 40.6% had completed a master's degree, and 15.2% had completed a doctorate; and (5) statistically significant gender differences were found in the rating of two competencies (intellectual versatility and project management skill), in age, in salaries, in years in training and development, and in years as a training director. Several recommendations were made. The preparation, selection, and assessment of trainers should be guided by the competencies identified in the survey. Career paths should focus on lower level training positions, human resources development, and education. Students should focus their studies on business, education, and related majors. Trainers should strongly consider pursuing graduate education. Women should be encouraged that gender differences related to job competencies, career paths, and educational backgrounds are slight.

In 2015, 0.2% of African American women were in chief executive officer (CEO) roles and 1.2% were in executive or senior-level roles within a 500 Standard & Poor's (S&P) organization. African American women's lived experiences are underutilized by organizational and human resources (HR) leaders in the development and implementation of recruitment, talent development, diversity and inclusion, and succession planning strategies. The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to understand lived experiences regarding career advancement decision-making strategies for senior-level African American women. The conceptual framework used was social cognitive career theory (SCCT), which addresses the 'what' and 'how' of career development and behaviors across one's life span. The central research questions were about participants' decisions-making strategies used to attain senior-level management positions and how the facets of SCCT impacted their decision-making processes. Snowball sampling was the purposeful strategy used for recruiting 12 African American women who serve/served in a senior-level position within an organization. The data collections sources included interviews and field notes. By deductive and inductive coding, the main themes uncovered were leadership, family, education, authenticity, and faith. The results of this study may benefit organizational and HR leaders as they consider improvement opportunities for their recruitment, talent management, diversity and inclusion policies and programs, and succession planning strategies, inclusive of internal and college recruitment, involvement in community youth initiatives, and strategic alignment of high-level, internal organizational stakeholders.

Senior administrators' retirement rates between 2012 and 2022 will create a shortage of community college leaders. The purpose of this qualitative exploratory case study was to explore how the mentoring programs at community colleges may contribute to the career advancement of potential academic leaders for senior leadership positions. Kram's mentor role theory grounded the study. Data collection included semistructured face-to-face interviews with a purposeful sample of 3 academic, senior administrative leaders from 3 North Carolina community colleges who have participated in leadership mentoring programs, a review of organizational documents, and a review of the literature. Using Yin's 5 step analytic strategy approach, the 9 themes that emerged were leadership development programs, formal mentoring, internal mentoring program configurations, mentoring challenges, succession planning, importance of mentoring in community colleges, informal mentoring, professional development program, and benefits of mentoring. The results from this qualitative study might increase social change efforts focused on developing potential academic leaders for senior leadership positions by contributing insights, strategies, and new knowledge about the benefits of mentoring programs and succession planning. Having trained community college leaders might increase student enrollment and graduation rates.

Some employees perceive that supervisors do not accurately reflect employees' performance or effectively differentiate among employees' performances during performance appraisals (PAs). Other employees believe the performance feedback they receive is not valuable for supporting their career development (CD). Employing leader-member exchange (LMX) theory and the distributive and interactional justice dimensions of organizational justice theory as the theoretical framework, this correlational study examined the relationships among LMX and employee-supervisor relationships (ESRs) and the relationships' influence on employees' CD through the mediating effect of employees' perceived efficacy of the PA process. Participants consisted of 44 defense contractor employees in the United States who completed a combination of 4 validated survey instruments (LMX-7, Interactional Justice, Appraisal System Satisfaction, Perceived Career Opportunity) and 1 demographic instrument. Results from the structural equation model, using partial least squares analysis, indicated significant (p < .001) positive relationships between the independent variables of LMX and ESR, the dependent mediating variable PA, and the dependent variable CD. The results indicated that a positive relationship between LMX and ESR will influence employees' CD through the mediating effect of employees' PAs. The implications for positive social change include the potential to improve communications between employees and supervisors, increase organizational performance by increasing employees' job satisfaction, potential benefiting career development for improving employees' families' quality of life, and contributions to the communities.

The current study utilizes Critical Discourse Analysis and Thematic Analysis to study newspaper coverage of F.B.I. sting operations in The New York Times, Washington Post, and USA Today. F.B.I. sting operations are a modern counter-terrorism policy designed to preempt acts of terrorism. This study develops a theoretical approach to understanding F.B.I. sting operations by reviewing the critique of security. The critique of security suggests that nations construct threats in order to produce and maintain ideological and practical hegemony. Thematic categories of the newspaper discourse are formulated and analyzed in the context of security. The study employs aspects of grounded theory for theoretical positioning. Findings suggest newspaper coverage of F.B.I. sting operations reflect and expand security in a number of important ways. Newspaper coverage provides information on a significant tactic used in the War on Terrorism and gives insight to the justification and reasoning for using that tactic. These pieces of information explain the interplay of security and counter-terrorism policy. However, findings also suggest security fosters positive relationships between nations, which requires repositioning aspects of the critique of security developed previously. Finally, newspaper discourse of F.B.I. sting operations helps contextualize the way modern counter-terrorism policy is ideologically configured. Findings show the dominant ideological configuration is security. The study considers how this framework contributes to a flawed understanding of the nature of peace.

Através de um estudo de caso, esta dissertação procurou avaliar a eficácia e o processo da intervenção de carreira Life-Design Counseling. Para esse efeito, recorreu-se à abordagem hermenêutica, tendo sido utilizadas medidas quantitativas para avaliar o impacto da intervenção na certeza vocacional, na identidade vocacional, na adaptabilidade de carreira e no distress. Utilizaram-se igualmente medidas qualitativas para avaliar aspetos uteis da intervenção, bem como as operações do cliente para estudar a construção de significado. Os resultados confirmaram a progressão das operações do cliente desde um nível de elaboração mais básico para um nível de elaboração mais complexo e apontaram igualmente para a melhoria das dimensões de identidade vocacional, certeza vocacional e adaptabilidade de carreira. Os resultados evidenciaram também que a intervenção não teve um impacto significativo na saúde mental da cliente. Estas conclusões contribuem para atestar a eficácia da intervenção e serão discutidos considerando as suas implicações para a prática; Abstract: Through a case study, this dissertation sought to evaluate the effectiveness and the process of the career intervention Life-Design Counseling. For this purpose, it was used an hermeneutic approach, using quantitative measures to evaluate the impact of intervention on vocational certainty, vocational identity, career adaptability and distress. Qualitative measures were also used to evaluate useful aspects of the intervention, as well as the client's operations to study the construction of meaning. The results confirmed the progression of client operations from a more basic level of elaboration towards a more elaborate level of elaboration and also pointed to the improvement of the dimensions of vocational identity, vocational certainty and career adaptability. The results also showed that the intervention did not have a significant impact on the client's mental health. These conclusions contribute to attest the effectiveness of the intervention and will be discussed considering their implications to practice.

Research on social networks has established that those who bridge the gaps between dense social groups (i.e. structural holes) are granted a “vision advantage” compared to those who are embedded in dense groups. A common explanation for the advantage is that bridging a structural hole provides the broker with access to diverse information. What is less clear is how this process performs when the organizational context is turbulent. I propose that in a turbulent organizational context, when the organization is experiencing dramatic changes, employees benefit less from building a repertoire of diverse information and instead benefit more from adopting socially distant information. Information discussed by members of the organization which are several steps away from an employee would be more valuable in a turbulent context. Socially distant information would be more rare as people become rigid in response to threat, and it would be more relevant as local information becomes obsolete. To explore this idea, I study the case of two large organizations undergoing a merger integration. The members of the higher-status, acquiring organization experience relative stability compared to members of the target firm, who experience a great deal more uncertainty. The higher-status firm dominated the merger, the top management of the target firm was replaced, supervisory structures are changed, employees are forced to develop new routines, learn new technologies, and had to uproot their social support networks and move across the country. This case provides an opportunity to examine how two information flow mechanisms, which mediate the relationship between broker positions and individual career benefits, are altered in the presence of organizational turbulence. I measure information variance and the adoption of socially distant information of 612 organizational members by fitting a topic model on a dataset of email content covering a 14-month period immediately following the merger of two large consumer product firms. I test my hypotheses using a latent difference score model to test the impacts of increases in information variance, constraint, and adoption of socially distant information on increases in employee salary. I find that organizational turbulence alters the ways in which information flows provides benefits. Within turbulent contexts the pathways between access to diverse information and improved career outcomes are destroyed. Instead adopting socially distant information and information associated with power and status provides more benefits to the individual than incrementally improving a repertoire of diverse information. This study contributes to research on M&As, organizational change, and social network theory by expanding our understanding of the impact of organizational turbulence on the information mechanisms driving advantage in open networks.

Despite the increased rate of women in the workplace and more women acquiring advance degrees, there are still barriers in the workplace that hinders the advancement of women. The focus of this qualitative study was first to understand the perceptions and beliefs of six female managers' experiences during the developmental process of an all-female mentoring program. The second focus was to provide information on the importance of mentoring in the development and advancement of women in the workplace. Utilizing a phenomenological methodology, a descriptive approach was employed to examine and describe the thought processes and subjective views of the participants' role, understanding, and expectation of the program development. The purpose of this applied dissertation was to examine and describe from the participants' perspectives the factors that hindered the successful development of the mentoring program. Based on the analysis of the data collected from the semi-structured interviews, four themes emerged: (a) purpose for mentoring program development, (b) perception of barriers to mentoring program development, (c) perception of management role in program development, and (d) perception of program outcome. The data collected as a result of this study revealed five findings: (a) mentoring programs are an important human resource intervention, (b) the lack of top management support and commitment adversely affected the successful development of the mentoring program, (c) the successful development of a mentoring program requires the clear establishment of the program goals and objectives, (d) research does not fully support the findings that women in senior positions will advocate for women in lower ranking positions, and (e) the top management role is an essential component in the continued success of mentoring programs. This study offers insight into female managers' perceptions of the barriers that affect mentoring program development and insight into the development of successful mentoring program.

La première partie de l’étude est consacrée à l’invocation, intra et extra muros, du droit à un procès équitable. Sont analysés ainsi, dans un premier temps, l’applicabilité directe de l’article 6 et la subsidiarité de la Convention par rapport au droit national et de la Cour Européenne des Droits de l’Homme par rapport aux juridictions nationales. Le droit à un procès équitable étant un droit jurisprudentiel, l’étude se focalise, dans un second temps, sur l’invocabilité des arrêts de la Cour Européenne et plus précisément sur l’invocabilité directe de l’arrêt qui constate une violation du droit à un procès équitable dans une affaire mettant en cause l’Etat et l’invocabilité de l’interprétation conforme à l’arrêt qui interprète l’article 6 dans une affaire mettant en cause un Etat tiers. L’introduction dans l’ordre juridique français et hellénique de la possibilité de réexamen de la décision pénale définitive rendue en violation de la Convention a fait naitre un nouveau droit d’accès à la Cour de cassation lequel trouve son terrain de prédilection aux violations de l’article 6 et constitue peut-être le pas le plus important pour le respect du droit à un procès équitable après l’acceptation (par la France et la Grèce) du droit de recours individuel. Quant au faible fondement de l’autorité de la chose interprétée par la Cour Européenne, qui est d’ailleurs un concept d’origine communautaire, cela explique pourquoi un dialogue indirect entre la Cour Européenne et la Cour de cassation est possible sans pour autant changer en rien l’invocabilité de l’interprétation conforme et le fait que l’existence d’un précédent oblige la Cour de cassation à motiver l’interprétation divergente qu’elle a adoptée.La seconde partie de l’étude, qui est plus volumineuse, est consacrée aux garanties de bonne administration de la justice (article 6§1), à la présomption d’innocence (article 6§2), aux droits qui trouvent leur fondement conventionnel dans l’article 6§1 mais leur fondement logique dans la présomption d’innocence et aux droits de la défense (article 6§3). Sont ainsi analysés le droit à un tribunal indépendant, impartial et établi par la loi, le délai raisonnable, le principe de l’égalité des armes, le droit à une procédure contradictoire, le droit de la défense d’avoir la parole en dernier, la publicité de l’audience et du prononcé des jugements et arrêts, l’obligation de motivation des décisions, la présomption d’innocence, dans sa dimension procédurale et personnelle, le « droit au mensonge », le droit de l’accusé de se taire et de ne pas contribuer à son auto-incrimination, son droit d’être informé de la nature et de la cause de l’accusation et de la requalification envisagée des faits, son droit au temps et aux facilités nécessaires à la préparation de la défense, y compris notamment la confidentialité de ses communications avec son avocat et le droit d’accès au dossier, son droit de comparaître en personne au procès, le droit de la défense avec ou sans l’assistance d’un avocat, le droit de l’accusé d’être représenté en son absence par son avocat, le droit à l’assistance gratuite d’un avocat lorsque la situation économique de l’accusé ne permet pas le recours à l’assistance d’un avocat mais les intérêts de la justice l’exigent, le droit d’interroger ou faire interroger les témoins à charge et d’obtenir la convocation et l’interrogation des témoins à décharge dans les mêmes conditions que les témoins à charge et le droit à l’interprétation et à la traduction des pièces essentielles du dossier. L’analyse est basée sur la jurisprudence strasbourgeoise et centrée sur la position qu’adoptent la Cour de cassation française et l’Aréopage
The first party of the study is dedicated to the invocation of the right to a fair trial intra and extra muros and, on this basis, it focuses on the direct applicability of Article 6 and the subsidiarity of the Convention and of the European Court of Human Rights. Because of the fact that the right to a fair trial is a ‘‘judge-made law’’, the study also focuses on the invocability of the judgments of the European Court and more precisely on the direct invocability of the European Court’s judgment finding that there has been a violation of the Convention and on the request for an interpretation in accordance with the European Court’s decisions. The possibility of reviewing the criminal judgment made in violation of the Convention has generated a new right of access to the Court of cassation which particularly concerns the violations of the right to a fair trial and is probably the most important step for the respect of the right to a fair trial after enabling the right of individual petition. As for the weak conventional basis of the authority of res interpretata (“autorité de la chose interprétée”), this fact explains why an indirect dialogue between the ECHR and the Court of cassation is possible but doesn’t affect the applicant’s right to request an interpretation in accordance with the Court’s decisions and the duty of the Court of cassation to explain why it has decided to depart from the (non-binding) precedent.The second party of the study is bigger than the first one and is dedicated to the guarantees of the proper administration of justice (Article 6§1), the presumption of innocence (Article 6§2), the rights which find their conventional basis on the Article 6§1 but their logical explanation to the presumption of innocence and the rights of defence (Article 6§3). More precisely, the second party of the study is analyzing the right to an independent and impartial tribunal established by law, the right to a hearing within a reasonable time, the principle of equality of arms, the right to adversarial proceedings, the right of the defence to the last word, the right to a public hearing and a public pronouncement of the judgement, the judge’s duty to state the reasons for his decision, the presumption of innocence, in both its procedural and personal dimensions, the accused’s right to lie, his right to remain silent, his right against self-incrimination, his right to be informed of the nature and the cause of the accusation and the potential re-characterisation of the facts, his right to have adequate time and facilities for the preparation of the defence, including in particular the access to the case-file and the free and confidential communication with his lawyer, his right to appear in person at the trial, his right to defend either in person or through legal assistance, his right to be represented by his counsel, his right to free legal aid if he hasn’t sufficient means to pay for legal assistance but the interests of justice so require, his right to examine or have examined witnesses against him and to obtain the attendance and examination of witnesses on his behalf under the same conditions as witnesses against him and his right to the free assistance of an interpreter and to the translation of the key documents. The analysis is based on the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights and focuses on the position taken by the French and the Greek Court of Cassation (Areopagus) on each one of the above mentioned rights

The research was conducted as a result of the long standing criticism against undercover operations due to the conduct of informers and agents during these operations. Since both undercover operations and informers are controversial issues it may cause serious judicial problems if the system is not applied correctly. The problem was investigated by means of qualitative research. A thorough literature study and semi-structured interviews were used to gather the required data. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with advocates of the Director of Public Prosecutions Free State and detectives from the Organised Crime Unit of the South African Police Service. It has been found that undercover operations are an effective manner to address organised crime and especially precious metals related crimes. Undercover operations are an excellent barometer to determine the extent of organised crime. It gives investigators a clear view of the compilation of a syndicate and the roles of leaders, runners and associates. Informers are invaluable sources of information. Without the use of informers it will be virtually impossible to engage in undercover operations, since the police will have no intelligence to engage into an investigation of this nature. The implications of the findings are that it is the responsibility of investigators, agents and informers to keep the system transparent, fair and acceptable. Their conduct may never violate their mandate and the boundaries of the investigation. Undercover operations are justified when the system is properly administered, structured, controlled and without bias.
Forensic Investigation
M. Tech. (Forensic Investigation)

Text in English
The organized and sophisticated way in which criminal targets conduct the crime of drug trafficking, necessitates the use of undercover agents in undercover drug trafficking criminal investigations. The goal of this research was to determine how agents should be recruited and managed for undercover drug trafficking criminal investigations. The correct recruitment and management processes when dealing with agents in undercover drug trafficking criminal investigations, which enable investigators to follow a logical sequence, was explored by the researcher. The entire recruitment process of agents in undercover drug trafficking criminal investigations was discussed, from studying the criminal target, identification of a suitable agent and then the recruitment process itself. Legal aspects and administrative processes to be utilized to manage agents were discussed. The researcher utilized national and international literature sources to gather new and current information on the recruitment of agents in undercover drug trafficking investigations. Interviews were conducted with retired and experienced former South African Police Service (SAPS) officials who managed and recruited agents during their employment in the SAPS. The general purpose of this research was to provide practical recommendations on the best practices for the recruitment and management of agents in undercover drug trafficking criminal investigations.
Police Practice
M.Tech. (Forensic Investigation)

Dissertação de Mestrado em Ciências Jurídico-Forenses apresentada à Faculdade de Direito
Numa sociedade cada vez mais globalizada, em que o aumento da criminalidade é exponencial, a realização eficaz da justiça reclama por novos meios de investigação policial. Perante a ineficácia dos métodos ditos “tradicionais”, os meios de investigação oculta apresentam-se como essenciais na prevenção e investigação de determinados crimes, nomeadamente na área da criminalidade altamente organizada e violenta. É precisamente sobre um método de investigação oculta – a ação encoberta – que versa o presente estudo, o qual tem como principal propósito a análise do art. 6.º, n.º 1 do RJAE (Lei n.º 101/2001, de 25 de agosto), aferindo a sua natureza e os seus limites.Visando uma melhor compreensão do tema proposto, delimitámos as figuras próximas do agente encoberto: o agente infiltrado e o agente provocador. Além disso, porque a intervenção do agente encoberto contende com princípios estruturantes do Estado de Direito democrático e tem fortes repercussões ao nível das garantias processuais penais, foi imperativo examinar o âmbito de aplicação e admissibilidade jurídico-constitucional das ações encobertas. Só então – atendendo ao meio em causa, à sua finalidade, às suas características, à sua admissibilidade e ao seu âmbito de aplicação – se tornou possível responder à grande questão que nos propusemos resolver: analisar o art. 6.º, n.º 1 do RJAE e a cláusula de isenção de responsabilidade penal do agente encoberto que este normativo expressamente consagra. Palavras-Chave: Ações encobertas, Agente encoberto, Agente provocador, Responsabilidade penal, Isenção de Responsabilidade.
In an increasingly globalized society, where crime is growing exponentially, the effective pursuit of justice calls for new techniques of police investigation. Given the ineffectiveness of so-called “traditional” methods, undisclosed techniques of secretly gathering information present themselves as essential in preventing and investigating certain crimes, particularly highly organized and violent crimes. It is precisely on a method of hidden police investigation – the undercover operations – that the present study is focused on, by analyzing article 6, no. 1 of RJAE (Law no. 101/2001, August 25th), assessing its nature and limits.Aiming for a better understanding of the proposed subject, we delimited the concepts close to the undercover agent: the covert agent and the agent provocateur. Furthermore, because the undercover agent’s involvement runs counter to the fundamental principles of democratic Rule of Law and has major repercussions on criminal procedural guarantees, it was imperative to examine the scope and constitutional admissibility of undercover operations. Only then – bearing in mind the surrounding framework, the purpose, the characteristics, the admissibility and the scope of undercover operations – has it become possible to answer the question that we proposed to solve: analyze article 6, no. 1 of RJAE and the exemption from criminal liability of undercover agents that this regulation expressly enshrines. Keywords: Undercover operations, Undercover agent, Agent provocateur, Criminal responsibility, Exemption from criminal liability.

Text in Afrikaans
Infringement, by the executive, of the right to privacy of the individual is an everyday occurrence. Section 14 of the Constitution, Act 108 of 1996 protects the right to privacy. The Criminal Procedure Act, Act 51 of 1977 authorises the police service, to search for and seize articles, to enter premises, ascertain bodily features of accused and to employ traps and undercover operations. On the one hand the Criminal Procedure Act authorises the police to infringe the privacy of the individual but on the other hand it guarantees the privacy of the individual. The provisions of the Criminal Procedure Act are qualified by the Constitution, specifically by section 36 and 35(5). The authorisation of a police officer should be obtained before a person could be arrested without a warrant, which should, in any event, be the last resort. The written permission of an officer must be obtained prior to the making of an application for a warrant to a magistrate. A police officer should be prohibited from issuing a search warrant, as the general perception of the public is that members of the police may not be sufficiently independent. The exercising of magistrates' discretion regarding the decision as to whether a search warrant should be issued or not should be extended. A search warrant should comply with strict requirements as to who may execute the warrant, when, how and when the warrant will become invalid. Search and seizure without a warrant should not be allowed at all, except in circumstances where there is an immediate threat or danger to a person, property or the public safety. In cases of urgency, it should be made possible to obtain the telephonic permission from a magistrate to search property. Where necessary to ascertain the bodily features of an accused through surgery, a compulsory application in terms of section 37(3) should be made to the court for authorisation, irrespective of whether the accused consents to the surgery or not. More importance should be attached to the rights of the individual and the powers of the executive should be limited.
Jurisprudence
LL.D

This thesis is a quantitative research design that examines the upward mobility of women administrators in campus recreation. The purpose of this study is to examine the career mobility of women currently working in the administration of campus recreation. A criterion sampling method was used to select women currently holding administrative level positions in campus recreation as well as solicit participation using the National Intramural-Recreational Sports Association (NIRSA) Member Database. The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS 18.0) was utilized to analyze the data. For the quantitative data, basic descriptive statistics were performed which included means, standard deviations, and frequencies. For the research questions Pearson Chi Square tests, ANOVA tests, and Tukey’s Post Hoc test were conducted. The respondents’ narrative comments were analyzed objectively for common themes. A total of 348 women administrators successfully completed the e-survey, generating a 45.7% response rate. Some significant findings from this study include: (1) The current study supports the literature of previous studies in that women in different sport industry segments are experiencing the same barriers to career mobility; (2) Women still perceive the same challenges as women over 30 years ago; (3) The status of women has increasingly changed as women continue to make inroads into the campus recreation profession, however women’s perceived career development remains unchanged.

The problem that was identified is that physical surveillance is not generally used by general detectives in the South African Police Service as a technique during their investigations. According to the researcher’s experience, this can be due to lack of understanding or experience or may stem from ignorance. A lack of training on the use of physical surveillance as a method to obtain information for the investigation process was also identified as a problem. This study therefore investigated the role and use of physical surveillance within the forensic investigation process. The focus of the research was on basic static (stationary), foot and vehicle surveillance as these types of surveillance are usually conducted in conjunction with each other. An empirical research design was used to conduct the research. A qualitative research approach enabled the researcher to obtain first-hand information from interviews with general detectives. Information was also obtained from a thorough literature study and from the researcher’s own experience on the topic. To conduct effective investigation, it is important for investigators to be familiar with the concept of physical surveillance, its elements, its influence and its values. A physical surveillance operation is a forensic tool used to gather evidence, to recover stolen property, and to identify and arrest the perpetrator. The use of physical surveillance during investigations serves the purpose of gathering evidence and information that can be used as intelligence. Successful forensic investigation requires skill and places extraordinary demands on detectives to utilise all available methods and techniques. The recognition of the use of physical surveillance as a method of evidence gathering is of outmost importance. The research has revealed that general detectives do not acknowledge the importance of physical surveillance as a method to obtain information for the investigation process. It is of vital importance that all detectives be properly trained with the necessary knowledge and skills to make use of this valuable investigative tool.
Police Practice
M. Tech. (Forensic Investigation)

The study collected occupational data from the 99 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I membership institutions head athletic directors. The purpose of this study was to identify common professional preparation and occupational characteristics among NCAA Division I athletic directors. Through issuing an electronic survey, the current study identified common characteristics and themes among Division I athletic directors specifically within the socio-demographical background, educational background, professional experience and career progression, and career and job satisfaction. The study also provided demographic information about the participant’s institutional athletic department. The necessity of this study is not due directly to the current lack of current literature and research within the collegiate administration, rather in reference to literature examining the athletic administration occupational field. The study provides an occupational framework in regards to the career progression, training, and characteristics of NCAA Division I athletic director career field. The study’s purpose was to examine the career growth of NCAA Division I athletic directors, as well as evaluate the demographic and socio-demographics characteristics of the NCAA Division I athletic director. The research and data collected from the study’s participants provided the author the opportunity to create a profile of the athletic administration career field and more specifically, the detailed qualities sought in a NCAA Division I athletic director. The results from the study are beneficial to aspiring persons that wish to work in the field of collegiate athletics administration by correlating common occupational framework for educational requirements, professional experience and years necessary to gather the appropriate experience and also to identify an overview of the job and career satisfaction common among current NCAA Division I athletic directors. In doing so, the study utilized homosocial reproduction as its theoretical framework. The study’s results concluded that the field of athletic administration, and specifically NCAA Division I athletic directors are disproportionally white males (89% white, 90% male), and further examined the educational and professional background characteristics and experiences which lead to this occupational characteristic.

The Portuguese Intelligence Services have their operational skills limited due to the grievances caused by the Dictatorship and, in particular, by its political police. With the help of historical elements, and by analyzing current legislation, we demonstrate that such grievances are today unjustified and misplaced, mainly taking into account the Risk Society’s multifaceted threats. Also part of our analysis is the impugnment of the Constitutional Court’s decision nº 413/2015, which pronounced unconstitutional the norm contained in Decree nº 426/XII, of the Republic’s Assembly, article nº 78, nº2, which intended to allow Intelligence Services access to the so-called “metadata”, as well as to tax and banking information. It is our understanding, and we demonstrate it in our dissertation, that should be allowed the access of, not only the above mentioned information, but also the means known as communications interception and undercover operations to the Intelligence Services, as long as properly supervised and inspected.
Os Serviços de Informações portugueses têm as suas capacidades operacionais manietadas devido aos estigmas causados pelo Estado Novo e, em concreto, pela sua polícia política. Com o apoio de elementos históricos, e através da análise da legislação em vigor, demonstramos que tais pruridos são hoje injustificados e desajustados, principalmente tendo em conta as ameaças multifacetadas próprias da Sociedade de Risco. Da nossa análise faz também parte a contestação do Acórdão do Tribunal Constitucional nº 413/2015, que declarou inconstitucional a norma vertida no artº 78º, nº2 do Decreto nº 426/XII, da Assembleia da República, que pretendia permitir aos Serviços de Informações o acesso aos chamados “metadados”, tal como à informação fiscal e bancária. É nosso entendimento, e demonstramo-lo ao longo do nosso estudo, de que deve ser permitido aos Serviços de Informações, não só o acesso à informação acima mencionada, mas também a utilização dos meios denominados como intercepção de comunicações e acções encobertas, desde que devidamente fiscalizados e supervisionados.

In today’s society, the proliferation of adverse phenomena associated with increasing waves of serious and organised crime, both domestic and transnational, together with the emergence of several kinds of terrorism, are a concrete, deep, urgent and permanent threat to the fundamental rights and conditions of people’s lives. With the increasing of the mentioned crimes presenting a potential high risk and damage, the authority and sovereignty of Rules of Law, the development, the licit economy, the justice and the security, as well as the stability of the community as a whole, are strongly exposed to disturbance. The changes in crimes in a negative way are a source of distress to society, as they give rise to the disturbing perception of insecurity. On the other hand, quite often the countries’ reactions, probably in an intolerable and illegitimate way, restrict the fundamental rights of citizens. Such reactions tend to affect the right balance between security and freedom. Thus, it shall not be forgotten that security, as a social value, is side by side with the idea of freedom and that security alone does not justify anything. Both the criminal justice system and the criminal policy have a key role in containing the harmful effects of the above mentioned types of modern crime, by applying appropriate legal commands through law-enforcement bodies specialised in their tasks of assisting the judicial and prosecuting authorities. In this context, when crises emerge by inadequacy or lack of traditional use means, other methods arise that, although tending to be more effective, may contain an unacceptable restriction on individual guarantees. Therefore, this work focuses on the topic of the so-called special techniques of criminal investigation as a new instrument available for the justice system, aiming at assessing their validity in fighting serious and organised crime and terrorism.”
Na sociedade hodierna, a proliferação de nefastos fenómenos associados a crescentes vagas de criminalidade grave e organizada, doméstica e transnacional, a par da emergência de diferentes configurações de terrorismo, constituem concreta, profunda, premente e permanente ameaça para os direitos fundamentais e condições de vida das pessoas. Perante o incremento das mencionadas espécies delituosas com alto potencial de risco e de dano, a autoridade e a soberania dos Estados de direito, o desenvolvimento, a economia lícita, a justiça e a segurança, assim como a estabilidade da comunidade globalmente considerada, ficam expostas a veemente perturbação. As transmutações criminais de sentido negativo geram inquietação na sociedade com emanação de perturbadoras perceções de insegurança. Por outro lado, não raras vezes, as reações por parte dos Estados produzem, porventura de forma intolerável e ilegítima, compressão de direitos fundamentais dos cidadãos. Tais reações tendem a afetar o justo equilíbrio entre segurança e liberdade. Destarte, não é admissível olvidar que a segurança, como valor social, é solidária da ideia de liberdade e que a segurança por si só nada deve justificar. O sistema de justiça penal e a política criminal exercem papel determinante na contenção dos efeitos danosos das elencadas tipologias de criminalidade moderna por via da aplicação de apropriados comandos legais pelos órgãos policiais especializados nas suas tarefas de coadjuvação das autoridades judiciárias. Nesse contexto, perante revelações de crise por desajustamento ou insuficiência dos meios de uso tradicional, despontam outros métodos que, sendo tendencialmente mais eficazes, poderão acomodar intolerável restrição de garantias individuais. Por isso, o presente estudo tem como tema as denominadas técnicas especiais de investigação criminal, enquanto novel instrumento ao dispor do sistema de justiça, com o objetivo de aferir a sua validade na luta contra a criminalidade grave, organizada e terrorismo.

This thesis focuses on the ethical aspects of soldiers of the Army of the Czech republic participating in the foreign operations, not only in relation to the legality and legitimacy of military intervention, but also from the point of view of practical ethical questions of soldiers sent to perform tasks in these operations. The first part of this thesis introduces the Army of the Czech Republic as a tool to ensure national security and national sovereignty, built with emphasis to fulfill military traditions, virtues and professional ethics. Later, in historical and contemporary contexts summarizes the basic ethical solutions for the legitimate use of force to resolve international conflicts. The second part reflects the umanitarian and security operations taking place in the former Yugoslavia, Iraq and Afghanistan as the consequences of massive human rights violations, ethnic violence and global terrorism. In the context of the ethical and Christian dimension of legitimate use of military means, summarizes the basic issues while solving security threats and enforcing national interests.