Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Governing process'

In recent years, synthetic biology – an emerging science that promises to ‘democratize’ bioengineering – has emerged as a key site of regulatory interest and concern. In the United States, in particular, these concerns have largely been voiced in relation to synthetic biology’s perceived capacity to enable an act of bioterrorism. This thesis examines the regulatory response – a ‘risk management process’ – that has been mounted to address this contingency, and which seeks to ‘secure’ and ‘sustain’ a science characterized by sharply contrasting expectations. In particular, this thesis engages with the discursive and non-discursive practices enacted by diverse scientific and technical experts determined to assess and manage ‘risks’ that threaten to exceed the very capacity of risk, as a ‘calculative rationality’, to tame chance and legitimize responsible action. Yet, in the face of uncertainty, and in stark contrast to the ‘risk society’ thesis, this thesis underlines that uncertainty is not an inhibition to risk management, but a call for more intensive and more creative ways of organizing uncertainty, enabling action in the present. Indeed, in the case of regulating synthetic biology, risk management is, above all, tailored to finding practical ‘solutions’ to seemingly intractable policy ‘problems’. In addition to its contribution to recent scholarship that has drawn on Foucault’s concept of ‘governmentality’ to examine how diverse social problems, ranging from climate change to terrorism, are ‘governed through risk’, this thesis critically examines how biotechnology’s pairing with the perceived threat of bioterrorism is influencing the manner in which modern biology is understood, represented, practiced and controlled. Thus, the case of synthetic biology examined in this thesis not only provides a lens through which to advance risk theory in sociology, but also serves as a vector through which to explore changing configurations of ‘risk’ and ‘risk responsibility’ in the contemporary life sciences.

Context. Software Process Improvement (SPI) initiatives like Capability Maturity Model (CMM), Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI), Bootstrap etc., have been developed on the primary agenda of continuous software process improvement. Similarly, about two decades ago, the United Kingdom Accreditation Services (UKAS) have laid down a set of guidelines based on the ISO quality standards for providing certification to organizations named TickIT. TickIT is now obsolete with its successor scheme TickITplus taking up its place with a lot of significant additions. All the companies which were certified based on TickIT guidelines (more than 1000 companies) were asked to move to TickITplus in order to keep their TickIT certification. However, until now it has been three years since the inception of TickITplus and only 70 companies have adopted TickITplus. This is way below relative to the number of TickIT certified organizations. The present thesis is done in order to find the factors why most of the companies have not adopted TickITplus and also why the 70 organizations have moved to TickITplus.   Objectives In this study, an attempt has been made to accomplish the following objectives: Identifying the changes that have been brought about in the new scheme. The factors that a software organization looks into while adopting or migrating to a new software quality certification scheme are identified. Validate these factors with the help of survey and interviews. Analyze the results of survey and interviews to provide the reasons why most of the organizations haven’t adopted TickITplus certification scheme. Methods. This research is done by using a mixed method approach by incorporating both quantitative and qualitative research methods. An online survey is conducted with the help of an online questionnaire as part of the quantitative leg. Two survey questionnaires have been framed to gather responses. With respect to the qualitative research method interviews are conducted to get a wider understanding about the factors that led an organization to migrate or not to migrate to TickITplus. The gathered data is analyzed using statistical methods like bivariate and univariate analysis for the quantitative method and thematic coding has been applied for the qualitative method. Triangulation method is used to validate the data obtained by correlating the results from the survey and interviews with those extracted from the literature review. Results. Results pertaining to the reasons why companies have moved to and also why other companies haven’t taken up TickITplus have been gathered from the survey and interviews. It was identified that high costs and low customer demand were the main reasons for the organizations not to choose TickITplus while among the organizations which have moved to TickITplus have also chosen the scheme based on customer requirement. However, few other reasons apart from these have also been identified which are presented in this document Conclusions. Conclusions have been drawn citing the importance of costs incurred for implementing TickITplus as a reason for not selecting TickITplus as it was considered very expensive. Among other reasons customer requirement was also low which was identified as a factor for the relatively low number of TickITplus certified organizations. On the other hand, among the TickITplus certified firms, customer demand forms the prominent reason for moving to TickITplus and lack of appropriate people to take up the work was considered as an important hindrance while implementing TickITplus. Several other reasons and challenges have also been identified which are clearly detailed in the document.

Neoliberal governance strategies have been hegemonic in shaping global policy toward Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) over the past two decades. This impact has manifested itself in two key dimensions: the prominence given to public-private partnerships (PPPs) and the dependency upon civil society, particularly in the form of non-governmental organisations (NGOs). As a result, it is necessary to give primacy to the implication of PPPs and the role of NGOs in considering how best to govern MPAs. This is particularly the case in relation to efforts which seek the ‘right’ combination of ‘the market’, ‘the people’ and ‘the state’. This thesis investigates the California Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) implementation process, and particularly the MLPA Initiative, which is widely publicised as a successful case of a science-based stakeholder-driven process through PPP. The thesis involves a thorough exploration of how an ideal combination could be achieved based on the Central Coast Study Region (CCSR) MLPA implementation process. Number of literary sources identified four key factors which have significantly contributed to the implementation of MLPA: 1) A strong legal mandate 2) Strong political will 3) A substantial level of stakeholder participation 4) Effective PPPs However, despite the widely publicised claims, research findings suggest that finding the ‘right’ combination for the MLPA implementation process remains a difficult task. The strong legal mandate, which has provided the foundation for the science used, constrained the stakeholder participation process. Indeed, it suggests that the terms ‘science-based’ and ‘stakeholder-driven’ could be to some extent, oxymorons, whilst strong political will could potentially compromise stakeholder participation. Effective PPPs for the MLPA Initiative represent a conundrum for PPP, since NGOs, including philanthropic foundations, increasingly exercise their influence on public policy to push through their agendas. Subsequently, PPP could potentially compromise the legitimacy of the process. Finally, the research findings suggest that the substantial level of stakeholder participation may not be a panacea for designating MPAs.

This study focussed on the budget control and monitoring challenges for school governing bodies. The study engaged a qualitative in-depth research into the challenges school governing bodies experience regarding budget control and monitoring based on the fact that budget control and monitoring are dimensional tools of financial management aimed at ensuring proper financial management and accountability. The research, grounded on social constructivism and employing a phenomenological pragmatic approach for data collection was purposely and conveniently confined to town schools in the Ekurhuleni District. Data was collected using interviews with school principals, finance officers and a treasurer and Institutional Development and Support Officers. Findings from the data indicated that while there were areas where school governing bodies did well, they faced numerous challenges in budget control and monitoring. It was found that there were challenges regarding the budgeting process in so far as budget preparation, budget implementation, and budget control and monitoring. Miscellaneous challenges influencing the budget control and monitoring process found included poor financial reporting, the low level of parental literacy which seemed to influence the meaningfulness of and realistic nature of the budgeting processes and the generic, inadequate and poor training school governors were provided with. Recommendation from the study mainly concern the provision of customised, focussed and needs-based training in financial and budget management after determining the skills audit to determine training and capacity building needs of school governors, holding principal to account for financial management as ex officio members of governing bodies, reviewing the quintile classification of schools based on the poverty index and considering the backgrounds of learners at town schools, who mostly are from previously disadvantaged backgrounds and ensuring that schools report on finances in languages parents understand and linking budgeting process to schools’ educational goals.
MEd (Education Management), North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2014

To meet global challenges in food provision and to counteract environmental issues derivingfrom the food system, improved governance is necessary. Resilience is presented as a tool formanaging ecosystem services and for understanding what is required to achieve food security.In Sweden there is a national food strategy describing the continued development needed formeeting challenges in the food system. Several regional food strategies have been producedand an additional food strategy for Stockholm County is in the process of being developed byStockholm County Administrative Board. This food strategy could be of especial interest toevaluate due to Stockholm County being highly populated while having a low degree ofprimary food production. Assessing the governance system for the food strategy was ofinterests due to the large groups of stakeholders to consider in the process. The aim of thestudy was to add further knowledge on how resilience can be applied in practice by exploringthe extent of which the governance system for developing the food strategy promotesresilience. The research questions were formulated to investigate the governance system bymapping what stakeholders were involved in the process, what their responsibilities were andwhat relations existed between them. An additional research question was to test how thegovernance system promoted resilience by applying a set of principles for doing so. For collecting data, several stakeholders involved in developing the food strategy at the timeof the data collection were interviewed. Complementary data was also collected from journalarticles, books, documents provided by Stockholm County Administrative Board, websites,governmental publications and different kinds of reports. Quotes were selected to explain thefindings from the interviews, and a social network analysis was constructed to illustrate thestructure of the governance system. Another tool in the data analysis, which was also thepoint of the departure for constructing the research questions, was the resilience frameworkconsisting of a set of principles. Among these principles, five where applied for evaluating thegovernance system of the food strategy. The results were divided in two parts. The first section presents the results from performinginterviews by describing the governance system; identified stakeholders, their functions aswell as their relations. Two other themes identified from the interviews that were concludedto be important for the resulting governance system and also for the resilience evaluation were“collaboration” and “context”. Several stakeholders were identified, a few were concluded tobe more key than others as they belong to either the management group or the draftingcommittee. The stakeholders had national, regional and local responsibilities and were bothgovernmental and non-governmental organizations. The functions of the stakeholders werefor example to represent a certain part of the food system or contributing with national,regional or local knowledge about the food system. The relations among stakeholders in thegovernance system occurred between stakeholders working within the same geographicalscales and also between national, regional and local scales. In the center of the governancestructure were the management group that are to jointly decide on goals for the final strategydocument. The second part of the results constitutes the resilience evaluation, which was accomplishedby testing the results regarding the governance system (from part I) against the framework forresilience using the selected principles. These principles included maintain diversity andredundancy, manage connectivity, encourage learning, broaden participation and promotepolycentric governance. It was concluded that the governance system did follow all of theseprinciples in several aspects, but critical points were also identified. Among the positive  aspect were the positive attitude for learning among stakeholders in the governance system,the involvement of heterogenous groups interacting with one another and also themanagement group as a strong centre for decision-making. One of the main critical pointsidentified from performing the resilience evaluation suggests a few stakeholders to be lackingin the present governance system. The governance system for the food strategy had a large group of stakeholders, representingdifferent parts of the food system, including national/regional/local and governmental/nongovernmentalorganizations, interacting both within and across geographical scales. Theseaspects are important for promoting resilience according to the principles selected in thisstudy. By adding the suggested stakeholders, for example a few representatives from differentparts of the food system that was not involved in the process at the time of data collection, thegovernance system could promote resilience even more.
För att bemöta de globala problemen inom matförsörjning och miljöförstörelse som vi idagstår inför behövs styrningssystem som lämpar sig för detta. Resiliens är ett koncept som ärnära besläktat med hantering av ekosystemtjänster och som även kan bidra till ökad förståelseför vad som krävs för att uppnå en säker matförsörjning. I Sverige finns en nationelllivsmedelsstrategi som pekar ut en generell riktning för att hantera problemen inomlivsmedelssystemet. Det har även tagits fram flera regionala strategier i Sverige, ytterligare enstrategi tas nu fram av Länsstyrelsen i Stockholm. Denna strategi kommer att omfattaStockholms län och kan vara av särskild betydelse att granska då detta tätbefolkade län har enlåg försörjningsgrad av livsmedel. Styrningssystemet för strategin är relevant att granska i ochmed den stora gruppen aktörer som berörs av livsmedelsstrategin. Syftet med studien var attbidra med ytterligare kunskap om hur resiliensbegreppet kan användas i praktiken genom atttillämpa detta i livsmedelsstrategin för Stockholms län för att undersöka hur välstyrningssystemet bidrar till resiliens. Frågeställningen formulerades således för att undersökastrukturen av styrningssystemet genom att besvara vilka aktörer som ingick i styrningen, vilkaderas ansvarsområden var och vilka relationer som fanns emellan dem. Den sista delfrågan ifrågeställning handlade om att testa livsmedelsstrategins styrningssystem mot olika principersom föreslås gynna resiliens. För att samla in data genomfördes flera intervjuer med aktörer som var inblandade iframtagandet av livsmedelsstrategin under den tid då datainsamlingen ägde rum. Denna datahar även kompletterats med annat material så som vetenskapliga artiklar, böcker, dokumentsom Länsstyrelsen Stockholm bistått med, hemsidor, publiceringar från myndigheter ocholika slags rapporter. Citat användes för att understödja resultaten och en nätverksanalysgjordes för att illustrera styrningssystemets struktur. En ytterligare metod som användes föratt analysera data var ett ramverk för resiliens bestående av flera principer som bistår iutformningen av styrningssystem som gynnar resiliens. Resultaten i denna rapport har delats upp i två avsnitt. Det första avsnittet presenterarresultaten från intervjuerna och visar uppbyggnaden av styrningssystemet förlivsmedelsstrategin: vilka aktörer som var inblandade, vilka ansvarsområden de hade ochvilka relationer som fanns emellan dem. Ytterligare två teman framkom från intervjuerna,dessa ansågs relevanta för att beskriva styrningssystemet och även för resiliensanalysen.Dessa teman kategoriserades som ”samarbetet” och ”kontexten”. Flera aktörer ingick istyrningssystemet, av dessa ansågs några ha mer påverkan på styrningen genom sinmedverkan antingen i styrningsgruppen eller beredningsgruppen. I styrningssystemet fannsbåde nationella, regionala och lokala aktörer, från myndigheter såväl som från andraorganisationstyper. Aktörernas ansvarområdens grundade sig huvudsakligen i vilken del avlivsmedelssystemet de representerade och om de bistod med nationella, regionala eller lokalakompetenser. Relationerna mellan de olika aktörerna skedde både mellan aktörer som verkadeinom samma geografiska skala, men även mellan nationella, regionala och lokala aktörer. Icentrum av styrningssystemet fanns styrningsgruppen som tillsammans ska besluta om måleni strategidokumentet. Den andra delen av resultaten består av en resiliensutvärdering som testar det resulterandestyrningssystemet (del I) mot ett ramverk för resiliens genom att tillämpa några utvaldaprinciper. Dessa principer var ”bibehåll diversitet och överskott”, ”hanterasammankopplingar”, ”uppmuntra lärande”, ”bredda deltagande” och ”uppmuntrapolycentriska styrningssystem”. Styrningssystemet följde dessa principer i flera avseenden,  men det fanns också utrymme för förbättring. Bland aktörerna som ingick i styrningssystemetfanns en inställning som uppmuntrade lärande i enlighet med principerna. Gruppen aktörerbestod av olika slags organisationer som interagerade med varandra, vilket också uppmuntrasav resiliensprinciperna. Utöver detta var också kärnan av styrningssystemet, bestående avstyrningsgruppen med beslutanderätt, en annan egenskap hos styrningssystemet som gynnarresiliens. Det framgick också av resiliens-utvärderingen att ytterligare inblandning av ett antalaktörer kan vara önskvärt. Detta är en av de viktigare slutsatserna om vad som kan ändras föratt förbättra resiliensen i den nuvarande styrningen. Styrningssystemet av livsmedelsstrategin består av en stor grupp aktörer som representerarolika delar av livsmedelssystemet. Dessa är nationella, regionala och lokala aktörer, bådemyndigheter och andra slags organisationer. Relationer finns också mellan aktörer som verkarbåde inom samma geografiska område likväl som över sådana gränser. Dessa egenskaper ärviktiga för ett styrningssystem som gynnar resiliens enligt de principer som har använts i denhär studien. Genom att involvera ytterligare några aktörer, exempelvis från några delar avlivsmedelssystemet som inte fanns representerade i strategin vid datainsamlingen, kanstyrningssystemet till en ännu högre grad bidra till att stödja resiliens.

This study investigated the legislation (the Education Laws Amendment Act, Act 24 of 2005) dealing with teacher selection and appointment. It focused specifically on the principles equity, redress and representivity changes in legislation. Not only do these principles encourage the equal advancement of everybody’s interests but they also serve as a means of establishing an appropriate balance between conflicting interests. The primary purpose of the study was to determine whether or not the racial group to which the school governing body members belong had an effect on the way in which they interpreted and implemented legislation, and if so, to what these could be ascribed. Five schools’ governing bodies in the Tshwane South District of the Gauteng Province were interviewed using semi structured, open-ended interviews to investigate the extent to which their staff composition has changed as a result of the new legislation. A qualitative research paradigm allowed me to adopt a constructivist/interpretivist approach to data collection and analysis. Indications from data were that the understanding and interpretation of SGBs across racial divides are influenced by their different cultural and linguistic preferences, their different political and educational histories and the contexts in which they work. These differences indicated that deeply entrenched racial stereotypes and strong attachments to a specific school culture, language or ethnic traditions could be influencing the final decision on short listing taken by the SGBs represented in my study. Suggestions are that legislation implementation should be addressed at all stages; that is, reviewing performance, considering reasons for governance difficulty or failure, designing alternative interventions, and interpreting evaluation results as an intervention practice for legislation success. Based on my research findings I would therefore suggest that the key reason for the lack of transformation in the staff composition of public schools is the short period of time that has elapsed since the promulgation of the Education Laws Amendment Act of 2005. Given that transformation is a social process and that stereotypes are key obstacles to transformation, I believe that, as far as the schools in my sample are concerned, their staff compositions will eventually change.
Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2009.
Education Management and Policy Studies
unrestricted

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Organizations continually invest in technologies for the processing of data and information, whose growth rate is increasing. In this context, managers realize the potential and relevance of information in decision-making processes. Ie, the information has consolidated its role as organizational asset, like the technology resources. However, for the information generate competitive advantage and be effective, it is necessary to establish roles and responsibilities as well as rules and policies related to data governance. This study falls within that scope of research and aims to propose an instrument to investigate and understand the decision-making data governance in organizations, identifying the profile of decision-makers and the main types of decisions in this area. The investigation led to a matrix of arrays in data governance, which structured five key decisions (data principles, data quality, metadata and architecture, data security and data lifecycle) and six archetypes (Business monarchy, IT monarchy, feudalism, federalism, duopoly and anarchy), which enable the mapping of decision making data.
As organiza????es investem continuamente em tecnologias para o processamento de dados, cujo ritmo de crescimento ?? cada vez maior. Nesse contexto, os gestores percebem o potencial e a relev??ncia das informa????es nos processos de tomada de decis??o. Ou seja, a informa????o tem consolidado o seu papel de ativo organizacional, a exemplo dos recursos de tecnologia. Contudo, para que as informa????es gerem vantagem competitiva e sejam efetivas, ?? necess??rio estabelecer papeis e responsabilidades, bem como regras e pol??ticas relativas ?? governan??a de dados. Este estudo se insere nesse escopo de investiga????o e tem como objetivo propor um instrumento para investigar e compreender o processo decis??rio de governan??a de dados nas organiza????es, identificando o perfil dos tomadores de decis??es e os principais tipos de decis??es nessa ??rea. A investiga????o conduziu a uma matriz de arranjos em governan??a de dados, que estruturou cinco decis??es-chave (princ??pios de dados, qualidade de dados, arquitetura e meta-dados, seguran??a de dados e ciclo de vida dos dados) e seis arqu??tipos (monarquia de neg??cio, monarquia de TI, feudalismo, federalismo, duop??lio e anarquia), que viabilizam o mapeamento do processo decis??rio sobre dados.

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Research for the development of a process-mapping model based on control patterns to manage information technology. There is a trend for organizations to try and have their management processes under control; however, choosing, implementing and using the models which would best adapt to their reality are not easy tasks. This paper proposes the development of an information technology Management process using the systems study method named Sistemografia in order to meet the demands of the Sarbanes-Oxley law. This process is based on a model of control by objective, named Control Objectives for Information and related Technology (COBIT). All of these factors are embedded in companies that manage their technologies, especially telecommunications companies related to tele-information technology and to the multi-service nets. In short, the objectives are: to describe the elements that compose Company Management and Architecture; to describe the articles of the Sarbanes-Oxley law, relating them to the COBIT model; to describe the management model using the sistemografia method; and to propose a framework for data management and metadata for the Management of IT, associating a dashboard, and based on the maturity of the processes, so as to measure them at their present stage and plan the aimed strategic stage.
Pesquisa para desenvolvimento de um modelo para mapeamento de processos baseado em controles para a governan?a de tecnologia da informa??o. As organiza??es t?m procurado cada vez mais, ter sob controle seus processos de governan?a, por?m, escolher, adotar e utilizar modelos que melhor se adaptem ?s sua realidade n?o ? tarefa f?cil. Este trabalho prop?e o desenvolvimento de um processo de Governan?a de Tecnologia da Informa??o utilizando o m?todo de estudo de sistemas, denominado Sistemografia para atender as determina??es da Lei Sarbanes-Oxley. Tal processo est? baseado em modelo de controles por objetivos, denominado Control Objectives for Information and related Technology (COBIT). Todos esses fatores est?o intrinsecamente presentes nas empresas que fa?am gest?o de suas tecnologias, principalmente empresas de telecomunica??es que est?o relacionadas com a teleinform?tica e as redes multi-servi?o. De forma espec?fica os objetivos s?o: descrever os elementos que comp?em as Governan?a e a Arquitetura Empresariais; descrever as Se??es da Lei Sarbanes- Oxley, relacionando-as com o modelo COBIT; descrever o processo para gest?o utilizando o m?todo de sistemografia; e propor uma moldura (framework) para a gest?o dos dados e metadados para Governan?a de TI, associando um painel de controle (dashboard), baseado na maturidade dos processos, de maneira a medilos em seu estado atual e projetar o est?gio estrat?gico desejado.

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Because of the development in the transactions between entities arising from globalization, internal auditing is setting itself and assuming a relevant role in the context of organizations, consulting and supporting management. In this context one question arises about the actions of internal auditing in the technical aspect and in its contribution related to the management aspects. In view of this, the present work was based on a proposal from the following question: what is the perception of managers on the role that internal audit plays in management practices and decision making within the entities / companies? The objective of this study was to analyze and evaluate the perception of managers of companies in the state of S??o Paulo, with shares traded on the stock exchange, using the internal audit, in order to highlight the role it plays in management practices and the decision making in corporations. The methodology used for the study was quantitative descriptive since the primary data was obtained through a questionnaire. The collected data were selected, coded, tabulated and analyzed allowing to draw conclusions. Mathematical and statistical tools of computer resources were used. It was concluded that internal auditing, in the perception of managers of organizations, is a tool to support management, helping companies to achieve their objectives through the information provided, contributing to decision making through risk assessment and strengthening of strategic internal control of systems we also concluded that there is need of further studies to explore the theme, which should include a larger number of companies to be surveyed
Devido ?? evolu????o nas transa????es entre as entidades, oriunda da globaliza????o, a auditoria interna est?? se afirmando e assumindo papel relevante no contexto das organiza????es, assessorando e apoiando a gest??o. Neste cen??rio surge o questionamento quanto ?? atua????o da auditoria interna tanto no aspecto t??cnico quanto na sua contribui????o relacionada aos aspectos de gest??o. Diante do exposto, o presente trabalho baseou-se na proposta da seguinte indaga????o: qual a percep????o dos gestores sobre o papel que a auditoria interna exerce nas pr??ticas de gest??o e tomadas de decis??o no ??mbito das entidades/sociedades? Assim, o objetivo deste estudo foi analisar e avaliar a percep????o de como os gestores de empresas do Estado de S??o Paulo, com a????es negociadas na bolsa de valores, utilizam a auditoria interna, de maneira a evidenciar o papel por ela exercido nas pr??ticas de gest??o e tomadas de decis??o nas corpora????es. A metodologia utilizada para o estudo foi a descritiva quantitativa, visto que se utilizou dados prim??rios obtidos atrav??s da aplica????o de question??rio. Os dados coletados foram selecionados, codificados, tabulados e analisados, o que permitiu obter conclus??es. Utilizou-se para o mister instrumentos matem??ticos e estat??sticos atrav??s de recursos computacionais. Concluiu-se que a auditoria interna, na percep????o dos gestores das organiza????es, ?? uma ferramenta de apoio ?? gest??o, auxiliando as empresas a atingirem os seus objetivos, por meio das informa????es fornecidas, contribuindo, com a avalia????o de riscos estrat??gicos e fortalecimento dos sistemas de Controle Interno, para a tomada de decis??es. Entendeu-se, tamb??m, que h?? necessidade de novos estudos para explorar o tema, inclusive com um maior n??mero de empresas a serem pesquisadas

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This research highlights the practices of internal audit as an instrument influenced management to improve performance, through the review of the perception of managers of a Public Financial Institution. It was a qualitative and quantitative descriptive study, with a single observation field study, by means of a questionnaire investigation. The main population was composed of managers and subordinates to the area of internal audit (control group) and the Administrative strategic planning and subordinate areas (user group). To reach the goal of the study, it was applied questionnaire surveys, available online. The survey results confirmed the perception of the use of internal audit as an instrument in decision making, susceptible to improvement in the strategic planning process and effects on the administrative cycle of the institution, on aspects of Performance Audit. Among the main findings, it was evident that the perception of managers, that the researched financial institution shows concern in results-oriented management but the internal audit is apparently more focused on the control (in the evaluation of the implemented performance) rather than planning (in the criticism of planned performance)
Esta pesquisa evidencia as pr??ticas da Auditoria Interna como instrumental de gest??o influenci??vel ?? melhoria de Desempenho, pela an??lise da percep????o de gestores de uma Institui????o Financeira P??blica. Como m??todo de pesquisa, foi feita pesquisa de car??ter descritivo quali-quantitativo, com estudo de campo de ??nica observa????o, por meio de investiga????o por question??rio, tendo como popula????o gestores diretamente ligados e subordinados ?? ??rea de Auditoria Interna (grupo de controle) e ??s ??reas Administrativas de planejamento estrat??gico e subordinadas (grupo de usu??rios). Para alcan??ar o objetivo, foram utilizadas surveys de question??rio, com disponibilidade de acesso online, atrav??s de link web. Os resultados da pesquisa confirmaram a percep????o dos gestores quanto a utiliza????o da Auditoria Interna como instrumental na tomada de decis??o, influenci??vel a melhorias no processo de planejamento estrat??gico e efeitos no ciclo administrativo da institui????o nos aspectos da Auditoria de Desempenho. Dentre os principais achados, foi evidenciado que, na percep????o dos gestores, a institui????o financeira pesquisada apresenta preocupa????o em gest??o orientada a resultados, por??m, a Auditoria Interna, aparentemente, est?? mais focada no controle (avalia????o do desempenho realizado) e n??o em planejamento (cr??tica do desempenho planejado)

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Increasingly in the business world, Information Technology - IT is fundamental to achieve the business goals of an organization. However managing resources and offering services to achieve your goals bring a growing challenge for managers in this area. This study aims at evaluating the best practices of the ITIL library to meet their benefits in culture management of IT services, as its marketing context. Therefore, dozens of clients from five companies that outsource IT services have been analyzed (Information Technology). The studied group is located in the South, Southeast and Center-West regions of Brazil. This is a group formed by service providers to standardize IT management and adopt ITIL best practices in their processes adopted. Quantitative data were collected from a communication application, emails, and performance parameters were measured up before and after the implementation of ITIL best practices. The research took place between September 2011 and April 2012. The method used was descriptive and quantitative and evolved from the development of a questionnaire with 25 closed questions. The case study, retrospectively, was submitted to the review of the literature and application of mathematical formulas.
No mundo empresarial, cada vez mais, a Tecnologia da Informa??o TI torna se fundamental para o alcance das metas de neg?cio de uma organiza??o. Contudo gerir os recursos, ofertar servi?os, de modo a garantir seus objetivos traz um desafio cada vez maior para os gestores desta ?rea. A presente pesquisa tem como objetivo avaliar as melhores pr?ticas da Biblioteca ITIL para conhecer seus benef?cios na cultura de gest?o de servi?os de TI, conforme o seu contexto mercadol?gico. Para tanto, foram analisados dezenas de clientes de cinco empresas que terceirizam servi?os de TI (Tecnologia da Informa??o). O universo pesquisado est? localizado nas regi?es Sul, Sudeste e Centrooeste do Brasil. Este ? um conjunto formado por prestadores de servi?os de padroniza??o de gest?o de TI e que adotaram as boas pr?ticas de ITIL em seus processos. Foram coletados dados quantitativos de uma aplica??o de correio eletr?nico, e mensurou-se par?metros de desempenho antes e depois da implementa??o das melhores pr?ticas ITIL. A pesquisa, ocorreu entre setembro de 2011 e abril de 2012. O m?todo utilizado foi descritivo e quantitativo e desenvolveu-se a partir da elabora??o de um question?rio com 25 perguntas fechadas. O estudo de caso, a posteriori, foi submetido ? revis?o da literatura relacionada e ? aplica??o de f?rmulas matem?ticas.

Despite significant efforts have been directed toward reducing waste generation and encouraging alternative waste management strategies, landfills still remain the main option for Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) disposal in many countries. Hence, landfills and related impacts on the surroundings are still current issues throughout the world. Actually, the major concerns are related to the potential emissions of leachate and landfill gas into the environment, that pose a threat to public health, surface and groundwater pollution, soil contamination and global warming effects. To ensure environmental protection and enhance landfill sustainability, modern sanitary landfills are equipped with several engineered systems with different functions. For instance, the installation of containment systems, such as bottom liner and multi-layers capping systems, is aimed at reducing leachate seepage and water infiltration into the landfill body as well as gas migration, while eventually mitigating methane emissions through the placement of active oxidation layers (biocovers). Leachate collection and removal systems are designed to minimize water head forming on the bottom section of the landfill and consequent seepages through the liner system. Finally, gas extraction and utilization systems, allow to recover energy from landfill gas while reducing explosion and fire risks associated with methane accumulation, even though much depends on gas collection efficiency achieved in the field (range: 60-90% Spokas et al., 2006; Huitric and Kong, 2006). Hence, impacts on the surrounding environment caused by the polluting substances released from the deposited waste through liquid and gas emissions can be potentially mitigated by a proper design of technical barriers and collection/extraction systems at the landfill site. Nevertheless, the long-term performance of containment systems to limit the landfill emissions is highly uncertain and is strongly dependent on site-specific conditions such as climate, vegetative covers, containment systems, leachate quality and applied stress. Furthermore, the design and operation of leachate collection and treatment systems, of landfill gas extraction and utilization projects, as well as the assessment of appropriate methane reduction strategies (biocovers), require reliable emission forecasts for the assessment of system feasibility and to ensure environmental compliance. To this end, landfill simulation models can represent an useful supporting tool for a better design of leachate/gas collection and treatment systems and can provide valuable information for the evaluation of best options for containment systems depending on their performances under the site-specific conditions. The capability in predicting future emissions levels at a landfill site can also be improved by combining simulation models with field observations at full-scale landfills and/or with experimental studies resembling landfill conditions. Indeed, this kind of data may allow to identify the main parameters and processes governing leachate and gas generation and can provide useful information for model refinement. In view of such need, the present research study was initially addressed to develop a new landfill screening model that, based on simplified mathematical and empirical equations, provides quantitative estimation of leachate and gas production over time, taking into account for site-specific conditions, waste properties and main landfill characteristics and processes. In order to evaluate the applicability of the developed model and the accuracy of emissions forecast, several simulations on four full-scale landfills, currently in operative management stage, were carried out. The results of these case studies showed a good correspondence of leachate estimations with monthly trend observed in the field and revealed that the reliability of model predictions is strongly influenced by the quality of input data. In particular, the initial waste moisture content and the waste compression index, which are usually data not available from a standard characterisation, were identified as the key unknown parameters affecting leachate production. Furthermore, the applicability of the model to closed landfills was evaluated by simulating different alternative capping systems and by comparing the results with those returned by the Hydrological Evaluation of Landfill Performance (HELP), which is the most worldwide used model for comparative analysis of composite liner systems. Despite the simplified approach of the developed model, simulated values of infiltration and leakage rates through the analysed cover systems were in line with those of HELP. However, it should be highlighted that the developed model provides an assessment of leachate and biogas production only from a quantitative point of view. The leachate and biogas composition was indeed not included in the forecast model, as strongly linked to the type of waste that makes the prediction in a screening phase poorly representative of what could be expected in the field. Hence, for a qualitative analysis of leachate and gas emissions over time, a laboratory methodology including different type of lab-scale tests was applied to a particular waste material. Specifically, the research was focused on mechanically biologically treated (MBT) wastes which, after the introduction of the European Landfill Directive 1999/31/EC (European Commission, 1999) that imposes member states to dispose of in landfills only wastes that have been preliminary subjected to treatment, are becoming the main flow waste landfilled in new Italian facilities. However, due to the relatively recent introduction of the MBT plants within the waste management system, very few data on leachate and gas emissions from MBT waste in landfills are available and, hence, the current knowledge mainly results from laboratory studies. Nevertheless, the assessment of the leaching characteristics of MBT materials and the evaluation of how the environmental conditions may affect the heavy metals mobility are still poorly investigated in literature. To gain deeper insight on the fundamental mechanisms governing the constituents release from MBT wastes, several leaching experiments were performed on MBT samples collected from an Italian MBT plant and the experimental results were modelled to obtain information on the long-term leachate emissions. Namely, a combination of experimental leaching tests were performed on fully-characterized MBT waste samples and the effect of different parameters, mainly pH and liquid to solid ratio (L/S,) on the compounds release was investigated by combining pH static-batch test, pH dependent tests and dynamic up-flow column percolation experiments. The obtained results showed that, even though MBT wastes were characterized by relatively high heavy metals content, only a limited amount was actually soluble and thus bioavailable. Furthermore, the information provided by the different tests highlighted the existence of a strong linear correlation between the release pattern of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and several metals (Co, Cr, Cu, Ni, V, Zn), suggesting that complexation to DOC is the leaching controlling mechanism of these elements. Thus, combining the results of batch and up-flow column percolation tests, partition coefficients between DOC and metals concentration were derived. These data, coupled with a simplified screening model for DOC release, allowed to get a very good prediction of metal release during the experiments and may provide useful indications for the evaluation of long-term emissions from this type of waste in a landfill disposal scenario. In order to complete the study on the MBT waste environmental behaviour, gas emissions from MBT waste were examined by performing different anaerobic tests. The main purpose of this study was to evaluate the potential gas generation capacity of wastes and to assess possible implications on gas generation resulting from the different environmental conditions expected in the field. To this end, anaerobic batch tests were performed at a wide range of water contents (26-43 %w/w up to 75 %w/w on wet weight) and temperatures (from 20-25 °C up to 55 °C) in order to simulate different landfill management options (dry tomb or bioreactor landfills). In nearly all test conditions, a quite long lag-phase was observed (several months) due to the inhibition effects resulting from high concentrations of volatile fatty acids (VFAs) and ammonia that highlighted a poor stability degree of the analysed material. Furthermore, experimental results showed that the initial waste water content is the key factor limiting the anaerobic biological process. Indeed, when the waste moisture was lower than 32 %w/w the methanogenic microbial activity was completely inhibited. Overall, the obtained results indicated that the operative conditions drastically affect the gas generation from MBT waste, in terms of both gas yield and generation rate. This suggests that particular caution should be paid when using the results of lab-scale tests for the evaluation of long-term behaviour expected in the field, where the boundary conditions change continuously and vary significantly depending on the climate, the landfill operative management strategies in place (e.g. leachate recirculation, waste disposal methods), the hydraulic characteristics of buried waste, the presence and type of temporary and final cover systems.

Research Doctorate - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Historical narratives are significant in that they are mobilised at critical junctures in political life to pursue national and/or international agendas. In this thesis, I develop a political analysis that critically interrogates divergent historical narratives regarding the 1962 derailment of the decolonisation of West Papua. The four narratives are the counter-hegemonic West Papuan political sovereignty claims (as advanced in 2000 and earlier), subsequent counter claims of sovereignty made by the dominant Indonesian state (2000 to 2005) and the much earlier US justification of its Indonesian appeasement as well as a historical narrative of international legal commentary (1961–1980). My methodology involves two stages. First, I articulate a representation of each narrative by organising the sources under the rubrics of commentary of ‘our’/ ‘their’ historical claims, and representations of ‘us’/‘them’ as key players. Here, I juxtapose the narratives with each other, political events and legal contexts of the processes of a decolonisation of a Non-Self-Governing-Territory (NSGT). Second, I interrogate these representations by applying an interpretative paradigm combining Settler Colonial Studies and Critical Indigenous theories to explain political contexts. Through this, my analysis decolonises dominant US and Indonesian historical narratives by revealing their disavowal of the rights of an NGST to genuine self-determination, and their settler colonial and colonial tropes. It is argued that the truncation was stage-managed by the United States (acting under the aegis of the United Nations [UN]), in order to appease Indonesian agendas to annex the territory. My research foregrounds how West Papuan claims (undergird by both inherent and modern liberal ideologies) function as a hybrid critique of the settler colonial forms and narratives. My analysis demonstrates that the hybrid narrative is also supported by International Law commentary. Thus, my interdisciplinary paradigm contributes to theoretical innovations concerned with Indigenising the study of Politics and International Relations (IR) beyond narrow nation-/empire-state statist framings. As an example of settler colonialism instituted within the UN era, and outside the context of former British colonies, the particularity of the topic informs the articulation of the settler colonial project generally. In addition, legal researchers interested in investigating the West Papuan case of failed self-determination may find my political/ historical contextualisation of the international legal issues pertinent.

Corporate governance has received considerable attention over the past few decades especially after several corporate scandals and global financial crises surfaced. It is a tool that ensures the wealth maximization interest of shareholders (Grove & Clouse, 2015; Gupta, 2015). Several studies on corporate governance have been made around the world, mostly in the context of developed nations. These have made significant contributions to the corporate governance literature and practice. However, there is scant research that addresses corporate governance issues in the context of emerging economies. In terms of applicability, it is important to view corporate governance not as a whole but in the context of specific fashion due to the economic, political, social and cultural differences among countries. In spite of the numerous studies in the subject and their contributions, a significant gap exists in our understanding of the relationship between corporate governance structure, process and board performances. Most of the prior studies focused on board structure giving much less emphasis to the board process- the missing link. By way of addressing the gap and providing a broader understanding of the relationship among the corporate governance variables, this study, among others, explored how board structure and board process influence the board performance in an emerging market economy context. Board performance has hardly been explored in this setting and this study tries to contribute to the existing literature by examining the antecedents of the boards‟ performance. The antecedents are positioned in the second order constructs that include the board structure and the board process. The antecedents with the board structure go beyond the usual variables of size, CEO duality and the outside/inside directors‟ ratio. A mixed method approach was used in the collection and analysis of the data. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected from private and public banks‟ governing bodies and various groups of stakeholders. The quantitative data were mainly analyzed statistically using the Partial Least Square method of the Structural Equation Modeling. The qualitative data obtained from the survey and the interviews were thematically analyzed to identify important concerns. The findings from the quantitative data analysis showed that board structure has positive and significant influence on board process, board service and control v task performance. The findings also indicated a positive and significant relationship between board process and both board service and control task performance. Furthermore, the study revealed that board process mediates the relationships between board structure and both board service and control roles; it was also found that ownership type affects board performance but has no influence on company performance. The stakeholders‟ perceptions of various aspects of corporate governance practices, as beginners, were found out to be not bad. However, Ethiopia, like many emerging market economies, does not yet have a fully developed legal and regulatory system. Additionally, the enforcement capacities of the regulatory organ are at a nascent stage, and a private sector that is able to support effective corporate governance has yet to emerge. The nature of the Ethiopian banking corporate governance system can be characterized by a one tier system with a non-executive board of directors and ownership concentration. The boards of directors are also mainly control oriented rather than strategic or service oriented leaders.
Graduate School of Business Leadership (SBL)
D.B.L.