Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Information governance, policy and ethics'
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Edwards, Charles Kumar. "A Framework for the Governance of Information Security." NSUWorks, 2013. http://nsuworks.nova.edu/gscis_etd/143.
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Information security is a complex issue, which is very critical for success of modern businesses. It can be implemented with the help of well-tested global standards and best practices. However, it has been studied that the human aspects of information security compliance pose significant challenge to its practitioners. There has been significant interest in the recent past on how human compliance to information security policy can be achieved in an organization. Various models have been proposed by these researchers. However, there are very few models that have tried to link human commitment attributes with information security governance of an organization. The research problem of this study was to identify the security controls and mechanisms to govern information security effectively. The proposed model was based on agency theory and comprises a relationship between human commitment variables (ethics, integrity and trust) with security governance variables (structural, relational and process) referred as systemic variables in the research. The resulting correlation is further related with governance objectives (goal congruence and reducing information asymmetry) to hypothesize an effective information security in an organization. The research model proposed was tested employing confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and structural equation modeling (SEM).
There were four models tested in this research. The first model (initial measurement model) comprised human variables linked with relational and the systemic variables linked with goal congruence and information asymmetry. This model could not get through the CFA tests. A modified model comprising human and systemic attributes related with goal congruence and information asymmetry, separately, was taken forward to SEM. This model returned low model fitment scores and hence two alternate models were tested. In the first alternative, the human attributes were related with goal congruence and systemic attributes were linked with information asymmetry. In the second alternative, the relationships of the first alternatives were retained and two alternate relationships were introduced - integrity was linked with information asymmetry and structural was linked with goal congruence. Both models are very close to good model fitment scores. However, the second alternative returned better results and hence, was chosen as the final outcome of the research. The model reflects that human attributes and systemic attributes are fairly independent in an effective information security framework, and drive goal congruence and information asymmetry, respectively. However, integrity is an important human commitment for ensuring information asymmetry and the right organizational structure and roles are important for ensuring goal congruence.
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Flowers, Jim David. "Explaining policy differences as a function of diverse governance institutions." Diss., Georgia Institute of Technology, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/1853/54971.
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This study asks the question: “How does the structure of cybersecurity policy relate to differences in structure of policy governance of universities and colleges?” The study has three objectives. First, the study seeks to add to the body of knowledge concerning the relationship between the structure of cybersecurity policy processes and the security policies developed by those processes. Second, the study seeks to demonstrate the usefulness of the Institutional Grammar Tool, Rules Configurations, and other methods employed to analyze institutional configurations. Third, the study seeks to provide pragmatic suggestions for cybersecurity practitioners to systematically identify deficiencies in policy structure that contribute to less than optimum outcomes. Research on this question is necessary as no integrative framework exists for describing or predicting how organizations adopt and implement cyber security policy. The study proposes such a framework by integrating an ideal model for cyber security governance with the principles of the Institutional Analysis and Design framework (IAD). Four research universities of the University System of Georgia are subjected to a cross-case comparison of information security policies. Interviews and policy documents provide a database of institutional statements that are analyzed using IAD methods and tools.
Prior research suggests that elements of policy structure, such as how the policy fits the organization’s objectives and culture, are linked to policy effectiveness. Research also suggests that how those elements of policy structure reflect external threats and organizational factors are determined by how the cybersecurity policy development is integrated into the governance of university wide policy.
In addition to demonstrating the utility of an integrated approach to studying the problem of creating effective policy, findings demonstrate how a well-integrated cybersecurity governance structure provides better fit, constructs policies of appropriate scope, and is more likely to include the components of governance necessary for policy effectiveness. Findings also suggest that policy form, the readability of policy, may be improved if the documents are analyzed using the institutional grammar tools suggested by the IAD and if collaboration with users and managers to construct policy is encouraged. The capability of the methods employed by the study to identify deficiencies in cyber security governance structure that are manifested in less effective policy outcomes may aid policy makers as they strive to develop policy solutions to an ever changing security threat
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Cave, Ashley. "Exploring Strategies for Implementing Data Governance Practices." ScholarWorks, 2017. https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/dissertations/4206.
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Data governance reaches across the field of information technology and is increasingly important for big data efforts, regulatory compliance, and ensuring data integrity. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore strategies for implementing data governance practices. This study was guided by institutional theory as the conceptual framework. The study's population consisted of informatics specialists from a small hospital, which is also a research institution in the Washington, DC, metropolitan area. This study's data collection included semi structured, in-depth individual interviews (n = 10), focus groups (n = 3), and the analysis of organizational documents (n = 19). By using methodological triangulation and by member checking with interviewees and focus group members, efforts were taken to increase the validity of this study's findings. Through thematic analysis, 5 major themes emerged from the study: structured oversight with committees and boards, effective and strategic communications, compliance with regulations, obtaining stakeholder buy-in, and benchmarking and standardization. The results of this study may benefit informatics specialists to better strategize future implementations of data governance and information management practices. By implementing effective data governance practices, organizations will be able to successfully manage and govern their data. These findings may contribute to social change by ensuring better protection of protected health information and personally identifiable information.
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Jalavu, Zisanda Beatrice. "An internal audit's perspective on the role of social and ethics committees." Thesis, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/10948/11998.
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This thesis reveals the results of a study during which the 2014 integrated reports, sustainability reports and websites of the twelve JSE listed companies, were selected and evaluated. The aim of the thesis was to explore the responsibilities and duties of the S&E Committee; in the South African governance context as well as to assess the usefulness of disclosures made in the integrated reports regarding the social and ethics as part of corporate governance. Content analysis was used to identify the information and an interview was held with the expert in the field of social and ethics governance. Content analysis was used to identify the information and form themes and trends. A checklist was developed and used as an the evaluation tool based on the King III and Companies Act requirements on reporting of social and ethics governance. This checklist may be used as an effective tool by internal audit in carrying out an audit of the social and ethics governance. The results of the analysis were then presented to the expert in the field of social and ethics governance for comments. The results obtained indicate that most JSE listed companies conform to good corporate governance practices. However, there are areas where limited disclosure of information was found to be the case. These include the disclosure of information on sustainability, the information was not consistent and would be less helpful to stakeholders who want to analyse changes in the company‟s performance over time, especially relative to other companies. The information also did not meet the sustainability reporting criteria of sustainability context; the sustainability performance was not presented in the wider context, which limits the significant interpretative value. Future research, with the focus on sectorial disclosures, smaller companies as well as consideration of other sources of social and ethics governance information should be conducted.
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Hellberg, Ann-Sofie. "Governments in control? : the implications of governance and policy entrepreneurship in electronic government." Doctoral thesis, Örebro universitet, Handelshögskolan vid Örebro Universitet, 2015. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:oru:diva-43987.
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Reinke, Guido. "The European information society : governance and decision-making process for ICT policy and standards." Thesis, Royal Holloway, University of London, 2010. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.676905.
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Webster, Christopher W. R. "The policy process and governance in the information age : the case of closed circuit television." Thesis, Glasgow Caledonian University, 2004. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.404665.
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This thesis seeks to account for and understand the reasons for the rapid diffusion of Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) surveillance systems in public places across the UK. This is achieved by examining the policy processes and governance structures associated with the diffusion of CCTV systems in local authority settings. An underlying theme in the thesis is that because CCTV is a uniquely powerful technology, its introduction and subsequent diffusion, must be understood in its political and policy environment. To address this concern the thesis develops a framework of understanding based on different perspectives of the policy process, where each perspective is based on the evolution of a core idea or concept. Each of the dominant perspectives identified, offer a different way of `seeing' or comprehending the policy process, and consequently, a different way of explaining the diffusion of CCTV. This is significant as it shows that CCTV must be understood as a policy and a technological phenomenon, and that the processes that explain policy development and technological diffusion are closely intertwined. A key objective of the thesis has been to design a scientific methodology in which to embed the development of the theoretical framework and the empirical research process. In doing so the thesis developed a coherent and comprehensive way of understanding contemporary information age policy processes and the diffusion of CCTV. The main empirical elements of the research were a national survey of local authorities and three detailed local authority case studies. These established that local authorities had installed CCTV into a wide range of public places and that diffusion had involved a variety of strategic, deliberative, consultative and evaluative processes. For local authorities, CCTV represents both a radical shift in policy and a highly institutionalised response to perceived problems in society.
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French, Daniel McNeil. "Voices of Leadership: A Narrative Study of Four Vermont Superintendents and Their Experience with Policy Governance." ScholarWorks @ UVM, 2014. http://scholarworks.uvm.edu/graddis/296.
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In 2006, the Vermont School Board's Association launched a pilot implementation of Policy Governance® in four Vermont school districts. Policy Governance is a coherent governance model that requires boards to establish policy in four policy quadrants (Carver, 2006). Key features of Policy Governance include the clear delineation of roles and responsibilities between a board and its CEO and the articulation of Ends policies which describe the desired outcomes for the organization from a future-oriented perspective (Carver, 2006). These characteristics of Policy Governance are in many ways antithetical to traditional Vermont public school governance practices which are grounded in a long-standing tradition of local control (Cate, 2006). This study focused on the experiences of the four superintendents involved in the 2006 pilot implementation of Policy Governance in Vermont as they attempted to reconcile the coherence of Policy Governance with local school board practices. The purpose of the study was to understand the beliefs and perceptions of these superintendents about Policy Governance, and to understand to what extent Policy Governance implementation created ethical dilemmas for their leadership. A series of in-depth interviews was conducted with the superintendents, and data from the interviews were analyzed using a narrative inquiry approach. The findings of this study suggest superintendent beliefs and perceptions about Policy Governance can be categorized into three themes: responsibility, trust, and vision. Using a theoretical ethical framework based on the work of Starratt (2003, 2004), a further analysis of the findings suggested a series of ethical dilemmas were confronted by the superintendents when implementing Policy Governance. These dilemmas included: developing an organizational vision through ends policies which transfer control over vision from the superintendent to the school board, assisting school boards with engaging their communities in the development of ends policies while at the same time ensuring those ends meet the moral purposes of schooling in serving the needs of all students and the larger public good, enforcing a clear delineation of roles and responsibilities while also serving a school board in its work, and assuming responsibility for transforming school systems to meet the future needs of students while at the same time supporting the success of students and educators in the current organizational structures. This study concluded that Policy Governance can provide an intellectual and practical framework for educational leaders to engage in the necessary ethical action to ensure the success of public schooling in postmodern society.
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du, Fresne Andrew J. "Can Audits be an Effective Method to Improve Information Governance Compliance Objectives?" University of Findlay / OhioLINK, 2020. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=findlay1595949409362295.
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Lenhart, Laura R. "Pluralism and Context: Intellectual Property and the Social Understandings of Intellectual Goods." Diss., The University of Arizona, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/321314.
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Intellectual property affects an increasingly large range of social life. Despite the breadth of goods and activities affected by intellectual property schemas, policy-makers, legislators, jurists and even many social theorists have a narrow understanding of the basis for instituting intellectual property rights and understanding their limits: most see intellectual property rights only as a means to create more intellectual goods in society. My dissertation argues that our intellectual property schemas and policies need to be more sensitive to the diversity of values involved in the social meanings of different intellectual goods and activities. Contrary to those who claim that "information wants to be free," I defend a property-based approach to the protection and regulation of intellectual goods. I argue that intellectual property schemas need to do a better job responding to the diversity of value that characterizes intellectual activities and goods. Finally, I argue that context is an important tool for marking out which values are to be promoted in different circumstances and communities.
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Best, Laura Anne. "A framework to incorporate sustainability into South African consumer protection policy." Thesis, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/10948/14565.
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Consumer protection policy measures can enable consumer behaviour shifts in favour of more sustainable choices. Whilst government is responsible for developing consumer protection policy in a particular country, business is central in the implementation of such policy. In South Africa, there is disassociation in consumer protection policy and environmental policy where consumer protection policy is the responsibility of the Department of Trade and Industry, whilst sustainability is located under the Department of Environmental Affairs. As a result, South African consumer protection policy does not holistically incorporate sustainability. A six-step qualitative research process was adopted to develop a framework to implement sustainability into consumer protection policies. First, a theoretical framework for incorporating sustainability into consumer protection policy was developed to structure the qualitative research. Four dimensions for incorporating sustainability into consumer protection were then identified. Qualitative data was collected using an open-ended questionnaire and also content analysis of existing data. Two sets of experts further reviewed and critiqued the proposed framework. The results of the qualitative enquiry, in particular, showed that for all the countries examined, some at least had sustainability consideration elements in their policies, but this was evident to a lesser extent in African countries, particularly those with less-developed economies. On the other hand, policy mechanisms that promoted sustainability were more evident in the policies and laws of developed countries. In the case of most African countries, basic needs were foregrounded as the primary concerns of consumers, ahead of sustainability concerns. Further, poverty limited consumer choices, particularly if more sustainably produced and eco-efficient goods came at a higher price. The research also underscored the importance and centrality of consumer education and stakeholder engagement for achieving sustainability policy intentions. It further confirmed that the basic needs of poor consumers in South Africa, and the impact of poverty on sustainability policy intentions must underpin the proposed framework. Factors that created an enabling environment for the implementation of the framework were identified as policy harmonisation within government policy domains, joined-up government, good corporate governance and shared value that considered the needs of future generations and consumer education. These factors would create an enabling environment for policy implementation. Consumer policy could play a key role in the choices that consumers make and, if well-designed and implemented, could direct consumer spending in support of the goal of sustainability and sustainable consumption. The proposed framework provides a foundation on which to futher refine and develop consumer protection policy that incorporates the well-being of consumers and social justice. Using consumer spending to drive sustainability requires a deliberate intention on the part of policy makers to move away from the more conventional framing of consumer policy, which has tended to focus on the economic interests of consumers, such as price, quality, choice and redress. However, modern business is shifting towards a more holistic conceptualisation of sustainability, as a value that needs to be deliberately and consciously built into the design and essence of a business. Doing so is not only good corporate citizenship, but offers a competitive advantage, which could drive product demand and attract consumers.
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Patz, Ronny. "Information flows in the context of EU policy-making : affiliation networks and the post-2012 reform of the EU's Common Fisheries Policy." Phd thesis, Universität Potsdam, 2013. http://opus.kobv.de/ubp/volltexte/2014/7073/.
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Information flows in EU policy-making are heavily dependent on personal networks, both within the Brussels sphere but also reaching outside the narrow limits of the Belgian capital. These networks develop for example in the course of formal and informal meetings or at the sidelines of such meetings. A plethora of committees at European, transnational and regional level provides the basis for the establishment of pan-European networks. By studying affiliation to those committees, basic network structures can be uncovered. These affiliation network structures can then be used to predict EU information flows, assuming that certain positions within the network are advantageous for tapping into streams of information while others are too remote and peripheral to provide access to information early enough. This study has tested those assumptions for the case of the reform of the Common Fisheries Policy for the time after 2012. Through the analysis of an affiliation network based on participation in 10 different fisheries policy committees over two years (2009 and 2010), network data for an EU-wide network of about 1300 fisheries interest group representatives and more than 200 events was collected. The structure of this network showed a number of interesting patterns, such as – not surprisingly – a rather central role of Brussels-based committees but also close relations of very specific interests to the Brussels-cluster and stronger relations between geographically closer maritime regions. The analysis of information flows then focused on access to draft EU Commission documents containing the upcoming proposal for a new basic regulation of the Common Fisheries Policy. It was first documented that it would have been impossible to officially obtain this document and that personal networks were thus the most likely sources for fisheries policy actors to obtain access to these “leaks” in early 2011. A survey of a sample of 65 actors from the initial network supported these findings: Only a very small group had accessed the draft directly from the Commission. Most respondents who obtained access to the draft had received it from other actors, highlighting the networked flow of informal information in EU politics. Furthermore, the testing of the hypotheses connecting network positions and the level of informedness indicated that presence in or connections to the Brussels sphere had both advantages for overall access to the draft document and with regard to timing. Methodologically, challenges of both the network analysis and the analysis of information flows but also their relevance for the study of EU politics have been documented. In summary, this study has laid the foundation for a different way to study EU policy-making by connecting topical and methodological elements – such as affiliation network analysis and EU committee governance – which so far have not been considered together, thereby contributing in various ways to political science and EU studies.Informationsflüsse im Kontext von EU-Entscheidungsprozessen sind ohne persönliche Netzwerke kaum denkbar, sowohl solche innerhalb der Brüsseler Sphäre aber auch solche, die über die engen Grenzen der belgischen Hauptstadt hinausreichen. Solche Netzwerke entwickeln sich zum Beispiel im Laufe von offiziellen und inoffiziellen Treffen, oft auch am Rande solcher Ereignisse. Die Vielzahl von Ausschüssen auf europäischer, transnationaler und regionaler Ebene bildet daher die Grundlage für die Schaffung europäischer Netzwerkstrukturen. Indem wir die Teilnahme an solchen Ausschüssen untersuchen, ist es uns möglich, grundlegende Strukturmerkmale solcher Netzwerke aufzudecken. Solche Affiliationsnetzwerk-Strukturen können dann die Grundlage zur Vorhersage von europäischen Informationsflüssen bilden: Die Annahme ist, dass bestimmte Positionen in solchen Netzwerken vorteilhaft für den Zugang zu Informationsflüssen sind, während andere Positionen (zu) weit entfernt und zu peripher sind, um rechtzeitigen Zugriff auf relevante Informationen zu erhalten. Die vorliegende Studie testet diese Annahmen anhand der Reform der Gemeinsamen Fischereipolitik der Europäischen Union für die Zeit nach 2012 . Basierend auf Teilnahmedaten von 10 Fischereipolitik-Ausschüssen über den Zeitraum von zwei Jahren (2009 und 2010) wurde ein Affilationsnetzwerk aus mehr als 1300 Interessenvertretern und –vertreterinnen sowie über 200 Ereignissen erhoben. Die Struktur dieses Netzwerks zeigt eine Reihe von interessanten Mustern auf, zum Beispiel die zentrale Rolle von Brüssel-basierten Ausschüssen aber auch die enge Verknüpfung bestimmter Interessen mit dem Brüsseler Kern des Netzwerk sowie die enge Vernetzung geographisch benachbarter Meeresregionen. Die Analyse von EU-Informationsflüssen wurde dann Anhand des Zugangs von Akteuren aus dem erhobenen Netzwerk zu (nichtöffentlichen) Entwurfsfassungen des Kommissionsvorschlags für eine neue Gemeinsame Fischereipolitik durchgeführt. Zunächst wurde dokumentiert, dass der Zugang zu diesen Dokumenten auf offiziellen Wegen unmöglich war und dass daher Zugang durch erweiterte persönliche Netzwerke die wahrscheinlichste Erklärung für den Erhalt von „Leaks“ durch Fischereipolitik-Interessengruppen in der ersten Hälfte von 2011 war. Eine Umfrage unter 65 Akteuren aus der Gesamtpopulation des Gesamtnetzwerk unterstützte diese Vermutung: Nur eine kleine Gruppe hatte Zugang zu den nicht-öffentlichen Entwurfsdokumenten durch ihre direkten Beziehungen mit der EU-Kommission. Die meisten Teilnehmer der Umfrage hatte Zugang zu diesen Dokumenten durch Dritte erhalten, ein Nachweis, dass EU-Informationen sich tatsächlich in weiteren Netzwerkstrukturen verbreiten. Die Studie konnte auch zeigen, dass enge Affiliations-Beziehungen zur Brüsseler Sphäre ein relevanter Indikator für den (zeitnahen) Zugang zu nicht-öffentlichen EU-Dokumenten ist. Die Herausforderungen in der methodischen Erhebungen von europäischen Affiliationsnetzwerkdaten und von EU-Informationsflüssen werden dabei in der Studie ausführlich dokumentiert. Die Relevanz dieser Methoden zur Analyse von EU-Politik wird ebenfalls im Detail dargelegt. Zusammenfassend legt diese Doktorarbeit die Grundlage für eine neue Art, europäische und transnationale politische Prozesse in Europa zu untersuchen. Sie verbinden thematische und methodische Ansätze – zum Beispiel Affiliationsnetzwerkanalyse und die Untersuchung des EU-Ausschusswesens – die bislang in dieser Form noch nicht zusammengeführt wurden, und trägt dadurch auf verschiedenste Weise zur Weiterentwicklung der Politikwissenschaft und der Europastudien bei.
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Henri, Dominique. "Managing nature, producing cultures : Inuit participation, science and policy in wildlife governance in the Nunavut Territory, Canada." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2012. http://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:2cde7bcb-4818-4f61-9562-179b4ee74fee.
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In this thesis, a critical analysis is proposed of the relationships between Inuit participation, science and policy in wildlife governance in the Nunavut Territory, Canada. This analysis situates the emergence of a participatory regime for the governance of wildlife in Nunavut, explores its performance and examines the relations between the ways in which wildlife governance arrangements are currently represented in policy and how they are played out in practice across the territory. To pursue these objectives, this research draws upon a number of theoretical perspectives and methodological strategies poised at a crossroads between environmental geography, science and technology studies, political ecology and ecological anthropology. It combines participant observation, semi-directed interviews and literature-based searches with approaches to the study of actor-networks, hybrid forums and scientific practices associated with Latour and Callon, as well as with Foucauldian and post-Foucauldian analyses of power, governmentality and subjectivity. This analysis suggests that the overall rationale within which wildlife governance operates in Nunavut remains largely based on a scientific and bureaucratic framework of resource management that poses significant barriers to the meaningful inclusion of Inuit views. In spite of their participation in wildlife governance through a range of institutional arrangements, consultation practices and research initiatives, the Inuit of Nunavut remain critical of the power relations embedded within existing schemes, where significant decision-making authority remains under the control of the territorial (or federal) government, and where asymmetries persist with regard to the capacity of various actors to produce and mediate their claims. In addition, while the use of Inuit knowledge, or Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit, in wildlife governance in Nunavut has produced some collaborative research and management endeavours, it has also crystallised a divide between ‘Inuit’ and ‘scientific’ knowledge, generated unresolved conflicts, fuelled mistrust among wildlife co-management partners and led to an overall limited inclusion of Inuit observations, values and beliefs in decision-making.
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Mazanderani, Fadhila. "Information as care : reconnecting internet use, HIV and health." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2012. http://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:e9959b49-ca0c-48ba-9916-03a32d1455c4.
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Internet technologies are increasingly advocated as a means for transforming health care and improving people’s health. In the field of e-health questions on the health implications of internet use are typically approached through attempts at measuring the effect of internet use on health outcomes. In this, information is usually conceptualised as a form of knowledge/power and online information practices are enrolled in discourses on patient empowerment. Taking the different meanings ascribed to information in these approaches as my point of departure, in this thesis I rethink the implications of internet use on health through an empirical exploration of alternative conceptualisations of the relationship between information and health in the context of contemporary HIV treatment and care. I do this through two analytical moves. First, drawing on the concept of performativity, a concern with what effect internet use has on health is turned into one of how internet use enacts health. Second, rather than treating information as knowledge/power, through an analysis of how a specific group of women ‘living with HIV’ in the UK use the internet, I reconfigure the connections between internet use and health through a conceptualisation of information as care. Drawing on a range of empirical materials – including forty-seven in-depth interviews with patients and internet content providers, non-participant observations, document and website analysis – three areas of health-related internet use are analysed in detail: the seeking out of health-related and specifically biomedical information; the seeking out and sharing of experiential knowledge and narratives about living with HIV; meeting prospective partners and dating. However, rather than studying these areas of internet use in order to interrogate what they can tell us about the internet, I analyse them as part of the ethical regime of ‘living with HIV’, in which the virus, previously thought of as ‘terminal’, becomes, through info and bio technologies, normalised as ‘chronic’. From this perspective, enacting health not only entails working on and with one’s body, but also always invokes its distribution across bodies, to other areas and relations, including internet technologies and the networks of relations established via these technologies.
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Mayedwa, Mziwoxolo. "An exploratory study of inderstanding electronic government in facilitating intergovernmental relations to encourage cooperative governance in South Africa." Thesis, University of the Western Cape, 2010. http://etd.uwc.ac.za/index.php?module=etd&action=viewtitle&id=gen8Srv25Nme4_2848_1306904945.
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The study seeks to investigate the perceived lack of coordination, integration, and coherence among units of government as related to eGovernment. The nature of the study is qualitative with a focus on the use of eGovernment in the public sector and whether it can facilitate intergovernmental forums business processes in an effective and efficient manner. The scope of the study is confined to the intergovernmental fiscal system but focused on eGovernment, intergovernmental relations, and cooperative governance. The primary objective of the study is to explore the use of eGovernment whether it can facilitate, coordinate, and integrate intergovernmental relations. Some studies portray that there are challenges in the coordination of intergovernmental forums which have resulted into a disintegration of services. The study further investigates options that could mitigate these challenges through acknowledging the effective application of ICTs (eGovernment) in government services. The study has found that South Africa has a functioning system of intergovernmental which are not effectively coordinated in terms of engaging each other in matters of mutual interest. On the other hand, eGovernment promised to bring about cohesion and transparency when they are effectively employed. The study revealed that the application of eGovernment in the intergovernmental forums has the capability to improve their operations, respond to its ineffective coordination and improve delivery of services. In a nutshell, the study has found that there is a need for a radical planning outlook that recognises proper utilization of eGovernment in the intergovernmental forums to promote cooperative governance.
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Antoniou, George S. "Designing an effective information security policy for exceptional situations in an organization: An experimental study." NSUWorks, 2015. http://nsuworks.nova.edu/gscis_etd/949.
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An increasing number of researchers are recognizing the importance of the role played by employees in maintaining the effectiveness of an information security policy. Currently, little research exists to validate the relationship between the actions (behaviors) taken by employees in response to exceptional situations (antecedents) regarding an organization’s information security policy, the impact (consequences) those actions have on an organization, and the motives that prompt those actions. When these exceptional situations occur, employees may feel compelled to engage in behaviors that violate the terms of an information security policy because strict compliance with the policy could cause the organization to lose revenue, reputability or some other business advantage. To address this issue, this research study investigated how to design an effective information security policy for exceptional situations in an organization. In order to achieve this goal, this study explored how an information security policy should be designed with the critical components of clarity, comprehensiveness, ease of use and flexibility, in addition to including provisions for the work contingencies of employees. The aim of this proposed study was to demonstrate how the application principles of the prima-facie, utilitarian and universalizability design theories can aid in designing an information security policy that includes these essential elements. The research study explored the effectiveness of the policy's design and the effect it had on employee compliance with the policy in exceptional situations. A survey questionnaire was administered to a control group and an experimental group consisting of full-time and part-time employees who worked in various departments of a single organization. The survey employed a five-point Likert-type scale. The data gathered from the questionnaire was analyzed. Inferential statistics used the general linear model (GLM), including the t-test, analysis of covariance (ANCOVA), regression analysis, and factor analysis with the latest SPSS version computer statistical analysis program. This study built to develop a model for designing an effective information security policy for exceptional situations in an organization. Based on the analysis of fit the model for designing an effective information security policy for exceptional situations in an organization was determine to be a success model. This study should provide many opportunities for future research, as well as providing information security practitioners and academics a solid roadmap for designing effective information security policies within an organization to apply during exceptional situations.
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Donnerin, Oscar, and Adham Mouwafi. "Kommuner i interorganisatorisk samverkan : Att säkert och effektivt styra informationssäkerhetsarbete." Thesis, Linköpings universitet, Filosofiska fakulteten, 2015. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:liu:diva-119833.
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Samverkan mellan kommuner är något som varit en aktuell fråga för svenska myndigheter under en längre tid. Mer specifikt har en tydlig ökning identifierats sedan kommunallagen trädde i kraft 1991 och samverkansformen visade sig möta reella politiska behov på ett positivt sätt. Samtidigt har offentliga organisationer de senaste 15 åren gått från att förespråka skyddandet av information till att bli mer öppna och utbyta information över organisatoriska gränser. Denna kvalitativa fallstudie undersöker informationssäkerhet i en interorganisatorisk samverkan mellan svenska kommuner. Teorier som behandlas i uppsatsen är informationssäkerhet, information security governance och samverkan. Studiens syfte är att undersöka utmaningarna med styrning av informationssäkerhetsarbete i en interorganisatorisk samverkan mellan svenska kommuner. Vi ämnar således bidra till forskningen genom att dels förfina befintliga teorier kring de separata ämnesområdena men även utveckla teori där dessa ämnen möts. Vi syftar även till att bidra till praktiken genom att generera värdefull kunskap för de studerade organisationerna men även generalisera resultatet för liknande organisationer. Resultatet visar att vi identifierat ett antal centrala utmaningar där vissa är svårare att hantera än andra. En central utmaning är att det politiska självstyret är tydligt uttalat vilket sätter begräsningar för vad som är möjligt att realisera gemensamt. Vi kan även konstatera att resurser och prioriteringar påverkas av detta. Vi har presenterat ett antal förslag på behov som kan beaktas, både internt i kommunerna men även gemensamt över kommunala gränser. De rekommendationer vi har till kommunerna är att ta ett steg tillbaka gällande samverkan, detta då de ligger på så pass olika nivåer och kan få svårt att skapa en gemensam grund. Kommunerna bör även fokusera på den interna verksamheten och öka säkerhetsmedvetandet för att bli mer redo för att ingå i en samverkan. Uppfylls detta kan de börja fokusera på att anta principer och andra gemensamma aktiviteter som till exempel utbildningar. Detta gör att informationssäkerhetsarbetet går från att vara reaktivt till att bli mer proaktivt. Detta är något som vi anser att både offentliga- och privata organisationer borde sträva mot men även forskare borde ta hänsyn till.
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Huber, Stephan. "“Walking encyclopedias of studies” for sustainability transformations? The role of information and discourse in the case of the German coal phase-out." Thesis, Stockholms universitet, Stockholm Resilience Centre, 2021. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:su:diva-197233.
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Transformations of energy systems in line with the Paris Agreement demand rapid deliberate decline of fossil energy production for decarbonization. Rising in priority on national political agendas, policy change for deliberate decline meets political barriers in the form of powerful incumbent actors, path dependencies and frames of loss. Although these dynamics can impede transformations, literature remains unclear in how to engage with these barriers. Therefore, this study focused on discourse and policy process theories in a qualitative analysis based on a broad selection of documents and expert-based interviews to explore and illustrate the “Commission on Growth, Structural Change and Employment” in Germany (2018/19). In this multi-stakeholder committee, a phase-out plan for coal-fired power generation was negotiated alongside claims of just transitions. Findings indicate that policy change was reached through consensual agreement but was reduced in ambition through path dependent discourse and expert-based information. The selection and evaluation of expert-based information was closely tied to expert members, while political debate on necessary assumptions as a basis for this information remained scarce. Lastly, insights from discourse and expert-based information can enrich the understanding of sustainability transformations and further research on the case could investigate the narrative subscriptions of stakeholders.
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Austin, Monica L. "Examining the Experience of Nepotism in a Protestant Church." ScholarWorks, 2019. https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/dissertations/6393.
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The research literature reveals a number of studies conducted on unethical behavior, including nepotism, within the broader nonprofit sector. However, the effect of faith community leadership nepotism on parishioners has not been studied. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to fill a gap in the literature by exploring parishioner perceptions of leadership nepotism through the lens of servant leadership. Specific to this study, it was unknown whether parishioners of a Protestant church view nepotism as having a positive, negative, or neutral impact related to leadership performance. Specifically, the study explored parishioner impacts related to 5 elements of servant leadership: (a) listening, (b) empathy, (c) healing, (d) stewardship, and (e) building community. Individual interviews were conducted with 9 parishioners from 1 church where nepotism was known to exist. The interviews were digitally recorded, transcribed, and thematically analyzed to identify and extract patterns and themes. Among the findings, the data revealed the presence of servant leadership characteristics found in leadership, which appeared to mitigate the negative influence of nepotism. The study may provide faith community leadership with information that can be used to create and implement important policies related to nepotism.
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Ugalde, Francisca B. "A Case for Collections Management Policy for Passive Collecting Institutions." University of Akron / OhioLINK, 2012. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=akron1353296784.
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Vincendeau, Benjamin. "La Responsabilité sociétale des entreprises : Étude comparée du droit américain et du droit français des sociétés anonymes cotées." Thesis, Cergy-Pontoise, 2016. http://www.theses.fr/2016CERG0836.
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Historiquement, l’émergence de l’entreprise est consubstantielle aux interrogations relatives à la prise en considération des travailleurs par les sociétés faisant appel public à l’épargne. D’essence économique, la mondialisation, en créant les conditions du développement des entreprises multinationales, a nécessairement mis en évidence sous un jour nouveau la teneur des relations entre celles-ci et la société civile. S’inscrivant dans la perspective des révolutions économiques et sociales qui ont émaillé l’évolution du monde occidental depuis le début du XIXème siècle, l’appréciation juridique de la Responsabilité Sociétale des Entreprises traduit un changement de paradigme qui trouve ses fondements dans le droit américain. Définie par la Commission européenne comme la « responsabilité des entreprises vis-à-vis des effets qu’elles exercent sur la Société », la Responsabilité Sociétale de l’Entreprise n’en demeure pas moins protéiforme en raison du fait que la détermination de son contenu relève principalement de la gouvernance des entreprises. Néanmoins, les différentes affaires de pollutions environnementales et de violation des Droits de l’Homme impliquant des entreprises multinationales ont conduit les Etats à progressivement revoir leur position quant à la régulation des engagements sociétalement responsables des entreprises. Dès lors, une co-régulation de la Responsabilité Sociétale des Entreprises tend à émerger au sein des dispositifs nationaux. L’appréhension pas les Etats des nouvelles problématiques n’est cependant pas uniforme. À cet égard, nous nous attacherons à étudier dans une perspective de droit comparé, les principaux modèles juridiques de la RSE : à savoir le droit français et le droit américain. L’objet de cette étude sera la société faisant appel public à l’épargne qui constitue le principal modèle de la grande entreprise. Plus précisément, ces travaux de recherche viseront à construire un régime efficace de la Responsabilité Sociétale de l’Entreprise en droit français. Dans cette perspective, il sera utile de puiser dans le droit américain qui représente le droit précurseur dans ce domaine. Pour ce faire, un essai sur l’intégration de la Responsabilité Sociétale de l’Entreprise dans la théorie générale des sociétés sera réalisé. Partant, seront formulées des propositions permettant d’accorder les différents outils de droit souple avec les instruments de droit dur de la Responsabilité Sociétale de l’EntrepriseHistorically, the emergence of the company is consubstantial to the questions relating to the consideration of workers by business corporations. The globalization has created the conditions for the development of these business corporations and has has revealed a new relation between them and civil society. As part of the perspective of economic and social revolutions that have marked the evolution of the Western world since the early nineteenth century, the legal assessment of the Corporate Social Responsibility reflects a paradigm process that has its roots in the US Law. Defined by the European Commission as "corporate responsibility vis-à-vis their impacts on the Company," Corporate Social Responsibility of the Company will nonetheless protean due to the fact that the determination of its content finds its base in the corporate governance. Nevertheless, the various cases of environmental pollution and violations of human rights involving multinational companies have led States to progressively reconsider their position on the regulation of socially responsible corporate commitments. Therefore, a co-regulation of Corporate Social Responsibility tends to emerge within national systems. But the approach adopted by the States is different. In this regard, we will focus on a study in comparative law perspective between the main legal models of CSR: namely French law and American law. The companie that will be studied is the business corporation because is the main model of big business. Specifically, this research will aim to build an effective system of Corporate Social Responsibility of the Company under French law. In this perspective, it will be helpful to tap into American law which is the precursor law in this area. A test on the integration of Corporate Social Responsibility of the Company in the general theory of the companies will be realized. Finally, will be made some proposals on the various tools of soft law to hard law instruments of Corporate Social Responsibility of the Company
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Brown, Shonda Dellena. "An Information Privacy Examination of the Practices of Pharmaceutical Companies Regarding Use of Information Collected Through Their Websites." NSUWorks, 2015. http://nsuworks.nova.edu/gscis_etd/47.
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Consumers have begun to take a more proactive approach to their healthcare by accessing pharmaceutical companies Websites to obtain health and drug information, support groups, rebates, coupons, as well as free drug trials. In exchange for these benefits, companies require consumers to voluntarily disclose information. However, research has shown that consumers continue to be concerned about how their information is managed, used, and distributed by companies, especially if accessed via the Web. To date, there has been limited empirical research to examine the actual online practices of companies when it comes to privacy, especially those of pharmaceutical companies. Using Delphi expert panel process, the components of a benchmarking index were identified to examine the documented and actual online practices of 100 Website registrations with pharmaceutical companies. The evolution for the development of an index to measure the personal information privacy violations of pharmaceutical companies is presented. Second, empirical evidence is provided regarding the magnitude of voluntary adherence to the Fair Information Practices (FIPs) by pharmaceutical companies based upon the personal information privacy violations. The results revealed that companies with headquarters in Europe had fewer personal information privacy violations than those in Asia, UK, and the US. Moreover, the results indicate that fewer personal information privacy violations occur for chronic conditions than for non-chronic conditions, as well as fewer violations occur with Website registrations for updates than for discounts. Finally, both Europe and UK demonstrated more overall adherence to FIPs than the US and Asia. This suggests that self-regulation may not be sufficient, while more enforcement may be necessary to decrease personal information privacy violations.
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Owen, Oliver H. "The Nigeria police force : an institutional ethnography." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2012. http://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:e824783a-8ba0-4d96-8519-0ee2b2090fc8.
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This thesis is an institutional ethnography of the Nigeria Police Force. It concentrates on evidence from 18 months of fieldwork in one particular police station, in the pseudonymised town of Dutsin Bature in central Nigeria, and draws comparative evidence from examples and locations elsewhere in Nigeria. The fieldwork evidence is also supported by analyses of public discourse, literature reviews, some formal interviews and historical research. The thesis aims to fill a gap in empirical scholarship by looking at policing in Nigeria primarily from the level of everyday practice, and deriving understandings of the ways the overall system works, rather than by taking normative structural approaches and basing suppositions of actual behaviour upon these. It also aims to document emic perspectives on policing in Nigeria, in contrast to most existing scholarship and public discourse which takes an external perspective, from which the voices and worldviews of police themselves are absent. The thesis situates this ethnography within three theoretical terrains. First, developing understandings of policing and public security in Africa, which have often neglected in-depth studies of formal police forces. Secondly, enlarging the ethnographic study of formal institutions in African states, to develop a closer understanding of what state systems are and how they function, beyond the overtly dysfunctionalist perspectives which have dominated recent scholarship. Thirdly, informing ongoing debates over state and society in Africa, problematising understandings which see these as separate entities instead of mutually constitutive, and drawing attention to the ways in which the two interpenetrate and together mould the public sphere. The thesis begins with a historical overview of the trajectory of formal policing in Nigeria, then examines public understandings and representations of policing, before moving inside the institutional boundaries, considering in turn the human composition of the police, training and character formation, the way police officers do their work in Dutsin Bature, Nigerian police officers’ preoccupation with risk and the systemic effects of their efforts to mitigate it, and finally officers’ subjective perspectives on their work, their lived realities, and on Nigeria in an era of transition. These build together to suggest some conclusions pertinent to the theoretical perspectives.
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Akouri, Elie. "Styrmodeller, etiska utmaningar och migrationspolitiska dilemman : En kritisk fallstudie om den syriska flyktingsituationen i Libanon, etiska begränsningar och internationell inblandning." Thesis, Linköpings universitet, Statsvetenskap, 2019. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:liu:diva-161699.
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This paper is characterized as a critical case study aimed to scrutinize the continuous situation regarding Syrian refugees in Lebanon from an ethical theoretical approach. Mainly, two specific theoretical models regarding ethics in migration and a theoretical standpoint regarding ethics in migration are presented as the theoretical and scientific framework. Arash Abizadeh’s two models, known as the state sovereignty model and the liberal model are implemented in order to understand and to pinpoint the course of the Lebanese situation. Additional, Joseph Carens’ theory concerning ethics in migration is implemented parallel with the two models, to enhance the analytical tools and to introduce a normative perspective. Regarding the empirical result, three distinct perspectives are utilized in order to cope with the situation on a fair and nuanced ground. The Syrian refugees themselves, international involvement and the Lebanese government are presented as the empirical pathways throughout this paper. Concluding results of this paper tends to pinpoint uncertainty and unawareness to be the key factors in explaining the actions of the Lebanese government. Based on the theoretical framework presented in this paper, there is an established tendency to conclude that Syrian refugees has not been treated accordingly to ethical concepts. Because of the distinct ideal differences between the two theoretical models, the results tend to be more evident. The Lebanese government has initially tended to affiliate itself with the liberal model. However, as time has progressed the government has acted accordingly to the state sovereignty model, with not acknowledging ethical limitations in its decision making. While remaining in the grasp of the state sovereignty model, the government and the civil society has begun lighting sparks in actions that have been taken. These actions tend to recognize ethical limitations, thus moving Lebanon towards the liberal model, but far from being completely implemented. In summary, Lebanon’s situation has brought it to a tendency to conduct temporary policies in an increasingly permanent situation.
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Nemetz, Annette M. "A Global Investigation of Stakeholder and Contextual Influences on Firm Engagement in Sustainability." PDXScholar, 2014. https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/open_access_etds/1630.
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Global sustainability issues cross all sectors of society, including businesses, governments, and communities and come with substantial costs. Business organizations are increasingly expected to address sustainability issues in a responsible manner and to disclose socially responsible behaviors accurately and transparently, showing that they are effective at managing and being proactive about sustainability challenges. In light of these pressures and expectations for business organizations, the fundamental research question for this study was whether variation existed in the levels of engagement in sustainability efforts across firms globally, and, more importantly, why such variation existed.
The level of strategic firm engagement in sustainability was proposed to be influenced by stakeholders and other factors that had relevance to sustainability. Three types of stakeholders with the potential power and legitimacy for influencing strategic decisions regarding firm engagement in sustainability were investigated - executive management, community and government. Multiple firm-related and country-related contextual factors were also investigated as influencers. The study was global in nature, consisting of four hundred companies in twenty-five countries.
Stakeholder theory, as the foundation of the investigation, was supported by the results of the study. Executive management, community, and government as stakeholders were found to have significant influence on the level of firm engagement in sustainability. Firm size, country economy, country technological readiness, country fossil fuel dependence, and industry sector were also found to have significant influence on the level of firm engagement in sustainability and approximately 26% of the variation in firm sustainability engagement was accounted for by the combined influence of executive management, government and community as stakeholder influences and firm size and country technological readiness as contextual factors.
Specific findings showed that there were higher levels of firm engagement in sustainability when executive management provided explicit support for sustainability as a strategic issue, in communities with positive supportive norms for sustainability and a higher propensity for citizen-based political action and when there was an optimal level of government regulation and formalized institutional power. Other factors that led to higher levels of firm engagement in sustainability were for firms in energy-related and automotive industry sectors, for larger firms based on revenue size, and for firms with headquarters located in countries with developed economies and higher technological readiness.
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Lambert, Laurent A. "Drivers and barriers to change in desalinated water governance in the GCC : a comparative approach to water privatisations in Abu Dhabi, Doha and Kuwait City." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2013. http://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:d98027bc-e479-46da-9f6f-1572e57f630c.
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The global water crisis has often been presented as a crisis of governance and attributed to various factors, including the slowness of institutional adjustments to rapid structural challenges such as demographic growth, resource degradation and economic difficulties (UNU-INWEH, 2012). Despite the rapid growth of cities around the world and a fast increase in the use of desalination for freshwater supply (WHO, 2011), the dynamics of institutional change in desalinated urban water governance have never been researched. This thesis investigates the drivers, barriers and counter-forces to a major institutional change - privatisation - in the desalinated water governance of the coastal cities of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region. Through the cases of public private partnerships (PPPs) in Abu Dhabi and Doha and the failed attempt to implement similar PPPs in Kuwait City, this research investigates the diverse forces that have led to the implementation of this new institutional arrangement in order to question - both empirically and theoretically - the literature’s general assumption that privatisation reforms in urban water services in the South arise from structural issues, e.g. a water crisis, an economic crisis and/or a governance crisis. The three main schools of comparative studies are used systematically to test hypotheses about causal relationships between selected variables. The structural approach is applied to examine the influences of the redistributive rentier state, oil price fluctuations and regional energy integration over the privatisation process. Adopting a Post-colonial perspective, the political culture approach is used to examine critically the contemporary influences of traditional cultural features, key local institutions and foreign cultural influences over the fluctuating roles of both the State and the markets in the local urban water supply since the late 19th century. Finally, the rational agency theory is used to examine the role in the recent privatisation process of key political figures from the ruling families. This research demonstrates that the privatisation process of desalination units in Abu Dhabi and Doha was not driven by structural factors during the 2000s, a period of high oil prices, but was initiated in the 1990s and driven the following decade by the agency of a reforming elite wanting to privatize the water sector as part of a broader dynamic of construction of a neoliberal post-rentier economy – i.e. an intermediary political economic paradigm that aims to mediate the transition from rentierism to a fully liberalized economy. The political culture approach shows that these privatisations were facilitated by a gradual shift from pure rentierism towards a post-rentier form of neoliberalism in the political philosophy of liberal water technocrats on the one hand, and towards a regional trend of ‘pious neoliberalism’ (Atia, 2011) among practicing Sunni Muslims. Nevertheless, the enduring rentier mentality has constituted a strong counter-force to privatisation dynamics. The PPPs were implemented in Abu Dhabi and Doha because the local ruling elites situated the political bargaining within the tribal institutional milieus that they mastered completely through the control of the rent and related benefits. In Kuwait however, negotiations between the ruling elites and the leading political forces, the tribes and the opposition, were situated in a parliamentary institutional milieu that the ruling elite could not control and where the opposition and tribal MPs have opposed all reforms of the rentier ruling bargain. These findings illustrate that institutional changes in desalinated water governance are not neutrally driven by uncontrollable structural forces, but are the product of political bargaining between and among various rational political actors and their coalitions. This thesis also shows that in non-democratic or semi-democratic settings, the choice of a specific institutional milieu by the authorities is critical to the successful bargaining of institutional reforms, since it determines whether some key actors - along with structural factors (e.g. rent) and cultural factors (e.g. tribal influence) - will support the process or will be able to act against it.
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Ohlhoff, Johannes Hendrik Snyman. "A survey of disclosure of compliance with King II by top listed South African companies : an investigative study of the companies listed on the FTSE/JSE top 40 index." Thesis, Stellenbosch : University of Stellenbosch, 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/838.
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Thesis (MBA (Business Management))--University of Stellenbosch, 2008.ENGLISH SUMMARY: During the period of change in South Africa in the year of the first democratic elections, 1994, the first King Report on Corporate Governance appeared. For the first time in South Africa, companies had a good reference for corporate practice and conduct. A second King report, commonly referred to as King II, appeared in March 2002 and expanded on the earlier Code to produce, what was considered at the time to be, a world-class code of corporate governance. In addition to the acceptance and incorporation of King II into corporate governance practice, the JSE included compliance with the King Code as part of its listing requirements. The code itself is not an enforceable set of rules, but rather guidelines to assist companies in implementing principles of good governance. In similar vein, the JSE has given companies the flexibility to justify non-compliance. This underscores the socalled comply or explain philosophy to which corporate governance in South Africa subscribes. Studies have found the level of corporate governance in South Africa to be high, especially for an emerging market. Compliance with corporate governance principles and transparency go hand in hand. In a comply or explain regime, where the regulation is considered to be done by the market, disclosure of compliance is especially important. The goal of this research project was to conduct a survey of the top listed South African companies to ascertain what the level of disclosure of corporate governance was, with specific reference to the recommendations contained in the King Code. For the purposes of this study, the top companies were defined as the FTSE/JSE Top 40 Index companies. The supposition was that most companies, having been confronted with the King Code for almost six years, would be compliant to a large degree and will disclose their compliance. This was expected to be more evident amongst top companies who have the resources and influence to effect changes sooner and take the lead on high profile issues. The study confirmed the supposition that companies, at least in the sample, were highly compliant. There were however some areas where improvements can be made to be more in line with global best practices.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Gedurende die periode van vernuwing in Suid-Afrika en die jaar van die eerste demokratiese verkiesing, 1994, het die eerste King verslag op korporatiewe bestuur verskyn. Vir die eerste keer het maatskappye in Suid-Afrika ‘n goeie verwysing gehad in die bepaling van hul korporatiewe bestuurspraktyke en gedrag. ‘n Tweede King verslag, alombekend as King II, het in Maart 2002 verskyn en op die eerste verslag uitgebou om ‘n kode te voorskyn te bring wat ten tyde van publisering as wêreldklas bestempel is. Bo en behalwe die aanvaarding en toepassing van King II in die korporatiewe bestuurspraktyk, het die JSE ook nakoming van die Kode as deel van die noterings vereistes ingesluit. Die King Kode opsigself is nie ‘n afdwingbare stel reëls nie, maar eerder riglyne wat maatskappy bystaan in die implementering van beginsels van goeie bestuur. In ‘n soortgelyke manier gee die JSE ook aan maatskappye die buigsaamheid om gevalle van nie-nakoming te regverdig en verdedig. Dit onderskryf die sogenaamde voldoen of verduidelik filosofie wat korporatiewe bestuur in Suid Afrika aan gehoor gee. Studies het gevind dat die vlak van korporatiewe bestuursgedrag in Suid-Afrika hoog is, veral vir ‘n ontluikende mark. Nakoming met korporatiewe bestuurgedragskodes en deursigtigheid gaan hand aan hand. In ‘n voldoen of verduidelik regime, waar die mark geag word om te reguleer, is openbaarmaking van korporatiewe bestuursgedrag van kardinale belang. Die doel van hierdie navorsingsprojek was om ‘n peiling te maak van die voorste Suid-Afrikaanse maatskappye om te bepaal wat die vlak van openbaarmaking in terme van korporatiewe bestuursgedrag was, met spesifieke verwysing na die King Kode. Vir die doeleindes van die studie is die voorste maatskappye gedefiniëer as die FTSE/JSE Top 40 Indeks. Die veronderstelling was dat meeste maatskappye, gegewe die feit dat die Kode al ses jaar in omgang is, tot ‘n groot mate aan die Kode sal voldoen en inligting rakende die voldoening openbaar maak. Dit is ook verwag dat dit veral die geval onder die voorste maatskappye sou wees aangesien hulle oor die hulpbronne en invloed beskik om veranderinge vroeër teweeg te bring en leierskap te neem met hoë profiel kwesssies. Die studie het die veronderstelling korrek bewys dat maatskappye, ten minste in die geval van die ingeslote groep, ‘n hoë vlak van voldoening en openbaarmaking ten toon stel. Daar is egter nogtans areas waar verbeterings gedoen kan word om meer in lyn met internasionale beste praktyke te kom.
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Puckett, Robert Fleming. "The strange case of the landed poor : land reform laws, traditional San culture, and the continued poverty of South Africa's ‡Khomani people." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2013. http://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:ebaac8e4-d4be-462c-a035-f128101f9cbc.
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The ‡Khomani San people received lands in 1999 under the ‘restitution’ arm of South Africa’s land reform programme. Restitution laws, contained in the Restitution of Land Rights Act and the Communal Property Associations (‘CPA’) Act, seek not only to return lands to peoples dispossessed after 1913, but also to inculcate the ideals of South Africa’s dominant agro-pastoral-based society into defined, cohesive land-recipient ‘communities’. These ideals include centralised, hierarchical, representative, democratic leadership and decision-making structures that the West takes for granted. However, these concepts of control are not typically found among foraging or post-foraging peoples, who tend to base their societies on decentralised, small-group, egalitarian social structures that strongly oppose hierarchies, representation, or accumulation. Such social organisation remains intact even after these groups become settled or adopt non-hunting-and-gathering livelihoods, and today’s ‡Khomani self-identify as San, ‘Bushmen’, hunters, and indigenous people, despite their settlement and their adoption of varied livelihood strategies, including stock-farming. Among such groups, externally imposed governance structures tend to be viewed as illegitimate, and instead of the cohesion and order these centrally legislated structures seek to create, they instead engender dissent, conflict, and non-compliance. The ‡Khomani, as both a formerly scattered group of apartheid-era labourers and a cultural group of San people, have struggled with little success to plan and implement ‘development’, infrastructure, and livelihood projects on their lands and have ‘failed’ to operate the Restitution and CPA Acts’ required ‘community’ land-ownership and decision-making structures successfully. Thus, restitution has failed to bring the socio-economic improvements that the new ‡Khomani lands seemed to promise. Since 2008, however, the government has temporarily taken governance and approval authority from the ‡Khomani, which has led to the creation of smaller, behind-the-scenes governing bodies, as the ‡Khomani have begun taking the reins of power in their own ways. Such bodies, including the ‡Khomani Farmers’ Association and the Bushman Raad, have begun achieving some successes on the ‡Khomani farms in part, it is argued, because they allow the ‡Khomani to reproduce the focused, non-hierarchical, small-group structures that are more suitable to them as a non-cohesive group and more culturally appropriate to them as San people. The South African government, with appropriate protections for abuse of power, should provide the space within land reform laws to allow land-recipient groups to make decisions, govern themselves, and manage their lands according to their own community realities and their own conceptions of leadership and social organisation.
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Van, Schalkwyk Phillipus Johannes. "A conceptual framework and considerations for mergers and acquisitions in the information technology arena / P.J. van Schalkwyk." Thesis, North-West University, 2007. http://hdl.handle.net/10394/2038.
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Silva, Márcio Felipe Albuquerque Prazim da. "Socialização da informação: intersecções temáticas entre ciência da informação e educação." Universidade Federal da Paraíba, 2014. http://tede.biblioteca.ufpb.br:8080/handle/tede/3967.
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Previous issue date: 2014-02-11Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES
Analyzes the field interface between Information Science (SI) and Education relating the information socialization to the Paulo Freire scontributions, mainly from procedures specified in Pedagogy of the Oppressed, which can guide the formation of communicative context. At the end, encourages conceptual map is based on the discussion of information socialization. This is theoretical research in interthematic part, and also focuses on interdisciplinary relationships between fields of knowledge. Regarding the objectives, initiallyis defined as exploratory research and, after, as a descriptive, qualitative approach. SI believes that education and built a fruitful interface, which motivates a deeper reflection on the contributions that emerged at the heart of this dialogic space of contemporary society, in the study, understood as learningsociety or learning network society. The information socialization comprises studies of SI and can relate to the field of Education through Paulo Freire s theoretical and procedural guidance, since the formation of the communicative context to creating informational products.
Analisa o campo de interface entre a Ciência da Informação (CI) e a Educação, relacionando a socialização da informação às contribuições de Paulo Freire, principalmente, a partir de procedimentos explicitados na Pedagogia do Oprimido, com base na investigação de temas geradores, que pode nortear a formação de contexto comunicativo. Ao final, fomenta-semapa conceitual fundamentado na discussão sobre socialização da informação. Trata-se de pesquisa teórico-conceitual, em parte intertemática, e que se centra também em relações interdisciplinares entre campos do conhecimento. No tocante aos objetivos, define-se, a priori, como pesquisa exploratória e, a posteriori, como descritiva, com abordagem qualitativa. Entende que a CI e a Educação construíram uma interface fecunda, o que motiva uma reflexão mais profunda acerca das contribuições surgidas no cerne desse espaço dialógico da sociedade contemporânea, no estudo, denominada de sociedade do aprendizado contínuoou do aprendizado em rede. A socialização da informação compreende estudos de CI e pode se relacionarao campo da Educação por meio de orientações teóricas e procedimentais de Paulo Freire, da formação de contexto comunicativo até a criação de produtos informacionais.
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Pereira, Laura M. "Private sector adaptive capacity to climate change impacts in the food system : food security implications for South Africa and Brazil." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2012. http://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:ade3811d-584e-4c5d-a734-4a22312eccf7.
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Achieving food security under climate change is one of the biggest challenges of the 21st century. The challenge becomes even greater when contextualised within our current limited understanding of how the food system functions as a complex, adaptive socio-ecological system, with food security as one of its outcomes. Adding climate change into this already complex and uncertain mix creates a ‘wicked problem’ that must be solved through the development of adaptive food governance. The thesis has 4 key aims: - 1. To move beyond an understanding of food security that is dependent solely on agricultural production, and therefore the reliance of future food security predictions on production data based on climate model inputs.
- 2. To ground the theoretical aspects of complex adaptive systems with empirical data from multi-level case studies.
- 3. To investigate the potential role of the private sector in food system futures.
- 4. To analyse food system dynamics across scales and levels.
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Sauter, Theresa. "Governing self : SNSs as tools for self-formation." Thesis, Queensland University of Technology, 2013. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/60904/1/Theresa_Sauter_Thesis.pdf.
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This thesis investigates how modern individuals relate to themselves and others in the service of shaping their ethical conduct and governing themselves. It considers the use of online social networking sites (SNSs) as one particular practice through which people manage their day-to-day conduct and understandings of self. Current research on the use of SNSs has conceptualised them as tools for communication, information-sharing and self-presentation. This thesis suggests a different way of thinking about these sites as tools for self-formation. A Foucaultian genealogical, historical and problematising approach is applied in order to explore processes of subjectivation and historical backgrounds involved in the use of SNSs. This is complimented with an ANT-based understanding of the role that technologies play in shaping human action.
Drawing new connections between three factors will show how they contribute to the ways in which people become selves today. These factors are, one, the psychologisation and rationalisation of modern life that lead people to confess and talk about themselves in order to improve and perfect themselves, two, the transparency or publicness of modern life that incites people to reveal themselves constantly to a public audience and, three, the techno-social hybrid character of Western societies. This thesis will show how some older practices of self-formation have been translated into the context of modern technologised societies and how the care of self has been reinvigorated and combined with the notion of baring self in public.
This thesis contributes a different way of thinking about self and the internet that does not seek to define what the modern self is and how it is staged online but rather accounts for the multiple, contingent and historically conditioned processes of subjectivation through which individuals relate to themselves and others in the service of governing their daily conduct.
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Mann, Philip A. G. "Achieving a mass-scale transition to clean cooking in India to improve public health." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2012. http://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:41ca7cfc-c3e2-43af-93ae-aab09f4e3178.
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This research provides policy-relevant insights into how a mass-scale, equitable transition to the use of Advanced Biomass (cook) Stoves (ABSs) can be achieved in India, with the aim of improving public health, especially for women and children. The research uses socio-technical systems to provide a characterisation of transition processes, and governance to explain issues of power influencing transition. A review of previous government cook-stove programmes in India and China highlights governance shortcomings in the former, in particular a lack of functional links between layers of administration and poor engagement with community institutions and cooks. Primary data from West Bengal and Karnataka highlighted sophisticated, skilful, flexible and culturally context specific cooking practices. Reasons for apparent low demand for improved stoves, characterised as lock-in, are found to include a combination of risk aversion and habits, lack of affordability, low awareness of the health consequences, as well as a mis-match between the normative priorities of policy makers – currently health- and those of cooks. It is found that the majority of polluting emissions within households - as well as greenhouse gases - from cooking derive from poorer households. A sectoral carbon offset strategy is proposed as a means of funding subsidies for ABSs and programme support measures. Several large corporations have invested significant sums in technology development, community outreach and dissemination, resulting in sales of over 600,000 ABSs. Reasons for their involvement appear mixed. Their market-based activities have generally not reached poor households and there are questions about their ability to build viable businesses in this highly dispersed and heterogeneous sector. A fundamental dichotomy is highlighted between large, centralised cooking programmes and the diverse, complex and changing reality of cooking activities, beliefs and behaviours on the ground. The research concludes that functional multi-level and multi-actor governance structures would be required to achieve a mass-scale transition to clean cooking using ABSs, with a lead role for the public sector. A key component of future success will involve building structures that ensure the agency of cooks and account for their socio-cultural cooking practices in the processes of technology and programme design and implementation.
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Charles-Dominé, Julie. "Enjeux et dynamiques de l'information géographique dans la gouvernance des territoires urbains du sud-Bénin. : Le registre foncier urbain, un nouvel outil et ses pratiques à l'heure de la décentralisation." Phd thesis, Université de Provence - Aix-Marseille I, 2012. http://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-00841575.
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L'information géographique et ses outils informatiques avec les Systèmes d'Informations Géographiques font figure aujourd'hui d'éléments incontournables pour l'aménagement et la gestion des territoires. Le travail mené s'applique à interroger leur place dans les modalités de gouvernement des territoires et de définition des politiques d'action publique dans les villes des pays des Suds. A partir d'une étude de cas menée sur la région urbaine littorale du Bénin, dans un contexte de présence accrue des agences internationales de développement, on analyse les jeux d'acteurs et les imbrications d'échelles (internationale, nationale, régionale, communale et locale) suscités par la production, l'accès et l'utilisation pratique de cette information et ses outils. Les intérêts de cette recherche se situent au croisement des problématiques de gestion des territoires à l'ère de la mondialisation avec l'essor et la vulgarisation des techniques professionnelles et d'accès à l'information et de la décentralisation et municipalisation censée encourager le rôle des pouvoirs locaux dans le processus de développement des territoires. Cette étude questionne cependant l'adaptabilité de modèles du Nord vers le Sud et leurs possibilités d'appropriations locales : capacité de résistance, de cohabitation et de résilience des valeurs culturelles et des pratiques locales avec les encadrements techniciens et astreignants liés à la diffusion de l'information géographique et ses outils.
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Mancilla, Garcia Maria. "Pollution, interests and everyday life in Lake Titicaca : negotiating change and continuity in social-ecological systems." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2013. http://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:1ad3d62d-9be8-4d0c-98da-c3a08f7c91bc.
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Environmental governance is a challenging topic in development contexts. On the one hand, the traditional development paradigm is based on economic growth through environmental exploitation; on the other, environmental degradation reduces vulnerable populations’ options for development. In the last thirty years numerous attempts to integrate environmental concerns in development policies have proved unsuccessful, raising questions as to whether the current governance system can address the challenge. The literature on environmental management has focused on identifying rules for successful governance, leaving little space to explore the complexities of the interactions between actors and their environments, wherein the reasons for sustained degradation might lie. The questions that this thesis asks are: How do diverse groups of actors rationalize and interact with degraded ecosystems? And what role does the governance system play in codifying these interactions? To answer these questions, the thesis engages in an institutional study of Lake Titicaca, between Peru and Bolivia. The lake has witnessed a degradation of its bay in the last thirty years, as a result of urban and mining development in the region. A complex web of organizations that go from the bi-national to the community level manages Lake Titicaca. The investigation of the questions asked is particularly relevant in the current context, as the countries to which the lake belongs put forward significantly different visions of the environment. By drawing on the strengths of social-ecological systems frameworks proposed by the two mains schools – the Resilience Alliance and Bloomington Workshop – and filling some of their deficiencies using insights from the sociological literatures on negotiation and justification, I hope to have created a composite framework with which to give an insightful account of the complexity and diversity at play in the field. The thesis adopts a broad range of qualitative methods (observation, interviews, document analysis) completed with descriptive statistics for budget analysis. The thesis argues that the actors’ approaches to the ecosystem are complex, diverse and constitutive of social-ecological systems wherein relationships are negotiated between actors, between actors and the ecosystem and ‘within’ actors as they hold competing visions and strategies. Some of the variables shaping these negotiations are crafted through the interaction between social and ecological elements, which also influence the actors’ understanding of the system. Others are determined by parameters crafted in the social sphere, and the ways in which social-ecological interactions fit with those. Policy interventions to improve the condition of Lake Titicaca need a more sophisticated understanding of these social-ecological systems.
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Brubaker, Rebecca A. "From the un-mixing to the re-mixing of peoples : understanding the quest to 'reverse ethnic cleansing' in Bosnia." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2014. http://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:dc72fdbd-1ee0-4396-8139-f6e296aa9d4c.
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This dissertation focuses on international actors' response to the ethnic cleansing perpetrated during the 1992 – 1995 Bosnian War. The work illuminates the multilateral attempt to reverse one of the outcomes of ethnic cleansing following the war, through the return of displaced people. The policy emphasis on "re-mixing" people, interpreted through a strategy of minority returns, and supported and coordinated on an international scale, was unprecedented. This dissertation asks: why did powerful states and international organizations pursue a re-mixing policy as a response to ethnic cleansing in Bosnia? At first glance, the choice seems counterintuitive. The policy was expensive. Post-1989, the West no longer needed "to keep Yugoslavia afloat." Furthermore, reversal required a degree and duration of international involvement that, at the time, was thought to be politically, militarily, and financially impossible. There are two existing explanations for this surprising phenomenon: international moralism and norm evolutionism. International moralists posit that international actors were moved to re-mix Bosnians out of a sense of guilt. Norm evolutionists argue that international norms governing appropriate responses to ethnic cleansing have shifted during the twentieth century towards support for re-mixing. In contrast to these two dominant views, this dissertation argues that the re-mixing policy initially emerged as a practical fix to a series of pressing, context-specific political challenges. State policymakers justified the re-mixing policy, however, on normative grounds. Though not the original incentive for action, international organizations on the ground then adopted the policy, empowered by states' normative justifications and thereby transformed the political rhetoric into concrete action. This dissertation corrects a common assumption that the origins and motivations behind the re-mixing policy were normative in nature, it contributes to a better understanding of how normative discourses emerge, mature, and transform into policy and it offers policy recommendations based on lessons learnt from this important and seemingly contradictory case.
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Debbab, Toufik. "La régulation a-t-elle un rôle à jouer dans l'éthique en entreprise ?" Thesis, Aix-Marseille, 2015. http://www.theses.fr/2015AIXM2006/document.
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Depuis le début des années 90, les questions liées à l’éthique des affaires, à la gouvernance d’entreprise et à la responsabilité sociale de l’entreprise, font l’objet d’un intérêt considérable. Cet intérêt, qui ne faiblit pas, témoigne du fait qu’il ne s’agit pas d’un simple effet de mode, mais que l’on assiste au développement d’une perception nouvelle et durable du statut et du rôle de l’entreprise dans la société. Cependant, les scandales financiers, qui ont affecté l’économie mondiale, ont eu le mérite de relancer le débat sur le fonctionnement des gouvernements d’entreprises, mais surtout, ils ont conduit les acteurs économiques à entamer une réflexion sur les principes d’éthique et de gouvernance d’entreprise. Ces deux concepts deviennent les fondements des nouvelles réflexions portant sur le management moderne des firmes. Les attentes des parties prenantes et des marchés financiers, tout comme celles des consommateurs mieux renseignés sur le comportement des entreprises, se font de plus en plus exigeantes dans le sens de l’éthique et de la transparence. Dorénavant, les entreprises françaises doivent répondre aux obligations et devoirs qui sont les leurs vis-à-vis de leur environnement. Elles se doivent de gérer leur image auprès de leurs parties prenantes. Un des moyens efficaces pour gérer les risques de réputation est de mettre en place une gouvernance d’entreprise comportant une gestion anticipative des risques, une écoute des parties prenantes et une communication transparente sur les problèmes rencontrés par l’entrepriseSince the early 90s, issues related to business ethics, corporate governance and social responsibility of the company are the subject of considerable interest. This interest, which remains strong, reflecting the fact that this is not just a fad, but we are witnessing the development of a new and lasting perception of the status and role of the business in society. However, the financial scandals that have affected the world economy, had the merit to revive the debate on the functioning of corporate governments, but most importantly, they have led economic agents to initiate a reflection on the ethical principles and corporate governance. These two concepts become the foundation of new reflections on modern management firms.The expectations of stakeholders and the financial markets, like those of better informed consumers about corporate behavior, are increasingly demanding in the sense of ethics and transparency. Now, French companies must comply with the obligations and duties which are theirs with respect to their environment. They must manage their image among their stakeholders. One effective way to manage reputation risks is to implement corporate governance with a proactive risk management, listening stakeholders and transparent communication on the problems faced by the company
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Siman, Kelly. "Social-Ecological Risk and Vulnerability to Erosion and Flooding Along the Ohio Lake Erie Shoreline." University of Akron / OhioLINK, 2020. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=akron1597092923090799.
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Love, Kaleen E. "The politics of gender in a time of change : gender discourses, institutions, and identities in contemporary Indonesia." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2008. http://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:e7aea965-c1aa-43b0-bc76-3bc743e90879.
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This dissertation fundamentally explores the nature of change, and the development interventions that aim to bring this change into a particular society. What emerges is the notion of a ‘spiral’: imagining the dynamic relationship between paradigms and discourses, the institutions and programmes operating in a place, and the way individual identities are constructed in intricate and contradictory ways. Within this spiral, discourse has power – ‘words matter’ – but equally significant is how these words interact dialogically with concrete social structures and institutions – ‘it takes more than changing words to change the world’. Furthermore, these changes are reacted to, and expressed in, the physical, sexed body. In essence, change is ideational, institutional, and embodied. To investigate the politics of change, this dissertation analyses the spiral relationships between gender discourses, institutions, and identities in contemporary Indonesia, focusing on their transmission across Java. It does so by exploring the Indonesian state’s gender policies in the context of globalisation, democratisation, and decentralisation. In this way, the lens of gender allows us to analyse the dynamic interactions between state and society, between ideas and institutions, which impact on everything from cultural structures to physical bodies. Research focuses on the gender policies of the Indonesian Ministry of Women’s Empowerment, substantiated with case study material from United Nations Population Fund reproductive health programmes in West Java. Employing a multi-level, multi-vocal theoretical framework, the thesis analyses gender discourses and relational structures (how discourses circulate to construct the Indonesian woman), gender institutions and social structures (how discourses are translated into programmes), and gender identities and embodied structures (how discourses enter the home and the body). Critically, studying gender requires analysing the human body as the site of both structural and symbolic power. This dissertation thus argues for renewed emphasis on a ‘politics of the body’, recognising that bodies are the material foundations from which gender discourses derive their naturalising power and hence ability to structure social relations. The danger of forgetting this politics of the body is that it allows for slippage between ‘gender’ and ‘women’; policy objectives cannot be disentangled from the reality of physical bodies and their social construction. This thesis therefore argues that there are distinct and even inverse impacts of gender policies in Indonesia. As the ‘liberal’ and ‘modern’ assumptions of gender equality are overlaid onto the patriarchal culture of a society undergoing transformation, women’s bodies and women’s sexuality are always and ever the focus of the social gaze. The gender policies and interventions affecting change on discursive and institutional levels may thus provoke reaction at the level of individual identities that are contrary to explicit intentions. In effect, projects that purport to work on ‘gender’ are often so deeply rooted in underlying gender normativity that their net effect is to reinscribe these gender hierarchies. By exposing the contradictions in these underlying paradigms we gain insight into the politics of a transforming society. Furthermore, engaging with the politics of the body allows us to analyse the spiral processes between discourse and practice, the question of power, and the way men and women embody social structures and experience social transformation.
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Du, Plessis Alida Anél. "Fulfilment of South Africa's constitutional environmental right in the local government sphere / by Anél du Plessis." Thesis, North-West University, 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/10394/2882.
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Claims related to the environment increasingly permeate the domain of human and fundamental rights. It is widely accepted that a direct functional relationship exists between the pursuit of environmental aims generally, and the protection of environmental rights. By and large, this relation compelled 'the environment' to have become a prominent contemporary focus point in legal thought, discourse and adjudication. Since local government operates closer to citizens than any other level of government, it is obvious that it may be expected of it to also play an important role in the management and regulation of matters that affect the environment. In the main, this study questions the extent to which the South African legal framework facilitates local government progress in the decentralised fulfilment of the section 24 environmental right in the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996.
Firstly, this thesis provides a theoretical literature review of a number of approaches to, categories of and different perspectives on environmental rights in general. As part of this review a number of generic elements is identified for the fulfilment of constitutional environmental provisions, generally. The literature review attends also to the notions of local environmental governance and 'local politics of pollution', amongst other concepts related to local government.
Secondly, this thesis (by employing the comparative research method and by using the generic elements for fulfilment of constitutional environmental provisions as benchmarks) critically considers the Constitution or Basic Law of the Federal Republic of Germany, 1949 (Grundgesety and relevant developments in Germany with reference to the European context and a local government case study on the municipality of Heidelberg. It considers also the Constitution of Namibia of 1990 and relevant developments in Namibia with reference to the African and Southern African contexts and a case study on the Walvis Bay municipality. The South African position is subsequently analysed, first with a focus on section 24 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996, environmental law and related developments, then shifting the focus to the constitutional provisions on local government, local government law, related developments and the case of the Drakenstein Local Municipality.
Thirdly, based on the lessons learned from and lacunae identified in all three of the countries considered, this study concludes with a set of recommendations for the South African context.Thesis (LL.D.) -- North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2009.
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Hatton, Joshua Paul. "How and why did MARS facilitate migration control? : understanding the implication of migration and refugee studies (MARS) with the restriction of human mobility by UK state agencies." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2011. http://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:fd66b181-747d-4551-b6d2-8bf30741b835.
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This thesis makes two related arguments regarding the academic field of migration and refugee studies (MARS) and the control of migration by UK state agencies. The first, and more empirical one, is that the former facilitated the latter: the field’s members provided symbolic, technical, and pedagogic assistance to two non-departmental public bodies in controlling migration. The second, and more theoretical, argument of this thesis is that MARS facilitated migration control because of culture, power, and structure. It is through the field’s implication in the coercion of its human subjects by UK state agencies that MARS academics a) answered their calling, b) assisted class rule as ideologists, and c) separated sacred and profane by policing endogamy. The introduction describes the existing literature on the relationship between MARS and migration control. The consensus is that the former facilitated the latter. However, these studies fail to provide detailed accounts of the ways in which it did so. Chapter One defines the elements of my more empirical argument: MARS and migration control. An historical narrative outlines the institutional development of the field since its beginnings in the early 1980s. Then a new model for understanding migration control – i.e., migrant CODAR – is described. Chapter Two uses this model to trace the actor network through which MARS academics facilitated the restriction of their human subjects’ mobility by the UK state agencies of the Advisory Panel on Country Information and the Migration Advisory Committee. Chapters Three, Four, and Five use Weberian, Marxist, and Durkheimian anthropological approaches (respectively) to explain the implication of MARS and migration control that is described in Chapters One and Two. Finally, the conclusion of the thesis discusses its contributions to both more particular (i.e., the literature surveyed in the introduction on MARS and migration control) and more general (i.e., anthropology) scholarly fields.
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Bauler, Thomas. "Indicators for sustainable development: a discussion of their usability." Doctoral thesis, Universite Libre de Bruxelles, 2007. http://hdl.handle.net/2013/ULB-DIPOT:oai:dipot.ulb.ac.be:2013/210705.
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Indicators are still at the heart of the debate on ‘sustainable development’ (SD), whatever the level or stance taken. However, initiatives of ‘indicators for sustainable development’ (ISD) cannot be related to a well-defined object. Facing this heterogeneity, an analysis of the uses and impacts of ISD in decision- and policy-making situations appears to be a necessity. Consequently, the present thesis focalises on the discussion and analysis of the characteristics of ISD-initiatives that are influencing the usability of ISD in decision situations? At a secondary level, the thesis identifies of a key which allows to read and analyse these characteristics, i.e. the usability-profile of ISD-processes, with respect to the configuration of the decision situation. A discussion of the mechanics of decision-making processes and the handling of information within these, identifies that the utilisation of assessments in policy-making can be apprehended with three different characteristics: legitimacy, credibility and salience (L,C,S). Applied to the context of ISD, legitimacy refers to the perception of the policy-actors of the procedural fairness, credibility to the perception of the scientific soundness and salience to the perception of stakeholder- and policy-relevance. A discussion of alternative and existing utilisation-analyses of ISD shows that the L,C,S-framework has sufficient depth and width to figure as a potential, overarching framework of ISD-characteristics. Simultaneously, the confrontation of the L,C,S-framework with the issue domain of SD, as well as a translation of L,C,S on the level of ISD-initiatives, shows that a secondary level of analysis is necessary. The linkages between an L,C,S-based analysis of the usability-profiles of ISD, the principles of SD and the policy making processes can be identified to be best discussed at the level of the institutionalisation of ISD, i.e. the ‘institutional embeddedness’ of ‘soft’ information-processes for SD-management into public decision-making culture. ISD can be identified as ‘boundary organisations’, i.e. objects which are set to facilitate the interactions between different existing actor arenas which have different cultures of understanding, constructing, organising and digesting information. We propose thus to add to the analysis of the usability of ISD, a second, institutional axis which allows to situate the mechanics of L,C,S between actor arenas, and allows to conceive a ‘usability-profile’ for ISD-initiatives.
The institutional reading of ISD-initiatives is than developed further. In order to enhance their usability, ISD-processes need to be governed and steered: their usability can be managed and co-constructed through the lenses of the three usability-characteristics. Simultaneously, ISD are themselves acknowledged as being part of the government- and governance-instruments of the SD-domain. By translating information between actor-arenas, ISD foster a ‘governance-enhancing’ function, which in the end renders ISD as being part of the steering (or governance) instruments of SD. As a consequence, the enhancement or even management of the usability of ISD will distil down to ‘steer the steering’. Such a double-bound governance function can be addressed as ‘reflexive governance’, i.e. the governance of the governance instrument.
Doctorat en environnement, Orientation gestion de l'environnement
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Moreiras, Luiz Maurício Franco. "Os efeitos da governança corporativa sobre a informação assimétrica." reponame:Repositório Institucional do FGV, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/10438/4447.
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Previous issue date: 2010-02-26T00:00:00ZIn December 2000, Bovespa created a list differentiating companies that voluntarily accepted corporate governance practices in addition to those required by the CVM. The purpose of the innovation was to develop the relationship between companies and their investors, reducing the asymmetry of information, giving greater certainty to investors and thereby encouraging the funds invested in capital market. This study assessed the initiative made by Bovespa, therefore was applied several statistical and econometric tests, that differentiate company as a governance policy adopted. The database has a total of 326 companies that were analyzed from 1996 to 2008. The tests indicate the existence of a clear relation between the governance and the asymmetry of information. Companies that belong to the markets with more restrictive governance policies (New Market, Level 2 and Level 1) have fewer information asymmetries. The results show the formation of a market with different characteristics to the traditional Bovespa. The companies that suffer major restrictions configure a more secure institutional environment. Therefore, the initiative of Bovespa to differentiate the market according to the degree of governance brought positive contributions to the improvement of access to information, which means a safer market for shareholders.
Em dezembro de 2000, a Bovespa criou uma listagem diferenciando as empresas que voluntariamente aceitassem práticas de governança corporativas adicionais àquelas exigidas pela CVM. A finalidade da inovação era estreitar a relação entre as empresas e seus investidores, diminuindo a assimetria informacional, dando maior segurança ao investidor e, dessa forma, fomentando os recursos aplicados no mercado de capital. Este trabalho procura avaliar a iniciativa feita pela Bovespa, para tanto foram aplicados vários testes estatísticos e econométricos, que diferenciaram as empresas enquanto a política de governança adotada. O banco de dados possui um total de 326 empresas que foram analisadas no período de 1996 à 2008. Os resultados apontam a existência de uma relação clara entre a governança corporativa e a assimetria de informação. Companhias que adotam políticas de governança mais restritivas (Novo Mercado, Nível 2 e Nível 1) possuem menos assimetrias de informação. Os resultados apontam para a constituição de um mercado com características distintas do tradicional da Bovespa. As companhias que sofrem maiores restrições configuram um ambiente institucional mais seguro, donde se conclui que a iniciativa da Bovespa em diferenciar o mercado conforme o grau de governança trouxe contribuições positivas para a melhora do acesso à informação, que se traduz em um mercado mais seguro para o acionista.
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Molinari, Claire Marcella. "The environment, intergenerational equity & long-term investment." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2011. http://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:30dd270b-3f0f-4b8b-979e-904af5cb597b.
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This thesis brings together two responses to the question ‘how can the law extend the timeframe for environmentally relevant decision-making?’ The first response is drawn from the context of institutional investment, and addresses the timeframe and breadth of environmental considerations in pension fund investment decision-making. The second response is related to the context of public environmental decision-making by legislators, the judiciary, and administrators. Three themes underlie and bind the thesis: the challenges to decision-making posed by the particular temporal and spatial characteristics of environmental problems, the existence and effects of short-termism in a variety of contexts, and the legal notion of the trust as a means for analysing and addressing problems of a long-term or intergenerational nature. These themes are borne out in each of the four substantive chapters. Chapter III sets out to demonstrate the theoretical potential of pension funds to drive the reduction of firms’ environmental impact, and, focusing particularly on the notion of fiduciary duty, explores the barriers that stand in their way. Chapter IV provides a practical application of the theoretical recommendations outlined in its predecessor. It provides a framework outlining how pension funds might implement a longer term, more sustainable approach to investing. The second half of the thesis, operating in the context of public environmental decision-making, is centred upon a particularly poignant legal notion with respect to the environment and time: the concept of intergenerational equity. Just as the first half of the thesis deals with the timeframes relevant to investment decision-making by pension funds within the bounds of fiduciary duty, largely a private law affair with public implications, the second half of the thesis is concerned with the principle of intergenerational equity as a means for extending the decision-making timeframe of legislative, judicial and administrative decision-makers. As previous analyses of the concept of intergenerational equity provide little insight into its practical implications when applied to particular factual situation, Chapter V sets out the structure of the principle of intergenerational equity as revealed by case law. Chapter VI brings together the issues from the first three papers by conceptualising intergenerational equity in resource management as an issue of long-term investment. Long-term environmental decision-making faces many obstacles. Individual behavioural biases, short-term financial incentive structures, the myopic pressures of the electoral cycle and the tendency of the common law to reinforce the (often shorttermist) status quo all present significant barriers to the capacity of both private and public decision-makers to act in ways that favour the longer term interests of the environment. Nonetheless, this thesis argues that there is reason for hope: drawing upon the three themes that underlie all of the substantive Chapters, it articulates potential legislative changes and recommends the adoption of particular governance structures to overcome barriers to long-term environmental decision-making.
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Mortier, Stéphane. "Diagnostic des opérations de sensibilisation menées dans le cadre de la politique publique d'intelligence économique et réalité effective de la sécurité économique dans les PME." Thesis, Paris 1, 2019. http://www.theses.fr/2019PA01E026.
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L’intelligence économique est en France l’objet d’une politique publique qui, après de nombreuses inflexions s’est tournée vers le renseignement économique. Son objectif est resté identique, accroître la compétitivité du tissu économique. Pour atteindre cet objectif, des actions de sensibilisation au profit des entreprises ont été menées notamment par les référents sécurité économique et protection des entreprises de la gendarmerie nationale. Comme chercheur et acteur, nous avons pu mesurer l’impact de ces actions de sensibilisation auprès d’un large panel d’entreprises. Le constat est mitigé quant à la prise en compte de l’intelligence économique par les chefs d’entreprise. Au travers des apports théoriques du capital social et des réseaux sociaux, nous tentons d’apporter des recommandations afin d’améliorer le dispositif de sensibilisation. Des outils nouveaux, mais aussi des relations plus étroites, plus formalisées ou encore une meilleure prise en compte des textes législatifs et administratifs relatifs à la sécurité économique sont autant de pistes avancées. Une telle politique publique ne peut être efficiente que si elle dispose d’un programme d’actions (décisions politiques et administratives), de moyens humains et financiers, de cohésion dans le pilotage (gouvernance de la sécurité économique), d’une implication des décideurs, de formations des divers acteurs (rôle des outils mis à disposition) et d’évaluation des résultats. Les évolutions récentes de la politique publique de sécurité économique et un certain nombre d’initiatives individuelles, notamment prise dans le cadre de ce travail de recherche, contribuent ou tente de contribuer à la réalisation de cette efficienceThe concept of “intelligence économique” is the object of a public policy in France which, after many changes, has turned to economic intelligence. Its objective remained the same, to increase the competitiveness of the economic fabric. To achieve this objective, awareness actions for the benefit of companies have been carried out, in particular, by the economic security and business protection referents of the national gendarmerie. As a researcher and an actor, we have been able to measure the impact of these awareness-raising actions on a wide range of companies. There is mixed evidence that business leaders are taking economic intelligence into account. Through the theoretical contributions of social capital and social networks, we try to make recommendations to improve the awareness-raising mechanism. New tools, but also closer, more formalized relations and better consideration of legislative and administrative texts relating to economic security are all advanced issues. Such public policy can only be efficient if it has a programme of actions (political and administrative decisions), human and financial resources, cohesion in management (governance of economic security), involvement of decision-makers, training of the various actors (role of the tools made available) and evaluation of results. Recent developments in public policy on economic security and a number of individual initiatives, notably in the context of this research work, contribute or attempt to contribute to the achievement of that efficiency
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Senate, University of Arizona Faculty. "Faculty Senate Minutes May 7, 2012." University of Arizona Faculty Senate (Tucson, AZ), 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/244391.
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Senate, University of Arizona Faculty. "Faculty Senate Minutes May 1, 2017." University of Arizona Faculty Senate (Tucson, AZ), 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/625406.
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Santokie, Kara. ""Caring" Global Policy? Sex Trafficking and Feminist International Ethics." Thesis, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/1807/34875.
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Current approaches to sex trafficking appear to be neither very successful in stopping sex trafficking nor, more importantly, very effective in helping those women for whom it is intended. Rather, the overwhelming focus on the issue of prostitution obscures the more fundamental issue of providing relevant assistant to trafficked women. The theoretical debates among academics and feminist activists do not delve sufficiently deep enough into this issue, while the policy discussions and the resulting international policy reflect the moral positions of abolitionist activists and policy-makers regarding the unacceptability of prostitution as a legitimate income-generating activity— a debate that is distinct from the issue of sex trafficking.
I will argue that existing national anti-sex trafficking policies in India and Nepal, the regional policy for the South Asian Association for Regional Co-operation, and the United Nations Trafficking Protocol are ineffective because they reflect an association of sex trafficking with prostitution. A more effective policy would dissociate sex trafficking from moral judgments about prostitution. This can be accomplished by applying a feminist ethic of care as a methodology and as a political practice. Trafficked women emerge from a context of complex life histories and decision-making processes. Anti-sex trafficking governance structures are meant to provide care for trafficked women. As a methodology, an ethic of care would employ a critical moral ethnography to distill the experiences and articulated needs of trafficked women in order to show whether this is being accomplished and, if not, why. As a political practice, it can use the information that its methodology necessitates to provide guidance on how these governance structures might best be designed to provide care for trafficked women.
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Jung, Li-Hua, and 李樺溶. "Enhancing Corporate Governance-From the Points of Legal Regulation, information Exposure and Business Ethics." Thesis, 2008. http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/23227043420150007036.
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碩士逢甲大學
經營管理碩士在職專班
96
In recent years, corporate governance becomes the hottest issue. It has been discussed actively in the local corporations, the academic areas, and the government agencies. The concept of corporate governance is developed so quickly to account for business management crisis in every country in the world. For instance, Rebar Group caused financial meltdown to affect broadly and crush every stakeholder in Taiwan. People are always thinking a perfect system to provide profits and to avoid loopholes but this system is totally not existed. The most important factor of the system is “people”. These people are normal, survived for their lives, and to bear the stresses and attractions in the society. That is why so many people to do something which against the laws and conscience and hurt all society. In order to find a solution, this research worked on three aspects of regulations, disclosure, and business ethics to discuss the corporation governance. This study based on corporation governance environment and case study at present situation of Taiwan. The purpose of this study is trying to find out a best practical project and affording a good way to improve the corporation governance. This study used literature analysis of scientific research method to collect literatures and analyze those data. The sources of date is including journals, essays, books of corporation governance, newspapers, magazines, and the website of government which provide the latest correlated regulations. For above sources, this research analyzed the literatures of the completed regulations, information disclosure, business ethics, and corporation governance and made several conclusions and suggestions. First, the aspect of regulations should reinforce the duty of board and strengthen the independence of directors and inspectors. Additionally, the laws should make chief executive officers responsible for the financial report of responsibility of professionals, when the report is incorrect. Secondly, the aspect of corporation governance affects performances of corporations mostly and the performances influence the stock value. This research stated that only precise and correct information disclosure can reflect on stock value. What the study mentioned that all can let chief executive officers to think and improve their performance and achieve the goal. Thirdly, business ethics and business image is closely for the aspect of business ethics. The brilliant business images can not only depend on lasting advertisement of media, great publication, and public donation. If businesses want to build a great image on the mind of customers, it can not make any fault or accident. That is because it will eliminate all confidence and support of consumers, so it is not easy to build a perfect business image. Professor Sun-Zhen said: “Only pursuing the self-interest on the base of ethics can achieve the public benefits. Business ethics is the base, and profit is the result. Business obeys the ethical regulations and creates economic value that produces the profits. If the business only care about making money and not focus on base, all society will pay for this situation.” The main purpose of this study is that “Business has to build on the conscience.” This research made several suggestions through completed data collection, arranged literatures, and the correlated conclusions for the academic areas and business areas. 1、 The core of corporation governance is making a board of conscience, intuitive ability, efficiency, effectiveness, system, and organic life. 2、 People should reinforce the corporation governance on three aspects: (1) Legislative reformation and building A、To reinforce the competence of board and strengthen the independence of directors and inspectors. B、Public listed company should address the audit committee or inspectors set the rules of audit committee which should be formed by independent directors. Moreover, the numbers of audit committee could not less than three persons and at least one of them should have the specialty of accounting or finance. This audit committee should have the same authority like the power of inspectors of Company Law, Securities and Exchange Law, and other laws. (2) To build a just public accounting information and to make chief executive officers responsible for the financial incorrect report of responsibility of professionals. (3) To use ethical persuasion and to implement the responsibility of professionals.
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Lin, Hsin-Shih, and 林新士. "A Study on the Information Security Policy of the Military with an Aspect of Information Technology Governance." Thesis, 2012. http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/44067651860014876562.
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碩士國防大學管理學院
資訊管理學系
101
With the e-government actuating, the government becomes more and more relied on information technology. Therefore strengthening the information security management and protecting the personal data to build up a secure and reliable network environment can enhance public confidence in network services. Information and communication security management are endless challenges. Government organs at all levels have to actively promote and protect the overall environment of Taiwan’s information and communication security, and improving national competitiveness. Military is the first line of national defense. The using of the information systems in every unit becomes popular and dependent, even the extensive using of internet. After stepping into "information" and "electronic", the military which takes the responsibility to protect our country must face a tough challenge, especially for the protection of information security. It can not be ignored and the issues about the unit of information security become very important for today. Once the slightest mistake maybe occur the disclosing of military secret and hurt the country a lot. The military information security policy guidelines are based on the international standard ISO 27001 as the basis to develop. Therefore, the study concludes that the relationship of the theory of the five dimensions of military information security policy and information technology governance. It combined with 39 targets in 11 fields of the ISO 27001, and used the expert questionnaire and Delphi method to get the best level architecture. With Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) to examine the sort of information security management and importance. We expect that the reference of the management decision-making in military information security policy development is through the results of the analysis. Enhance the level of the military information security and reduce the probability of information security events.