Issues management has been practised over the past 30 years. However, the literature has focused on how corporations manage issues, while public service organisations have been ignored. This study looked at the issues management of a tephra dam-break lahar from 1996-2007 on Mount Ruapehu, New Zealand by a group of public service organisations. 19 interviews were conducted with people involved with the management of the ‘lahar issue’ to find out how the issue was managed. Further a content analysis of 309 articles from five newspapers, spanning the full eleven year period, was conducted to examine the salience (attention) given to the issue, the frames commonly used to present the issue and the sources who ‘drove’ the issue. The data from the content analysis was interpreted to create a five-stage lifecycle of the ‘lahar issue’. Further, data from the interviews was compared with a summary process of the issue management process. This comparison showed that five issues management process stages were employed to manage the ‘lahar issue’ although they were not referred to as such. Initially, the Department of Conservation consulted stakeholders during the development of options to deal with the lahar (1996-1999). Later in the lahar’s management, lahar stakeholders fell into two categories: internal - those involved with the mitigation and response - and external - the public. Internal stakeholders were communicated with through meetings and email. External stakeholders were communicated with through local media, presentations and meetings. Overall, it was concluded that media gave substantial attention to the lahar issue over the eleven year period. Some of those involved with managing the ‘lahar issue’ were able to identify the phases of media coverage. Further, this study identified ten frames that media employed when reporting the lahar. The most-frequently used frames were those focusing on the response (lahar response), describing the lahar (diagnosing causes of problem(s)) and discussing the potential impacts from a lahar (definition of problem(s)). Department of Conservation Scientist, Dr Harry Keys, was shown to be a primary definer – an influential source. The results suggest he defined coverage because of his status as both an official source, due to the organisation he was associated with, and also as an authoritative source due to his role as a scientist. Further, he was regularly drawn upon as a source over the entire period of the ‘lahar issue’ coverage.

The focus of this research is to examine the efficiency and effectiveness of recent procurement reform done by the Government of the Philippines, particularly the centralized procurement system for common-use supplies, materials, and equipment. The centralized procurement system is adopted with the intent of taking advantage of the savings inherent to bulk purchasing, streamlining procurement procedures, and reducing opportunities for corruption in the procurement of the abovementioned items. By legislative authority under Republic Act No. 9184, the centralized procurement system was made mandatory among all government agencies, government owned and controlled corporations and local government units in the purchase of their supplies, materials and equipment requirements. With the introduction of tighter budget and the stronger pressure for good governance, the contributions of procurement policy and institutions of procurements to the achievement of good governance and potential relation to development has been gaining global recognition. Given the association of procurement to the way public money is spent, the issue on corruption is also central to this research. There has been a growing recognition of the relationship between corruption and development – the more corrupt a country is, the more underdeveloped it becomes. With the daunting task of battling against corruption, the country’s strategy is to direct its efforts in combating corruption in specific areas, like public procurement. This thesis demonstrates that the centralized procurement system offers a significant reduction in processing times in the conduct of procurement. Additionally, it offers opportunities for savings generation with the cheaper prices of goods and the reduction of administrative cost associated with procurement. More over, it provides a procurement framework where opportunities for administrative corruption are reduced. This leads to the conclusion that the centralized procurement system is efficient in that it reduces administrative processing time and concomitant costs. This, in the long run, will benefit the procuring entities and ultimately the tax payers. However, the emphasis placed on achieving administrative savings is at the expense of other measures of effectiveness such as quality of goods being supplied and the quality of services being extended to client agencies. Moreover, the lack of effective inventory and control system may pave the way to greater waste. Without an effective inventory and control system as well as an improved quality control system, the centralized procurement system that works faster and cheaper may not be better after all.

This thesis examines the location and role of the runanga institution. As a prominent contemporary organization for Maori development, relevant theory locates runanga with regard to a broader developmental framework and their potential to function within it. The position of runanga, as a facilitator of Maori development, is assessed with reference to Dependency theory, World Systems theory and Modes of Production. These theories highlight the systematic historic dis-empowerment of Maori through the processes of colonisation with particular regard to runanga. The thesis also considers the evolution of the runanga since its migration from Hawaiki, its utilisation as a forum of colonial resistance, its co-option into the governmental system and its contemporary resurgence. This provides a historical overview of the runanga as an institution. In addition, Te Runanga 0 Ngati Whitikaupeka has been used as the case study which considers the issues of becoming a runanga and includes what the structure of the runanga might look like for Ngati Whitikaupeka as an iwi. The theories of Community Development and Empowerment are offered as means to counter the further dis-empowerment of Maori, where institutions such as runanga can utilise these notions to facilitate positive outcomes for iwi and Maori development. Field research contained in this thesis identifies some of the specific concerns and aspirations of Ngati Whitikaupeka iwi members. In utilising the notions of empowerment and community development the field research provides an explicit statement of Iwi aspirations to maintain the connection between Ngati Whitlkaupeka Iwi members at the flax-roots and Te Runanga 0 Ngati Whitikaupeka as a representative body that can facilitate those aspirations. Supplementary to this the iwi aspirations that have been identified in this study are intended to provide some direction for the runanga as the representative decision-making body moving into the future.

Despite New Zealand receiving the number one ranking for ease of doing business in a major international comparative survey of compliance requirements, SME owners continue to rate compliance as a significant concern. This research project set out to investigate why this was so. The qualitative research undertaken for this thesis involved case study interviews with six SME owners. A resource-based approach was taken, looking at the resources SME owners needed to address the compliance task, and how they sourced and applied these. The scope of the study extended beyond the confines of the workplace to encompass the impact of compliance on the personal lives of SME owners and their families. Firkin’s model of entrepreneurial capital was applied and extended. Accordingly, the study encompassed an examination of economic, human, social, cultural and personal capital. An original concept, temporal capital, was developed to address the application of ‘potentially productive time’ as a resource. The findings are applied to a discussion of the Quality Regulation Review currently underway in New Zealand. It is recommended that SME issues could be more comprehensively addressed by incorporating screens within the Business Cost Calculator that estimate the relative psychic and opportunity costs associated with proposed regulations. A gender analysis of the compliance task was also undertaken. This revealed that the impact of compliance measures may be disproportionately borne by those whose business and personal lives are intertwined, primarily women. The invisibility of these workers has contributed to their needs being inadequately addressed by traditional processes of consultation and data analysis. The thesis concludes that it is not the regulatory regime alone that determines ease of doing business. It is the match between the requirements of the regime and the compliance-related entrepreneurial capital accessible to those subject to it. Recommendations relate therefore, to improving both the institutional capital of the regulator and the compliance-related entrepreneurial capital accessible to the SME.

This research examines the way employees perceive risk in a non-governmental healthcare organisation that provides care and support for people with mental, intellectual and physical disabilities. Thirty-four respondents from all levels and services within an NGO participated in in-depth semi-structured interviews to explore the meaning of the concept of risk from their own viewpoints, as well as their perspectives regarding types and sources of risk in their work and initiatives for controlling and dealing with such types and sources. This involved discussing the role of training in improving the awareness of employees in minimising risk, and the effect of training on the entire risk management process. Additional information was obtained by the researcher from documentation and personal observation. Themes that emerged from analysing data pointed to the interrelated link between perception and risk. Accordingly, the study found that risk is culturally constructed, individualistic, and subjective. It was evident that risk is a perceptual matter affected by beliefs, feelings, knowledge, culture, image, context, and the experience of people. The culture of fear of risk and of perceiving risk as something purely negative was dominant among the participants, who viewed risk as an unfavourable issue that does not have opportunities, which creates another source of risk – the risk of perception of risk. This research demonstrates that the perceptual aspect of risk emphasises the central role of people in any risk management process. For effective risk management, all perspectives should be considered. This requires a participatory system of managing risk, improving the awareness of people about risk, and modifying the culture of risk among them. Training has a significant role in the achievement of these fundamentals.

This thesis explores the relationship between development, Official Development Assistance (ODA) and the military in order to determine both the nature and effects of that relationship, and how the involvement of the military within ODA can be conducted in the most appropriate manner to support development. This study was conducted with regard to the current links between security and development within international relations and concerns that ODA is being drawn from a primarily development role to one that more explicitly supports national foreign and security policy ends instead. This issue is explored by defining development, ODA and the military as separate variables and then employing a grounded theory approach to develop an understanding of the relationship between them. The results of the study show that the involvement of the military within ODA and development may occur throughout the full range of operational contexts in which the military may be employed and can encompass activities throughout the scope of the functions of development. This involvement can in turn create a range of positive and negative impacts upon the conduct of ODA and development as the military serves to moderate the direction and strength of the relationship between the two. From this, the role of the military within ODA is identified as potentially an enabling, implementing and coordinating agency – primarily during times of crisis and conflict. The study then relates this role back to the wider context through considering the management of the military’s role and identifying the policies, parameters and procedures that may help to ensure that this role is conducted in the most appropriate manner for development.

This thesis aims to explore and analyse the experiences of participatory development projects in Sudan. The study focuses on participation in development, an issue that has attracted debate and discussion since the early 1970s. To contribute to this discussion and create more knowledge on this issue the White Nile Agricultural Services Project (WNASP) and North Kordofan Rural Development Project (NKRDP) were selected as case studies. Through various methods the nature and potential of participatory development approaches and interventions have been explored with the aim of identifying the factors that influenced people's participation, and suggesting ways to improve the practice of participatory development at grassroots level. The study found that although the projects encouraged and claimed to adopt participatory approaches, people were not engaged in a process through which participation could achieve empowerment or create real changes in their lives. The outcome of people's participation in the projects was influenced by development providers' policies, credibility and behaviour of staff, nature and amount of resources, socio-cultural norms, power relations, and communities' previous experiences, organisation and level of education. This suggests that primarily, designing participatory development programmes requires an in-depth understanding of prevailing social, economic, political and physical environments. Secondly, development providers should adopt approaches that accept negotiations with communities and challenge oppressive situations. Finally, if participatory development is to achieve its objectives, local communities must be provided with resources, information and skills. Based on evidence from powerful individuals in North Kordofan, this thesis suggests a moral-obligatory approach as one of the ways to improve the practice of participatory development in Sudan. This approach requires a fundamental change in development providers' policies, visions and credibility. If the essence of participatory development is adhered to, and if strategies and plans are designed collectively then there is an opportunity for making real change in the lives of those addressed by development interventions. This thesis concludes that more research is needed to explore the values, role, and impact of development providers and facilitators, as well as the nature and potential of local communities' participative values, organisations and practices.

In 1955, the New Zealand Government authorised the creation of a Special Forces unit to operate with British counterparts in Malaya to defeat a communist-inspired guerrilla insurgency. Between 1956 and 1971 elements of the New Zealand Special Air Service (SAS) were deployed on active service four times. These operational deployments included periods of time in Malaya, Thailand, Borneo and South Vietnam. The research illustrates the chronological progression of the New Zealand SAS through two of its most influential active service campaigns by examining how commitments to the Borneo ‘Confrontation’ in 1965 and 1966 directly and indirectly influenced the deployment to South Vietnam between December 1968 and February 1971. The mission of the New Zealand SAS in South Vietnam was to ‘assist in providing long range reconnaissance patrols’ that would support the larger infantry elements in defeating the Vietcong and North Vietnamese Army enemy. New Zealand SAS soldiers participated in 169 Australian SAS patrols in South Vietnam. Of those, 137 were commanded by the New Zealanders themselves. The research describes what the New Zealand SAS encountered during nearly two and a half years in South Vietnam; from the tactical intensity associated with small five-man patrols often observing or contacting much larger enemy formations, to the uncompromising professional standards that were expected of all members regardless of situation or circumstances and the influences of experienced Patrol Commanders, and the frustrations and inflexibility which characterised the relationship with their Australian counterparts. The research also further examines the underlying issue of overall strategic success and value of a small nationally-identifiable and strongly independent military unit that was compelled to operate under the command of larger Special Forces coalition counterparts and the impact different political, doctrinal, tactical cultural and cognitive characteristics had on these joint-operational deployments. The size of the New Zealand SAS contribution to the Australian SAS Squadron combined with the command arrangements placed upon it, also dictated that the deployments were never likely to be able to exert influence in any ‘independent’ or nationally-identifiable sense, and the relationships, the types of patrol operations conducted, and the value of these operations, would ultimately see many New Zealand SAS veterans largely dissatisfied with the overall performance of the deployment. Nevertheless, the strength of New Zealand SAS operations in South Vietnam came from its practical application of unique New Zealand Special Forces methodology and field-craft which had been fundamentally shaped and developed in Borneo. The New Zealand SAS operations in South Vietnam and Borneo - the demonstration of the highest standards of patrol techniques, tracking, reconnaissance, ambushing and fire discipline, and above all, operational professionalism that has been the hallmark of New Zealand's military history – provided the evolutionary ‘platforms’ from which today’s highly skilled and enviable New Zealand Special Forces have emerged.

In 1955, the New Zealand Government authorised the creation of a Special Forces unit to operate with British counterparts in Malaya to defeat a communist-inspired guerrilla insurgency. Between 1956 and 1971 elements of the New Zealand Special Air Service (SAS) were deployed on active service four times. These operational deployments included periods of time in Malaya, Thailand, Borneo and South Vietnam. The research illustrates the chronological progression of the New Zealand SAS through two of its most influential active service campaigns by examining how commitments to the Borneo ‘Confrontation’ in 1965 and 1966 directly and indirectly influenced the deployment to South Vietnam between December 1968 and February 1971. The mission of the New Zealand SAS in South Vietnam was to ‘assist in providing long range reconnaissance patrols’ that would support the larger infantry elements in defeating the Vietcong and North Vietnamese Army enemy. New Zealand SAS soldiers participated in 169 Australian SAS patrols in South Vietnam. Of those, 137 were commanded by the New Zealanders themselves. The research describes what the New Zealand SAS encountered during nearly two and a half years in South Vietnam; from the tactical intensity associated with small five-man patrols often observing or contacting much larger enemy formations, to the uncompromising professional standards that were expected of all members regardless of situation or circumstances and the influences of experienced Patrol Commanders, and the frustrations and inflexibility which characterised the relationship with their Australian counterparts. The research also further examines the underlying issue of overall strategic success and value of a small nationally-identifiable and strongly independent military unit that was compelled to operate under the command of larger Special Forces coalition counterparts and the impact different political, doctrinal, tactical cultural and cognitive characteristics had on these joint-operational deployments. The size of the New Zealand SAS contribution to the Australian SAS Squadron combined with the command arrangements placed upon it, also dictated that the deployments were never likely to be able to exert influence in any ‘independent’ or nationally-identifiable sense, and the relationships, the types of patrol operations conducted, and the value of these operations, would ultimately see many New Zealand SAS veterans largely dissatisfied with the overall performance of the deployment. Nevertheless, the strength of New Zealand SAS operations in South Vietnam came from its practical application of unique New Zealand Special Forces methodology and field-craft which had been fundamentally shaped and developed in Borneo. The New Zealand SAS operations in South Vietnam and Borneo - the demonstration of the highest standards of patrol techniques, tracking, reconnaissance, ambushing and fire discipline, and above all, operational professionalism that has been the hallmark of New Zealand's military history – provided the evolutionary ‘platforms’ from which today’s highly skilled and enviable New Zealand Special Forces have emerged.

This research examines the way employees perceive risk in a non-governmental healthcare organisation that provides care and support for people with mental, intellectual and physical disabilities. Thirty-four respondents from all levels and services within an NGO participated in in-depth semi-structured interviews to explore the meaning of the concept of risk from their own viewpoints, as well as their perspectives regarding types and sources of risk in their work and initiatives for controlling and dealing with such types and sources. This involved discussing the role of training in improving the awareness of employees in minimising risk, and the effect of training on the entire risk management process. Additional information was obtained by the researcher from documentation and personal observation. Themes that emerged from analysing data pointed to the interrelated link between perception and risk. Accordingly, the study found that risk is culturally constructed, individualistic, and subjective. It was evident that risk is a perceptual matter affected by beliefs, feelings, knowledge, culture, image, context, and the experience of people. The culture of fear of risk and of perceiving risk as something purely negative was dominant among the participants, who viewed risk as an unfavourable issue that does not have opportunities, which creates another source of risk – the risk of perception of risk. This research demonstrates that the perceptual aspect of risk emphasises the central role of people in any risk management process. For effective risk management, all perspectives should be considered. This requires a participatory system of managing risk, improving the awareness of people about risk, and modifying the culture of risk among them. Training has a significant role in the achievement of these fundamentals.