The need to deal with accountability is fundamental in every organisation’s struggle to survive. When external demands must be fulfilled in order to receive necessary funding, the organization continuously has to adapt internal processes and outputs to meet those demands. This thesis seeks to explore such adaptations and their short and long term effects. Funding and Accountability: Studies of a Swedish and a British Chamber Orchestra examines two organizations with an unusually complex context of stakeholders with diverse and conflicting interests. Adding to the unusualness of an orchestra is the nature of the orchestra’s basic output: autonomous music cannot be measured in quantified terms, rendering accountability a more difficult and elusive idea than ever. In addition, the orchestra is characterized by the performance of highly specialised skills executed collectively and with exceptional simultaneity, requiring particularly stable and predictable working frames. With two intriguing cases and with an innovative combination of theoretical perspectives, this thesis illustrates how external accountabilities influence an organisation’s core through internal adaptations over time, and highlights issues of organisational identity and future possible directions. / Diss. Stockholm : Handelshögskolan, 2009

<p>Since the 1980&rsquo / s, many dictatorships around the world have been replaced by new democracies. These old dictatorships were notorious for their human rights abuses. Many people were killed and tortured / and many others were disappeared. When the new governments came into power, they had to confront these injustices that were perpetrated under the predecessor regime. This was necessary to create a culture of human rights / promote a respect for the law and access to justice. Many confronted these injustices in different ways, some granted amnesty, some prosecuted and others instituted truth commissions. This research paper focuses on truth commissions. The research focuses particularly on the study of the South African Truth Commission. The mandate of the South African Truth Commission is analysed and the investigation into whether the commission served the purpose for which it had been established is discussed.</p>

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Bátora alleges that political accountability has been “almost entirely overlooked” (2010, 2) in studies of the European External Action Service. An examination of the subject that extends previous studies on agency design, the co-decision procedure, the “democratic deficit,” and European Union foreign policy would resolve the neglect. As a result, the study derives a hypothesis from an established theory of bureaucratic structure. Findings suggest that during the design of EU agencies co-decision power improves the ability of the European Parliament to institutionalize methods of accountability to it.

Mining depletes, processes, and relocates mineral resources while profoundly changing landscapes and socio-economic patterns of affected regions and communities. For millennia these impacts have been “accepted” by society because of minerals’ many benefits, but the growing environmental crisis is pushing up demand for socially responsible and ecologically viable mining practices. In reaction to these pressures, large mining corporations have been increasingly trying to make the business case for a sustainable mining industry. To demonstrate progress towards this “case”, companies have started to publish sustainability reports based on a sustainability assessment and reporting tool called the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Framework. Many scholars have contested the effectiveness of that framework and argued that GRI-based reports can mislead decision-makers concerned with sustainability, or even camouflage unsustainable practices, particularly at the site level. Few scholars, however, have gone far beyond the realm of criticism to understand how to enhance that framework. This thesis addresses this gap. More specifically it sets out to answer the following questions: 1) what needs to be changed in mining corporations’ approaches to assessing and reporting sustainability for the purpose of promoting more meaningful and reliable disclosures? And 2) what are the key practical and conceptual barriers to implementing those changes? This research adopted a qualitative grounded theory approach underpinned by systems theories to answer the questions. Data were collected through extensive literature reviews, 41 semi-structured interviews and content analyses. The evaluation of data included software-aided techniques such as iterative coding, memo-writing, and diagramming. The four main contributions are as follows. First, the thesis presents an evaluation of the extent to which mining corporations’ approaches to sustainability reporting meet eight principles (the BellagioSTAMP) of sustainability assessment and communication. In light of the identified gaps, the thesis outlines a number of specific changes that should be promoted in mining corporations’ sustainability frameworks. Second, a critical evaluation is provided of the limitations of an industry initiative that is pushing for stronger GRI reporting. Proponents of that initiative are trying to standardize and enforce external verification of sustainability reports among large mining corporations, but, in doing so, they may reinforce a limited approach to sustainability reporting. Third, the thesis identifies and discusses the barriers that may emerge in the implementation of six additional guidance elements in the GRI framework that could promote sounder sustainability assessment and reporting processes. The many barriers are broadly categorized as motivational, structural and specific. Finally, the thesis specifies research implications for key stakeholder groups involved in sustainability reporting: standard-setters, industry associations, mining companies, external verifiers, investors, local communities, and scholars. Overall, this thesis corroborates the view that meaningful and reliable standardized disclosures of contributions to sustainability are unlikely to emerge any time soon. The geographical dispersion of mining corporations’ facilities imposes substantial barriers to the contextualization and systematization of sustainability evaluations and communications. These barriers can be overcome with additional indicator systems and partnerships, but standard-setters, industry associations, and governments do not seem motivated to take up this challenge soon. This situation opens opportunities for individual mining corporations to enhance their particular approaches. This thesis provides important information that should be considered in the development of a much needed long-term strategy for stronger sustainability reporting in the sector.

Thesis (M.S.A.)--University of North Carolina at Wilmington, 2004. / Includes appendixes. Includes bibliographical references (leaves : 53-55).

Thesis (M. Soc. Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 1982.

This study examined the commitment of teachers to the implementation of ninth grade academies and their perceptions of school leadership during the reform process. Concern for successful high school completion prompted the redesign of ninth grade into a school-within-a-school format within a Florida school district. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine the type of commitment and form of leadership evident in this reform initiative along with the relationship between them. As a mindset for change, commitment was represented as affective, normative, and continuance. Leadership styles were delineated as transformational, transactional, and passive/avoidant along with related outcomes of effectiveness, satisfactions and extra effort. This study utilized an electronic survey with purposive sampling. Five questions concerning the type of commitment, the form of leadership and outcomes, and the correlation between commitment and leadership guided this research. Descriptive analysis of the responses from 105 teachers produced findings of both affective and normative commitment to change and evidence of transformational leadership as well as the contingent reward dimension of transactional leadership. Leadership outcomes of effectiveness, satisfaction, and extra effort were also expressed by teachers. The results validated the presence of affective and normative commitment of teachers responsible for reform efforts and indicated a relational influence between transformational and transactional leadership behaviors with these two forms of commitment to change. Current pressures of accountability have channeled schools into models of continuous improvement. If schools are to enact lasting change, an understanding of commitment and leadership is needed to produce sustainable school reform.

The purpose of this study was to investigate characteristics associated with resilient school leaders. Principals juggle multiple responsibilities and work under increasingly stressful conditions. Despite recent role changes, added job responsibilities, and increased accountability, some principals remain remarkably resilient while working in a tumultuous environment. Using Henderson and Milstein's (2003) definition, principal resiliency was described as "the capacity to spring back, rebound, successfully adapt in the face of adversity, and develop social, academic, and vocational competence despite exposure to severe stress or simply to the stress that is inherent in today's world" (p. 7). This empirical study tested the theory that principals with higher levels of job satisfaction and work commitment would also likely have higher levels of resilience. This study also investigated whether years of experience, school location, school poverty rate, school level, principal salary, and student enrollment shared a significant relationship with principal resilience. This study used a questionnaire to measure participants' levels of resiliency, job satisfaction, and work commitment. The survey consisted of three research-based, established psychometric tools: 1) the abbreviated Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC 10) (Connor & Davidson, 2003); 2) Brayfield-Rothe Job Satisfaction Index (JSI) (Brayfield & Rothe, 1951); and 3) Three-Component Model (TCM) of commitment (Meyer & Allen, 1991). An analysis of 627 surveys completed by public school principals from the state of Florida revealed that years of experience, school location, school poverty rate, school level, principal salary, and student enrollment shared no significant relationship with principal resilience. However, results from this empirical study indicated that there was a significant relationship between job satisfaction and resiliency for principals as well as a significant relationship between affective work commitment and resiliency.

Scores from value-added models (VAMs), as used for educational accountability, represent the educational effect teachers have on their students. The use of these scores in teacher evaluations for high-stakes decision making is new for the State of Florida. Validity evidence that supports or questions the use of these scores is critically needed. This research, using data from 2385 teachers from 104 schools in one school district in Florida, examined the validity of the value-added scores by correlating these scores with scores from an observational rubric used in the teacher evaluation process. The VAM scores also were examined in relation to several variables that the literature had identified as correlates of quality teaching as well as variables that were theoretically independent of teacher performance. The observational rubric used in the validation process was based on Marzano's and Danielson's framework and consisted of 34 items and five factors (Ability to Assess Instructional Needs, Plans and Delivers Instruction, Maintains a Student-Centered Learning Environment, Performs Professional Responsibilities, Engages in Continuous Improvement for Self and School). Analyses of the psychometric properties of the observational rubric using confirmatory factor analysis supported the fit of the five-factor structure underlying the rubric. Internal consistency reliabilities for the five observational scales and total score ranged from .81 to .96. The relationships between the observational rubric scores and VAM scores (with and without the standard error of measurement (SE) applied to the VAM score) were generally weak for the overall sample (range of correlations = .05 to .09 for the five observational scales and VAM with SE; .14 to .18 for the five observational scales and VAM without SE). Inspection of the relationship between the VAM and total observational scores within each of the 104 schools revealed that while some schools had a strong relationship, the majority of the schools revealed little to no relationship between the two measures that represent a quality/effective teacher. The last part of this research investigated the relationship of the VAM scores and scores from the observational rubric with variables that had been identified in the literature as correlates of quality teaching. In addition, relationships between variables that the literature had shown to be independent of quality teaching were also examined. Results indicated that VAM scores were not significantly related to any of the predictor variables (e.g., National Board Certification, years of experience, gender, etc.). The observational rubric, on the other hand, had significant relations with National Board Certification, years of experience, and gender. The validity evidence provided in this research calls for caution when using VAM scores in teacher evaluations for high-stakes decision making. The weak relations between the observational scores of teachers' performance and teachers' value-added scores suggest that these measures are representing different dimensions of the multidimensional construct of teaching quality. Ongoing research is needed to better understand the strengths and limitations of both the observational and VAM measures and the reasons why these measures do not often converge. In addition, teacher factors (e.g., grade level) that can account for variation in both the VAM and observational scores need to be identified.