This is a study about source criticism in Swedish health magazines in 2014 which is based on Torsten Thuréns positivist philosophy of science and formulations about source criticism. The thesis was based on the hypothesis that the Swedish health magazines are inadequate in their source-critical approach. To prove or disprove the hypothesis a quantitative content analysis of one hundred articles was made. The quantitative content analysis was based on twelve variables and the results showed that the hypothesis to some extent was true. The magazines reported their sources in most cases, but the majority of the sources consisted of various authorities such as doctors, psychologists, and personal trainers. Different authorities might have different opinion about the same phenomena depending on what profession they have, which can be a sorce to problem. Most of the articles showed lack of self-criticism, and the majority were written from only one perspective. Sixteen of the articles possibly broke the Marketing Act. Further more, to analyse the survey material, Torbjörn von Krogh's definition of "media accountability" standards of responsibility of media have been used. Noted in the conclusion was that health magazine should take more responsibility when it comes to source criticism.

This study set to investigate how School Governing Bodies (SGBs) currently execute financial accountability. This is because schools are funded mostly from public funds, and are directed to be accountable to stakeholders by the South African Schools Act No. 84 of 1996 and the Public Finance Management Act No. 1 of 1999. This means that school financial accountability is a legal requirement in terms of the laws relating to school governance and public finance management. Financial accountability, entails reporting to stakeholders in terms of how funds have been expended in relation to the mandate given to the school's accounting officer. In the case of schools, this combines the school principal and the SGB. This implies the implementation of financial accountability elements namely, financial planning, controlling, monitoring and reporting. The empirical research quantitatively used the questionnaire and qualitatively used interviews to investigate how SGBs practiced financial accountability. While the quantitative survey revealed that SGBs were financially accountable, the interviews provided insight into the phenomenon, which indicated gaps in school financial accountability namely: lack of capacity to perform financial accountability functions; poor monitoring of schools' financial management and accountability performances, both by Departmental officials and schools themselves; poor adherence to policy prescriptions as provided for in the South African Schools Act and the Public Finance Management Act. It is therefore recommended that SGBs should explore simplification of financial accountability language to suit the parents' level of understanding; principals and educators need capacity -building to be able to handle communication with parents who are not educated; Departmental officials constantly to monitor and support schools in their financial accountability processes; and that Departmental Units should establish information 'feeding' channels so as to identify needs for development and support across the units, so as to intervene timely in areas needing intervention, and principals need to establish peer - assistance networks at local level so as to learn from examples of good practices from their colleagues. / Thesis (M.Ed.)--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2009.

This study set to investigate how School Governing Bodies (SGBs) currently execute financial accountability. This is because schools are funded mostly from public funds, and are directed to be accountable to stakeholders by the South African Schools Act No. 84 of 1996 and the Public Finance Management Act No. 1 of 1999. This means that school financial accountability is a legal requirement in terms of the laws relating to school governance and public finance management. Financial accountability, entails reporting to stakeholders in terms of how funds have been expended in relation to the mandate given to the school's accounting officer. In the case of schools, this combines the school principal and the SGB. This implies the implementation of financial accountability elements namely, financial planning, controlling, monitoring and reporting. The empirical research quantitatively used the questionnaire and qualitatively used interviews to investigate how SGBs practiced financial accountability. While the quantitative survey revealed that SGBs were financially accountable, the interviews provided insight into the phenomenon, which indicated gaps in school financial accountability namely: lack of capacity to perform financial accountability functions; poor monitoring of schools' financial management and accountability performances, both by Departmental officials and schools themselves; poor adherence to policy prescriptions as provided for in the South African Schools Act and the Public Finance Management Act. It is therefore recommended that SGBs should explore simplification of financial accountability language to suit the parents' level of understanding; principals and educators need capacity -building to be able to handle communication with parents who are not educated; Departmental officials constantly to monitor and support schools in their financial accountability processes; and that Departmental Units should establish information 'feeding' channels so as to identify needs for development and support across the units, so as to intervene timely in areas needing intervention, and principals need to establish peer - assistance networks at local level so as to learn from examples of good practices from their colleagues. / Thesis (M.Ed.)--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2009.

The in-service evaluation instrument, The Criteria for Evaluating Teacher In-service Programs, was based on a review of research in in-service education and drew heavily on work done by Donn V. Kaupke. The four major items of this evaluation instrument include: (1) Knowledge of the field of group dynamics is necessary to create changes in a school via a teacher in-service education program; (2) Planning is an essential ingredient of a successful teacher in-service education program; (3) Seven operational techniques facilitate group decision-making; and, (4) Adhering to four administrative policies governing the operation of a teacher in-service education program is prerequisite to a successful program.During the in-service program, the author behaved in an observer-consultant role. He met with the principal to suggest agenda for each meeting and to present data from previous meetings. The observer-consultant was present to observe and record the activities of the Instructional Improvement Committee as it worked with the recommendations. The observer-consultant also helped with the operational processes of the meetings.The principal, after consulting with the observer-consultant, decided that the Instructional Improvement Committee would become the first group to deal with the recommendations. Working with the recommendations became the major part of the weekly Instructional Improvement Committee meetings. The principal chaired the Instructional Improvement Committee and directed its attention towards the objectives he judged it needed to attain.The data used to describe the execution of the Instructional Improvement Committee in-service program were collected by tape recording the ten in-service sessions and analyzing the recordings later, and by interviews and questionnaires completed by the Instructional Improvement Committee members following the completion of the ten meetings. The data were organized under the four major items of the Criteria for Evaluating Teacher In-service Education Programs. They led to the following conclusions:1. The Instructional Improvement Committee, with the leadership of the principal, can work toward curricular improvements of its school.2. The group digressed when the leadership function was not performed by a memberof the Instructional Improvement Committee.3. A curricular evaluator acting as an observer-consultant can facilitate the efforts of the Instructional Improvement Committee of an Individually Guided Education school.4. In-service training provided for personnel of Individually Guided Education schools does not prepare adequately the Instructional Improvement Committee in group processes.5. A curriculum evaluation can provide adequate data on which to base an in-service education program for the Instructional Improvement Committee of an Individually Guided Education school.

The purpose of the study was to secure and compare stated judgments of public school superintendents, business managers, and curriculum directors relative to the operational development of Educational Resources Management Systems used in public schools in the United States. School officials with four or more years experience in the development and operation of ERM Systems were regarded as qualified to participate in the study. Four-hundredfive participants were identified from 135 school districts. Responses were received from 254 school officials employed in 115 school districts.Data were secured by means of the ERMS Operational Development Questionnaire developed for use in the study. Respondents provided judgments regarding operational development of ERM Systems used in public schools. Such judgments were submitted to a single factor analysis of variance. The analysis revealed judgments relative to all nine components of ERM Systems members of all three groups as denoting sameness and reported by coming from a single larger "parent" population of which respondents from the three groups were members.Additional findings derived from the study included:The higher the mean average reported district average daily membership, the lower mean average reported ERMS operational developmentNo consistent relationship was discovered between mean average reported ERMS operational development and mean average number of years qualified reporting officials had been employed in current positionsPPBS and PPBES conceptualizations of ERM Systems were most often reported as systems being used in public schoolsWhen combinations of ERM Systems were reported in use, PPBS/MBO and PPBES/MBO were most often reportedThe addition of MBO as a system supporting PPBS resulted in higher reported levels of ERMS operational developmentIndividual components of ERM Systems were not judged with like levels of operational developmentOver-all, ERM Systems were judged as having been developed and being used for some educational program developmentConclusions developed from the study included the following:1. Operationally developed ERM Systems are not in wide spread use by public school officials in the United States2. ERM Systems used by officials in public school districts in the United States have been operationally developed to the extent that some educational program decisions are being made by school officials on the basis of data generated by the ERM System3. School officials working with ERM Systems view operational development of ERM Systems in a uniform way4. School officials developing ERM Systems can expect operational development of individual components of ERM Systems to develop in the following order: adoption of goals; program identification; program budget; needs assessment; objectives; program alternatives; program selection; program evaluation and multi-year projection5. School officials selectively develop individual components of ERM Systems rather than developing the total system all at once6. More than six years is needed to realize fully operational ERM Systems7. ERM Systems become operationally developed more quickly in school districts with average daily membership of less than 5,000 pupils8. PPBS or PPBES used in combination with MBO yields higher levels of ERMS operational development than when used alone9. School officials generally are not prepared to develop and operationalize ERM Systems10. Effectiveness of ERM Systems has not been established and documented through researchRecommendations based on findings and conclusions in the study included:1. Models should be developed to provide a simple ERM System that can be implemented by school officials using in-house expertise2. A model should be developed that integrates the conceptualizations of Management by Objectives with Planning-Programming-Budgeting Systems3. Members of State Legislatures should re-evaluate mandates for implementation of total ERM Systems in light of small numbers of operational systems and the lack of research related to effectiveness of total ERM Systems or individual components of ERM Systems

This thesis examines the establishment of 'Next Steps' agencies in government and how they were intended to allow the delivery of government goals at arm's length. The research is concerned with how changes in relationships at the heart of Government can be understood. It seeks to address the impact of these changes on the policy process. It does so by examining the nature of the relationship between departments and agencies and asking why some relationships appeared to have worked well and others have not. These questions are not adequately addressed in the existing literature on agencies. The thesis takes a multiple case study approach and draws on the concepts of historical institutionalism, power dependency and policy networks to approach these questions. It is argued that the introduction and development of agencies changed the formal and informal institutional 'rules of the game', affecting the roles actors expected to play and radically altered the distribution of resources in central government. The changed distribution of resources led to the development of new power dependent networks between departments and agencies. Path dependency in the development of the Next Steps concept led to a tension between the idea of agencies operating at 'arm's length' with the continuation of traditional accountability arrangements. The key argument presented is that, where department-agency networks are based on shared values, goals and institutional support, they will be able to manage the tension created by the new institutional arrangements and are able to successfully deliver government goals. In concluding, it is suggested that understanding department-agency relationships as power dependent networks presents three implications. Firstly, for the applicability of this analytical framework to other 'institutional arrangements', secondly for policy making in the core executive and, finally, for insights on normative issues of accountability and autonomy in contemporary governance.

While accountability measures are designed and promoted to increase trust among members of society in Canada, this study finds that accountability practices actually reduce trust and flexibility among people. This dissertation interrogates the concept of accountability as value-free and in the public interest in Canada. Using institutional ethnography as an approach to research, this study traces how accountability as a concept is defined through a set of performances described in texts that trickle down from the federal to the municipal level in Ontario. In particular, I examine how residents’ groups providing social services with a small grant from an Ontario municipality are required to go to great lengths to perform accountability according to dominant texts. This study overlays a mapping of the textual organization of accountability with the theories of civility and governmentality to demonstrate how white, middle-class, neoliberal values pervade decision-making about the allocation of public funds. The data demonstrate that while government accountability measures are designed with elected officials and government workers in mind, the practice of accountability gets enforced through the least socially powerful members of society, defined through racialized, gendered, and class distinctions. I conclude that while changes to reporting mechanisms could render the lives of more residents visible, ultimately the dominant focus on rules rather than relationships in Canada undermines real trust, and thus is the most vital site for change.

This thesis describes and analyses the ways in which employees in two front line call centre settings report their experience of qualitative and quantitative monitoring in the workplace, and its impact on their work and work life. I conducted ethnographically informed fieldwork, including participant observation and interviews, in two financial service call centre sites. Emerging from the rich descriptions participants shared about their work life, identity and accountability stood out as key themes. The sites, which use similar methods of monitoring and performance measurement, had quite different management strategies in place which affected staff perceptions of identity and accountability. I modified an activity theory framework to create a model of organisational, professional and peer identities and accountabilities, and to examine the ways these connect, interact, and sometimes disconnect, with one another. Call centres are contentious workplaces in the literature, generating ongoing debate about the extent to which electronic monitoring is effective as a method of control and about the way monitoring and surveillance affects workers. Using this framework allows me to look at common call centre issues, such as the quality/quantity dichotomy, through a different and potentially helpful lens, one that is novel in the call centre literature. My findings suggest that when the various facets of identities and accountabilities are poorly aligned, workers are forced to prioritize one over the other, often to the detriment of both. In the financial service call centres I studied, workers often chose to prioritize professional and peer identity over organisational accountability when organisational requirements were strongly felt to conflict with the ways in which a professional banker should behave towards customers and colleagues. Workers made these choices despite clearly understanding the potential consequences to themselves in terms of achieving performance metric targets and supervisory approval. Conceptualizing call centre workers’ responses to monitoring and measurement from an identity and accountability perspective offers new insights into the reasons why financial service call centre workers are often dissatisfied or frustrated with standard call centre measurement practices, leading to potential practical solutions.

While accountability measures are designed and promoted to increase trust among members of society in Canada, this study finds that accountability practices actually reduce trust and flexibility among people. This dissertation interrogates the concept of accountability as value-free and in the public interest in Canada. Using institutional ethnography as an approach to research, this study traces how accountability as a concept is defined through a set of performances described in texts that trickle down from the federal to the municipal level in Ontario. In particular, I examine how residents’ groups providing social services with a small grant from an Ontario municipality are required to go to great lengths to perform accountability according to dominant texts. This study overlays a mapping of the textual organization of accountability with the theories of civility and governmentality to demonstrate how white, middle-class, neoliberal values pervade decision-making about the allocation of public funds. The data demonstrate that while government accountability measures are designed with elected officials and government workers in mind, the practice of accountability gets enforced through the least socially powerful members of society, defined through racialized, gendered, and class distinctions. I conclude that while changes to reporting mechanisms could render the lives of more residents visible, ultimately the dominant focus on rules rather than relationships in Canada undermines real trust, and thus is the most vital site for change.

This thesis describes and analyses the ways in which employees in two front line call centre settings report their experience of qualitative and quantitative monitoring in the workplace, and its impact on their work and work life. I conducted ethnographically informed fieldwork, including participant observation and interviews, in two financial service call centre sites. Emerging from the rich descriptions participants shared about their work life, identity and accountability stood out as key themes. The sites, which use similar methods of monitoring and performance measurement, had quite different management strategies in place which affected staff perceptions of identity and accountability. I modified an activity theory framework to create a model of organisational, professional and peer identities and accountabilities, and to examine the ways these connect, interact, and sometimes disconnect, with one another. Call centres are contentious workplaces in the literature, generating ongoing debate about the extent to which electronic monitoring is effective as a method of control and about the way monitoring and surveillance affects workers. Using this framework allows me to look at common call centre issues, such as the quality/quantity dichotomy, through a different and potentially helpful lens, one that is novel in the call centre literature. My findings suggest that when the various facets of identities and accountabilities are poorly aligned, workers are forced to prioritize one over the other, often to the detriment of both. In the financial service call centres I studied, workers often chose to prioritize professional and peer identity over organisational accountability when organisational requirements were strongly felt to conflict with the ways in which a professional banker should behave towards customers and colleagues. Workers made these choices despite clearly understanding the potential consequences to themselves in terms of achieving performance metric targets and supervisory approval. Conceptualizing call centre workers’ responses to monitoring and measurement from an identity and accountability perspective offers new insights into the reasons why financial service call centre workers are often dissatisfied or frustrated with standard call centre measurement practices, leading to potential practical solutions.