M.Com. (Economics) / The purpose of this study is to investigate the economic principles underlying the decentralization of government to local level in a market oriented economic system. In the provision of public goods there is no freedom of choice, decisions being made by a few individuals. This contrasts with the operation of the free market mechanism in which millions of subjects make personal and independent decisions about millions of objects. However, through the decentralization of government, an effort is being made to involve more subjects in the making of collective decisions through representatives at all levels of government. In South Africa, the problem has a further dimension in that not all population groups have so far participated fully in the democratic and free market economy. The new constitutional dispensation provides for a broadening of democracy, in that non-white population groups are now more and more represented at central, provincial and local government level. The role to be played in this regard by municipalities is examined, in order to highlight the economic principles underlying the decentralization of decision- making. The focal point of the study is the way in which decentralization of decisionmaking, by which government is extended to the inhabitants, is being manifested at municipal level. The topics dealt with in this study are: - the role of government in a market economic system; - the financing of municipalities; - the establishment of local authorities; - the development of infra-structures; - development strategies; - the pursuit and growth of economic principles in a new dispensation. Municipalities have an essential function to perform in the provision of public goods and in serving as the bearers of democracy. Municipalities can make a meaningful contribution to the development of a country and its inhabitants and to the realization of the benefits of the decentralization of decision-making, in step with the economic principles underlying it.

Wong, Chun Hung Eliphas. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 74-78). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Abstract --- p.i / Acknowledgement --- p.v / Thesis/Assessement Committee --- p.vi / List of Figures --- p.xi / Chapter 1 --- Introduction --- p.1 / Chapter 1.1 --- Literature Review --- p.13 / Chapter 1.2 --- K-Convexity --- p.16 / Chapter 1.2.1 --- "The (s, S)policy and cardinal optimality equation form" --- p.17 / Chapter 2 --- Inventory Problem --- p.25 / Chapter 2.1 --- Two-channel Inventory Model --- p.26 / Chapter 2.1.1 --- Model Formulation --- p.27 / Chapter 2.2 --- The total expected cost and constraints --- p.34 / Chapter 2.3 --- The optimality equation --- p.37 / Chapter 3 --- The two phase optimal policy --- p.40 / Chapter 3.1 --- Deviation of two phase optimal policy --- p.41 / Chapter 3.1.1 --- "First phase optimization - The (s, S, s') policy" --- p.42 / Chapter 3.1.2 --- Second phase optimization --- p.46 / Chapter 3.2 --- More about the optimal policy --- p.60 / Chapter 4 --- Further discussion and conclusion --- p.64 / Chapter 4.1 --- Multi-period problem --- p.65 / Chapter 4.1.1 --- Model formulation --- p.65 / Chapter 4.1.2 --- The challenges in extending the optimal policy --- p.67 / Chapter 4.2 --- Conclusion --- p.69 / Bibliography --- p.74

Development projects are increasingly becoming tools to support developing countries to overcome their systemic barriers to development. International and bilateral development agencies channel billions of dollars in such projects or programs every year in hope to boost local development, but until now after decades of efforts and social investments no concrete development in those countries status have been spotlighted as a consequence of these. Rwanda as a small land locked developing Country in the heart of Africa has been allocated amount of grants and supports for many years and have been benefiting from an overwhelming international attention after the genocide of 1994 and one can wonder if these development programmes and projects have been of significant usefulness to the recipients. In such a move, this dissertation aims at systematically evaluating project outcomes through assessment of beneficiaries’ expectations grasped through a case study namely the Decentralization and Community Development Project (DCD) in Rwanda. It is also intended to provide a clear idea of what the project has achieved so far and what beneficiaries’ expectations were not met. In order to achieve research objectives, a systematic research method have been followed. It is therefore, important to recall that evaluation approaches as supported by Khandker and al. (2009), have evolved significantly, making difficult for an evaluator to choose the model or approach which is particular for a specific context suggesting that there is no universal and unique evaluation approach. In this research they were no move from this statement. Actually it was found worthy the use of a mixture of qualitative and quantitative research methodologies to capture the real outcomes of the project. In fact using qualitative methods helped to understand the key players who would have influenced the project implementation and by using quantitative methods and recording the recipients’ aspirations and the effective outcomes from the project. We hypothetically assumed that DCDP did not provide enough outcomes as expected by recipients and in order to prove that, collected data from a random sample of 96 people out of a population of 256334 and 80 answers were collected back. Several unstructured interviews were conducted with project key players comprised of the project team, the local government, and the government officials in charge of the project as well as the World Bank Country Office. Excel were used to analyse collected data so as to allow a better analysis and interpretation of the data. As stated in the main argument, assumption were made that the project did not meet the stakeholder’s expectations but some salient findings of the study proved this to be wrong. In fact, more than 80% people in the project area recognised the project outcomes significance to their lives. Furthermore, the result shows that the project had an important impact on the community. For instance, the DCD project improved considerably the life conditions of the population of the district’s population; as an example, the recipients acknowledged at 100% that the DCD project increased both the employment and the revenue in the district of HUYE. This have a huge meaning, because it is ascertaining the hypothesis that DCD project participated in improving life conditions of the population, while giving a whole meaning to the project in the eyes of all the stakeholders. The main recommendation of the study was about the usefulness on involving the recipients (beneficiaries) in all the project process, including pre-identification so that the project may tackle the real problems of the beneficiaries. / Thesis (M.Com.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville, 2009.

Organizations normally introduce and implement changes in their respective departments. The general assumption is that the changes are meant for the improvement of operations, efficiencies and cost control measures, among other things. This research project was prompted by the fact that Eskom is introducing Shared Services within its Transactional Procurement and Supply Chain Management. It is important that this study is undertaken, through a survey, involving top executives, upper and middle management, as well as operational employees. Perceptions of the inherent successes or failures the new system might have on Eskom as an organization will be ascertained. Perceived difficulties will make the results more interesting, in that the sampling methodology used has to be compatible with the targeted research market. The results of the survey are important for sharing with Eskom’s management as the findings have a direct bearing on the improvement of the project. Whether Eskom should proceed or not with the introduction of Shared Service within the Transactional Procurement and Supply Chain Management is the problem statement of this research project. Although this project is meant for a particular market sector in the organization, the consequences of the benefits accrued and/or losses incurred will reverberate throughout the whole organization as it has multiple independent transactional procurement and supply chain outfits running in all their departments in South Africa. Whether the previous dispensation was beneficial or not, is subject to what is referred to as the ‘burning platform’ in Chapter 1. The researcher was an Eskom employee at the time of the research project, and the project was aimed at looking at Eskom’s corporate challenges. The survey was conducted conveniently among Eskom employees comprising two sets of respondents: executive management and operational employees drawn from upper and middle management together with supervisory and front staff. Convenience Sampling was done among what was believed to be the employees within the value chains of Procurement and the Supply Chain. The survey results have shown the distinct difference between the perceptions of the executive management and operational employees in that the former are more supportive of the project and well aware of its introduction, while the opposite is true for the operational employees. There was also a marked agreement noted where both responding groups regard the current set-up within the procurement and supply chain management as being fraught with problems. Both groups also agree that this section does not yield the required results. These research findings are significant for Eskom’s management to take note for benefits to accrue by virtue of a buy-in from the different stakeholders. The Eskom employees are expected to implement, manage and improve the efficiencies within the Procurement and Supply Chain Department, and this research project can be taken to have served as an unofficial but important research tool on behalf of the company. / Thesis (M.Com.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville, 2011.

Thesis (M.B.A.)--University of Hong Kong, 1996. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 125-126).

M.Cur. (Nursing Management) / In this study two decentralised organisation designs in nursing management are investigated. The purpose of the study was to investigate the effect of two different designs (the territorial matrix) on the attitudes and perceptions of nurses towards their work. A descriptive multiphase investigation was done. In the first phase the attitudes and perceptions of nurses in the territorial design were investigated by using the Michigan Organisational Assessment Scale. In the second phase the territorial design was changed to a nursing matrix design. In the third phase the attitudes and perceptions of nurses were retested by again using the Michigan Organisational Assessment Scale. The fourth phase was used to compare the results gathered in the first and third phases. Phase five was used to describe the two designs by means of a systems analysis. An analysis of the data showed that the operational hypothesis can be accepted, because nurses' attitudes and perceptions were more positive in the matrix design than those in the territorial design. This study was not meant for generalisation purposes, but is a descriptive research method to record the effects of nursing service design on the attitudes and perceptions of nurses.This study is also an effort to describe and document a modern organisational design in nursing management.

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

Thesis. 1977. B.S.--Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. / MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND ENGINEERING. / Includes bibliographical references. / by Cecilia R. d'Oliveira. / B.S.

Thesis (M. Ed.)--University of Hong Kong, 1994. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 128-139).

Thesis (M.Ed.)--University of Hong Kong, 1994. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 128-139). Also available in print.