This study of the Snare Forks hydroelectric development in the Northwest Territories has two basic objectives. The first is to provide a critical assessment of the institutional framework (both structural and procedural) within which resource planning decisions are taken in the Canadian North, with reference to the cirteria of 1) democratic accountability, and 2) technical and economic efficiency. The second objective is to suggest (if shortcomings in institutional design are found) means of upgrading structures and procedures to conform with the normative criteria. The Snare Forks (or Strutt Lake) hydroelectric development was first conceived during 1971, when the Northern Canada Power Commission (NCPC) began to consider construction of a third hydro dam on the Snare River, which flows into the north arm of Great Slave Lake, to meet the growing demands of the City of Yellowknife and adjacent mining operations, 130 kilometres to the southwest. A water use licence, required under the Northern Inland Waters Act, was obtained by NCPC after one public hearing before the Northwest Territories Water Board in February 1974. Construction commenced during the spring of that year. However, shortly afterwards the commission was notified of a mining claim existing within the area designated to be flooded. It also became evident that bedrock and permafrost conditions at the site would not support the dyke structures. In September, 1974, the commission decided to relocate the dam 1.4 kilometres downstream, away from the mining claim area, and at a lower elevation (173.5 m above sea level, as opposed to 183m), to eliminate the need for dyking on permafrost. Peak power output was thus reduced from 14 megawatts to 9.6 megawatts. An amendment to the original water licence facilitating the design changes was approved by the Water Board in March, 1975. This was done without the normally required (under NIWA) public hearings, as the Board ruled that an emergency existed. It was not until after the amendment was approved that a press release was issued revealing the construction problems to the general public. The Snare Forks plant was commissioned in November, 1976, one year behind schedule. The final cost of the project was $27.1 million, as opposed to the original estimate of $14.1 million. As a consequence of the Snare Forks cost overruns, electric power rates in Yellowknife and other Northwest Territories communities were immediately raised by as much as ninety per cent. The account of the Snare Forks job history and planning process is based almost entirely on primary sources, including documents and correspondence of the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, Environment Canada, the Northern Canada Power Commission, and the Northwest Territories Water Board. The criteria against which the decision-making system is assessed are derived from the survey of the leading contemporary literature on public administration and organizational behaviour, with an attempt to relate the theories thus obtained to the conditions prevalent in the Canadian North. It appears that circumstances over which decision-makers concerned had no direct control, particularly inflation and adverse weather conditions during construction, contributed in a major way to cost overruns. However, a review of the administrative and planning process reveals a failure by NCPC to adequately take into account possibilities regarding design and scheduling, as well as a closed, secretive decision-making process that effectively excluded local community interests. The failure of existing institutional mechanisms to prevent serious conceptual flaws in a public project and secrecy in decisionmaking gave rise to a widespread sense of alienation and mistrust among Snare system consumers in the aftermath of the project. At the same time, the project history points to a number of social and economic conditions present in the North that act as barriers to the attainment of optimal levels of democratic accountability and technical/economic efficiency in decision-making; and cannot be fully addressed by any set of institutional prescriptions. / Arts, Faculty of / Political Science, Department of / Graduate

Research into multiattribute utility theory far outweighs current attempts to apply findings, while the need for usable decision techniques continues to increase. Current decision maker - analyst procedures involving decision making sessions and numerous manual calculations are considered to be overly time-consuming, except for the most important of complex decisions. The purpose of this thesis was to design and develop a microcomputer package utilizing recent improvements in decision theory to increase the efficiency of the decision making process. Algorithms for independence testing and parameter estimation have been developed for both continuous attributes and discrete attributes. Two separate packages, an additive value function package (DECISION) and a SMART technique package (SMART), are developed based on these algorithms and their validity tested by means of a case study. Both packages are written for use on a standard (256K) IBM PC microcomputer. / Master of Science

published_or_final_version / Public Administration / Master / Master of Social Sciences

The purpose of this collective case study was to discover the decision-making processes used by senior student affairs officers when making wicked decisions related to the retention of specialized, at-risk student populations. Wicked decisions are complex, resistant to resolutions, lead to other problems, and are essentially unique. In this study, decisions related to retention of Black males; students with mental health issues; and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer student retention fall within the wicked problem category and were the focus of this study. These decisions are usually the responsibility of divisions of student affairs in higher education settings and the senior student affairs officer. Hence, the senior student affairs officer is tasked with making responsible and effective decisions that foster the success of all students. This dissertation focused on the decision-making processes, practices, and procedures student affairs officers use to support the retention of select special populations served in higher education. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2017. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

Many lives and much property are lost in disasters when individuals and communities choose to ignore information which could mitigate the potential disaster. This case study examines community and individual decision processes and rationale which led to construction of a high-occupancy high-rise courthouse on land designated as high risk after the 1964 Alaska earthquake. The study reviews policy and decision making, psychology, and risk management literature to explore the psychological mechanisms and processes of hazard mitigation decisions. It questions why individuals and communities choose not to mitigate when they have the information which makes risk mitigation possible. The hypothesis theorizes risk-based cultural dissociation and submits that individuals and society process risk-related information in a manner that allows for interpretation and acknowledgement of information so that it is compatible with individual and social agendas and constructs. Society and individuals can and do completely deny or dissociate from risk-related information. This exploratory research uses macro, meso, and micro levels of analysis to examine the environmental setting, land ownership and power, and professional and public seismic information. This examination is placed in the context of Anchorage's post-earthquake reconstruction momentum. Indepth interviews with elected officials, a bank president, insurance executives, investors, builders, appointed officials, private and public professionals, court representatives, a judge, a juror, and citizens provide insight into risk perception and individual and community agendas. The interviews revealed each level of analysis had different perceptions of risk and different agendas. Professional warnings not to reconstruct on high-risk land were ignored. Downtown economic interests and powerful individuals significantly impacted the community decision process. One charismatic leader played a major role in the community reconstruction and courthouse decisions. Research findings support the hypothesis. Individuals consistently chose to deny earthquake potential in their daily lives. Selective interpretation of information allowed individuals to support their own agendas. Community decision processes allowed deletion of important information and a transference of responsibility, resulting in no decision body or individual feeling responsible for the decision. Risk-based cultural dissociation is defined and presented in this research as a direction for future study.

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This qualitative case study explores how Maude, a female principal, leads her school and reaches decisions on a daily basis. The study took place in a private, Catholic all girls' school in an urban setting in the province of Quebec. Over the course of the four months spent in the research site, data was collected through observation, interviews and the collection of artefacts. / The findings of this study suggest that Maude played three distinct leadership roles to which metaphoric labels were associated. She was a peacekeeper when assuming a socio-political stance, a gatekeeper when establishing and preserving the instructional standards of the school and a gardener when tending to the health of both individuals and the institution. / Few studies have investigated how female principals lead their school and reach decisions. Much of the literature on leadership has focused on the male perspective. Only recently have researchers acknowledged the androcentric bias found in the leadership literature. This study provides an other perspective on leadership, a female perspective. As such, the emergent educational leadership framework takes into consideration the influence values, mainly attributed to women have on both leadership and decision-making. The framework proposed outlines the fluidity associated with leadership and decision-making when seen through a gendered filter. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

While studies exist that compare the different dynamics between cohabitation and marriage, few studies focus on comparing the consumer decision-making process of both types of unions.

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No description available.