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This dissertation used an organizational structure framework to examine the current status of hazard mitigation from the perspective of emergency managers from four organizational structure categories. This study addressed three primary research questions: (1) What is the role of the local emergency management office in hazard mitigation and what is the function of other stakeholders as perceived by local emergency managers? (2) What are the challenges to achieving hazard mitigation objectives and what are the strategies used to overcome them? and (3) How do local emergency managers define hazard mitigation success? Thirty North Central Texas emergency managers were recruited for participation in this study, and data was collected through telephone interviews and an internet survey. A mixed methodology was used to triangulate qualitative and quantitative findings. Qualitative analyses consisted of inductive grounded theory, and quantitative data analyses consisted of independent samples t-test analyses, correlation analyses, and Chi-square analyses. Findings indicate that emergency managers from the different emergency management office categories have six self-identified roles in hazard mitigation planning and strategy implementation; have a similar reported level of involvement in different hazard mitigation-related activities; and perceive stakeholders as having four key functions in hazard mitigation planning and strategy implementation. Second, participants describe five obstacles that are categorized as internal organizational challenges and two obstacles that are categorized as outside organizational challenges. The Disinterested Stakeholders Challenge is rated as a more significant obstacle by participants from the Non-Fire emergency management office category. Emergency managers describe the use of four strategies for overcoming hazard mitigation challenges, and the ability to master these strategies has implications for achieving hazard mitigation success. Third, emergency managers define a tangible and intangible category of hazard mitigation success, and each category is comprised of distinct indicators. Lastly, the organizational characteristics of emergency management offices had significant relationships with their reported level of involvement in select hazard mitigation activities; the rating assigned to select hazard mitigation challenges; and the rating assigned to select hazard mitigation success measures. For integrated emergency management offices, their parent agency is found to be an asset for achieving hazard mitigation objectives.

A number of research studies have highlighted the importance of using empirically supported treatment (evidence-based practices (EBPs)) as the most effective means to reduce addiction. Even though significant federal funding has been committed to support implementation of EBPs in community-based treatment organizations (CBOs) (Glasner-Edwards & Rawson, 2010; NIDA, 2006; IOM, 2003) systematic study of the policy-components of EBP implementation is limited to date. This study examined whether the federal-funder-specific activities (measured as: recommending specific EBPs rather than promoting CBO selection of EBPs, activities associated with specific funding mechanisms, and providing training through ATTCs) were associated with staff perception of level of barriers to implementing federally-funded EBPs. Data sources included interviews with 510 clinical staff from CBOs nationwide who received SAMHSA funding (2003-2008) to implement EBPs. Bivariate analysis and regression modeling methods examined the relationship between federal-funder specific activities and three dependent variables: level of barriers experienced when implementing the EBP, level of modifications made to the EBP that was implemented, and a series of questions regarding attitudes about the usefulness of EBPs. In the regression models, the study controlled for staff, geographic and treatment unit characteristics. It also controlled for variables related to organizational capacity. Findings include: 1. whether or not federal-funders promoted the use of a specific EBP or whether the organization self-selected the EBP to implement was not significantly associated with the level of barriers experienced, the modifications made to the EBP or the attitudes about EBPs. 2. Staff receiving funding from different federal funding mechanisms was associated with reporting different levels of barriers, modifications and attitudes toward EBP implementation. 3. Finally, having received ATTC training was not significantly associated with having more positive attitudes about specific EBPs or the level of modifications or barriers to EBP implementation.

Given that a construction site is both temporary and unique, the outcome of every construction project is dependent upon having all of the proper resources delivered to the site at the appropriate time. Although this is common knowledge in the construction industry, late deliverables to the site continue to be a major impediment to project success. In order to better understand late deliverables and their impacts on performance, the Construction Industry Institute, in collaboration with the Construction Users Roundtable, commissioned Research Team (RT) 300 to investigate how various types of late deliverables affect the cost, schedule, quality, safety, and organizational performance of industrial construction projects. Using case studies, industry surveys and questionnaires, existing literature, and internal team expertise, RT 300 developed two research thrusts: investigate how the industry understands, manages, and is affected by late deliverables, and document and give visibility to the true risks and impacts associated with late deliverables. When examining how late deliverables affect the construction industry, RT 300 found that (1) there is limited understanding of the full range of late deliverables and their far-reaching impacts, (2) the most common late deliverables tend to have the most severe impacts on projects, (3) project teams are typically reactionary when managing late deliverables, (4) project stakeholders have varying perceptions of the risks and impacts associated with late deliverables, and (5) proactively managing late deliverables and impacts is key for improvement in the industry. With these findings and the second research thrust in mind, RT 300 created a database tool, the Late Deliverable Risk Catalog (LDRC), to document common types of late deliverables, give visibility to the full range of impacts, and help project teams recognize risks, improve alignment, and proactively manage late deliverables and mitigate the impacts. RT 300 has also developed implementation recommendations for the LDRC, prevention recommendations for the highest risk deliverables, and lessons learned in managing late deliverables. Altogether, this research can help improve the understanding of late deliverables and resulting impacts and risks in order to improve project delivery, productivity, and predictability as well as enhance safety, quality, and organizational and individual performance. / text

abstract: ABSTRACT External accountability is embedded in every school system across the United States. This dissertation study focuses on how ten principals negotiate the accountability system placed upon their school by the state of Arizona. The federal accountability policy, No Child Left Behind (NCLB), requires that states use a standardized assessment to document student achievement. Arizona's policy to meet the federal requirements of NCLB is Arizona Learns (AZLearns). AZLearns outlines the formulas for determining which schools are achieving and which schools need to improve. Each school is tagged with a label annually. The labels are Excelling, Highly Performing, Performing Plus, Performing, Underperforming and Failing. The foundation of this study lies in the interpretation, application and negotiation of a school's label by its principal. To investigate the relationship between external accountability and the daily life of a principal, I interviewed ten Arizona elementary school principals. The research questions of this study are: (R1) What effects do external accountability measures have on the development of the organizational capacity of a school? (R2) How do Arizona principals negotiate their school's assigned label in their everyday professional practice? (R3) What are Arizona principals' views of the state accountability process? A qualitative, phenomenological research methodology was used to interview the participants and analyze their stories for common themes. The commonalities that surfaced across the experiences of the principals in response to the labels placed on their school are Accountability, Achievement and Attitude. This study found that Accountability was based on multiple interpretations of policies enforced by the federal government, state or district guidelines and parent or school expectations. Achievement was a result of multiple factors including data collected from test scores, the quality of teachers or instruction and the personal goals of the principals. Attitude was a process embedded in the high stakes testing era, boundaries or conflicts within the location of the school and the personal experiences of the principals. This research is an attempt to share the multiple voices of principals that may lead to alternative meanings or even provoke questions about the labeling system in Arizona schools. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ed.D. Educational Administration and Supervision 2011

Effective implementation of the European Water Framework Directive (WFD) is dependent on Member States’ national water institutions and organizations, often designated as ‘competent authorities’. Although substantial research relating to the Directive itself has been carried out, less is known about the extent to which competent authorities have the organizational capacity to deliver it. The literature notes that conceptual understanding of capacity has been hampered by lack of definitional clarity making both its management and assessment challenging. In this contribution, several conceptualizations of organizational capacity found in the literature are used to construct a set of core qualitative organizational components that encourage analysts to consider the ways in which legal authority, information and knowledge, skills, resources and leadership shape a competent authority’s ability to deliver the WFD. Malta, the smallest European Member State, is the case study used to test the application of these components. Qualitative empirical data collected from policy documents, face-to-face semi-structured interviews and online news media articles, provided the evidence to thematically explore and evaluate the Maltese competent authorities’ organizational capacity across the implementation of three main WFD provisions that are in focus: Article 8, 9 and 14. As a result, the core components of organizational capacity are expanded and refined to produce an organizational capacity thematic map. The results show that competent authorities experience influences across the institutional frameworks they work in as well as external factors (primarily political). The results also support the idea of the organizational capacity components being highly interlinked and the presence (or lack thereof) of one component having knock-on effects on others within an organization. The combination of these two factors highly affect management options and outcomes in the implementation of the WFD. In the small state context of Malta these highlight the need to channel support in a coordinated manner from European counterparts to the Maltese water network. In turn, the water network can have positive knock-on effects on the organizational capacity of the Maltese competent authorities, which currently struggle to perform and seize available opportunities due to low possession of human resources and time availability. The approach and findings presented in this research provide a mechanism and evidence base that can facilitate bilateral discussions between Member States as well as with the European Commission, and help inform the WFD review process planned by end of 2019.

COVID-19 has had significant impacts on society, both in lifestyle and commerce, especially in Central Florida where the economy is centralized around tourism. While local and state governmental agencies are distributing aid to meet the needs caused by high unemployment, the nonprofit sector mobilized to help fill the gap in assistance by providing resources and services. However prior research into the nonprofit sector finds that prolonged economic downturn may eventually affect the nonprofit force by reduced funding to programs as it did during the 2008 economic recessions. Hence, many nonprofit organizations may be at risk of insolvency in the coming months. Research into organizational survival and capacity-building strategies may solve these problems. Utilizing a sample of 26 nonprofit organizations in the Central Florida area and a web-based survey, this study explores how capacity-building strategies may be correlated with organizational survival. The findings indicate that capacity-building strategies focused on leadership capacity, management and operations capacity, and community engagement capacity may help to increase organizational survival during a pandemic.

(English) Smoking is the leading cause of premature mortality and morbidity globally (WHO, 2018). Within the Czech Republic (CR) tobacco consumption ranks among the highest in the world, and tobacco control measures rank among the poorest globally (Joossens and Raw, 2014; American Cancer Society, 2018). Smoking related chronic diseases and the loss of active part of life are an enormous and growing burden on the Czech system. There is urgency to invest in efforts that will control and decrease the demand for tobacco products (OECD, 2017). Experiences and lessons learned in tobacco control (TC) by other countries, such as Canada, may provide valuable insight to help guide Czech decision makers in identifying policy best buys moving forward. The basic research carried out as part of this PhD project focuses specifically on a comparison of TC in Canada and the CR. It also includes: 1) a national cross-sectional survey of all organizations involved in TC to describe capacity and involvement in TC measures outlined by the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) (Fraser et al. 2019); 2) a prospective cohort study which describes the results of intensive smoking cessation treatment offered by Centers for Tobacco Dependent (CTD) (Králiková et al. 2014); 3) a cross sectional survey of patients...

Organizational capacity is a concept that has garnered increased attention from the public and nonprofit management literature in recent years. Capacity, broadly defined as the ability of an organization to fulfill its goals, has been of particular focus of scholars interested in understanding the variables that impact organizational performance. Despite the increased focus on organizational capacity in the literature, the concept remains vague. Given the fuzziness of the concept of capacity, there is much opportunity to contribute to the field's knowledge and measurement of the concept. This dissertation adds depth to the capacity literature in public and nonprofit management by identifying, describing and measuring the different dimensions of capacity relevant to local social service delivery organizations. Utilizing a two-phase sequential mixed method design including both interview and survey data, the findings suggest that organizational capacity consists of a number organizational resources and capabilities that impact the functioning of the internal organization as well as its relationships with other relevant organizations and external stakeholders. In particular, six dimensions of capacity were identified: human resource, financial resource, information technology, knowledge, stakeholder commitment, and collaborative. The survey results indicate that the six dimensions are connected to the theoretical construct of organizational capacity. However, results from the discriminant validity tests of the six subscales are mixed. This finding implies that these dimensions represent broad constructs that impact the other dimensions directly. This finding also highlights the challenge of defining and measuring discreetly the specific dimensions of capacity. Future research should examine these discrepancies in order to further disentangle capacity as a theoretical construct. / Ph. D.