A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of McMaster Divinity College in partial fulfilment ofthe requirements for the degree of Doctor of Practical Theology / Board members and pastors in Canadian Protestant churches need a stronger theological foundation for the practice of evaluating what “success” means for the local church. The Canadian church exists in a post-Christendom context where significant shifts have taken place relative to its perceived value and prominence in Canadian culture, which has sparked new interest in examining ministry fruitfulness. Within this context, the skill of conducting a theologically sound organizational evaluation will become a critical practice. This practical theology project follows the methodology of Richard Osmer, giving prominence to practice-led research as an over-arching paradigm. Empirical research, biblical interpretation, and theological reflection are key features ofthis project, which the researcher approached from the perspective of a consultant to church board leaders. Primary research was conducted among pastors and board members of Canadian Protestant churches to provide a research-informed understanding of evaluation criteria, processes, and tools currently used; theological principles, biblical passages, and spiritual practices that guide the evaluation process; and barriers or obstacles experienced. The messages to the seven churches in Rev 2-3 were used as an evaluation paradigm, which was tested, refined, and validated in research with five case study churches. Within these messages, Christ set out criteria for evaluation as well as an evaluation process methodology. Christ exhorted the seven churches to maintain a faithful witness, practice love, and produce fruitful service. Christ also warned them about the dangers of assimilating with culture as well as the importance of being attentive and diligent about false teachers and influencers within their churches. The evaluation methodology modelled in the literary form ofthe messages provides a Christcentric pathway for ministry evaluation. Christ’s evaluation methodology includes an acknowledgement ofChrist’s sovereignty, a context specific evaluation, an authoritative and aligned evaluation, a balanced approach of commendation and exhortation, a call to action, the practice of discernment, and a focus on the long-term mission of God. / Dissertation / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Um subconjunto importante da pesquisa em sistemas multiagentes (SMA) baseiase no estudo das organizações. A organização define a estrutura do SMA e as regras que os agentes devem seguir, a fim de aumentar a eficiência do sistema. No entanto, dado um domínio, a escolha da organização que melhor resolve o problema ainda é uma questão sem resposta. Assim, abordagens empíricas para a avaliação de organizações são importantes, pois fornecem indícios valiosos sobre os custos e benefícios de diferentes configurações organizacionais, ajudando desenvolvedores e projetistas na definição da organização a ser adotada. Neste contexto, este trabalho, compara e avalia o impacto da mudança de parâmetros organizacionais no desempenho de um SMA, cujo objetivo é competir no cenário Agents on Mars proposto no Multi-Agent Programming Contest (MAPC). / An important subset of multi-agent systems (MAS) are based on the study of organizations. The organization defines the MAS structure and the rules which the agents must follow, increasing the MAS efficiency. Given an application domain, however, the choice of a particular organization that better solves the problem is still an open problem. Therefore, empirical approaches to the evaluation of organizations are important since they provide valuable evidences about the costs and benefits of different organizational settings, helping developers and designers to define the organization to be adopted. In this context, this work compares and evaluates the impact of organizational changes in the performance of a MAS, whose goal is to evolve in the \"Agents on Mars\" scenario proposed in the Multi-Agent Programming Contest (MAPC).

Um subconjunto importante da pesquisa em sistemas multiagentes (SMA) baseiase no estudo das organizações. A organização define a estrutura do SMA e as regras que os agentes devem seguir, a fim de aumentar a eficiência do sistema. No entanto, dado um domínio, a escolha da organização que melhor resolve o problema ainda é uma questão sem resposta. Assim, abordagens empíricas para a avaliação de organizações são importantes, pois fornecem indícios valiosos sobre os custos e benefícios de diferentes configurações organizacionais, ajudando desenvolvedores e projetistas na definição da organização a ser adotada. Neste contexto, este trabalho, compara e avalia o impacto da mudança de parâmetros organizacionais no desempenho de um SMA, cujo objetivo é competir no cenário Agents on Mars proposto no Multi-Agent Programming Contest (MAPC). / An important subset of multi-agent systems (MAS) are based on the study of organizations. The organization defines the MAS structure and the rules which the agents must follow, increasing the MAS efficiency. Given an application domain, however, the choice of a particular organization that better solves the problem is still an open problem. Therefore, empirical approaches to the evaluation of organizations are important since they provide valuable evidences about the costs and benefits of different organizational settings, helping developers and designers to define the organization to be adopted. In this context, this work compares and evaluates the impact of organizational changes in the performance of a MAS, whose goal is to evolve in the \"Agents on Mars\" scenario proposed in the Multi-Agent Programming Contest (MAPC).

abstract: This dissertation examines the factors related to the success of host country field offices established by international Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs). Further, this dissertation examines NGO field office mission success in the context of working with foreign host governments and clients. This dissertation is a case of the field offices of The Nature Conservancy in South and Central America. The principal research aim is to identify the primary factors that are related to success of field offices. Success is identified as a multidimensional concept. A conceptual model for success is developed. The conceptual model derived causal factors from the literature and captured categories of variables such as: (1) managerial tactics and techniques dictated by the NGO and adopted by field office leaders; (2) the distance between cultural features of the host country and those of the country of origin of the field office manager and personnel; and, (3) characteristics of the host country government. The dissertation: (1) utilizes a working definition of NGO drawn from the scholarly literature in the field; (2) describes the role of field offices (located in host countries) in the calculus of "home office" goal achievement; (3) discusses the types of "change"--delivery of goods, delivery of services, changes in behavior, changes in norms or attitudes--that field offices may have and how they differ in the challenges they create for field office managers; and, (4) develops a conceptual definition for success. This dissertation is concerned with the factors associated with success in the international NGO's field office. A model of success predictors is tested in this work. The findings suggest that the field offices mission success may be affected by local culture but this was not an issue for the organization studied. Mission success as perceived by the field seems to be a product of organizational culture. The contribution of the research to academic literature is that this study is both an exploratory and descriptive study of how NGO mission is carried out in the field and the impacts of national and organizational culture on mission success. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Public Administration 2011

The present work aims at developing a model of an organizational diagnosis which evaluates the organization, before the execution of the organizational strategic plan-ning. For achieving the objective, the research used an exploratory study, of a qualit-ative nature with the use of a bibliography research, it was developed a detailed route of evaluation that will be incorporated in a harmonic way into the Model of Stra-tegic Administration of Estrada (2007). The Model of Organizational Diagnosis here developed is segmented with seven perspectives: Structure, Marketing, Production and Operations, People, Finances, Knowledge, and Society. The development of the Organization Diagnosis Model contributes with the literature of the area presenting an effective and practical instrument of data collection in the sense of assisting con-sultants and administrators on the global evaluation of companies, allowing also ana-lyzing the readiness of the company before the execution of the strategic planning. / O presente trabalho tem como propósito desenvolver um modelo de diagnós-tico organizacional que avalie a organização, antes da execução do Planejamento estratégico organizacional. Para atingir este objetivo a pesquisa utilizou-se de um estudo exploratório, de natureza qualitativa com a utilização de pesquisa bibliográfi-ca, foi desenvolvido um roteiro detalhado de avaliação que será incorporado de ma-neira harmônica ao Modelo de Gestão Estratégica de Estrada (2007). O Modelo de Diagnóstico Organizacional aqui desenvolvido está segmentado em sete perspecti-vas: Estrutura, Marketing, Produção e Operações, Pessoas, Finanças, Conhecimen-to e Sociedade. O desenvolvimento do Modelo de Diagnóstico organizacional contri-bui com a literatura da área apresentando um instrumento de coleta de dados ope-rante e prático no sentido de auxiliar consultores e administradores na avaliação global de empresas, permitindo também analisar a prontidão da empresa antes da execução do planejamento estratégico.