Thesis (doctoral)--Deutsche Hochschule für Verwaltungswissenschaften, Speyer, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (p. [520]-564).

"Inclusion" in the broad sense of access to, and participation in, public policy and services has been lacking in the majority of developing countries---whether authoritarian or democratic---due to highly skewed political, social and economic power structures. To understand why this tends to be the case, the dissertation provides a political economy model for understanding civil society, arguing that the evolution of civil society and its potential as a vehicle for inclusion are conditioned by the economic imperatives in place and the state prerogatives. More specifically, I question the extent to which the neoliberal model allows civil society to fulfill this role, by examining the impact of Social Funds (SFs), a key social policy institution created and promoted solely under the neoliberal model, on civil society in Egypt and Bolivia. / I argue that neoliberalism severely limits the possibility of: citizenship construction, achieving development synergy between the state and civil society, or strengthening the latter. These limitations are structural, inherent to the neoliberal development model and the changes it has brought about economically and politically. The research shows how these changes have manifestations within the state, the economy and civil society and more specifically social policy. Just as important, there are limitations intrinsically grounded in the structures found in many developing countries, pre-neoliberal changes. Such structures, I argue, do not allow new institutions like SFs to push forward such an ideal three-way relationship among the economy, state and civil society. Rather than strengthening civil society and creating development synergy, SFs are shown to be just an attempt to give neoliberal policies a human face and subdue any potential for structural changes. / More generally, by contrasting the dynamics of civil society under neoliberalism in a developing country with a democratic regime (Bolivia) with those of a soft authoritarian regime (Egypt). I argue that a dichotomous framework, which sees democracy as antithetically opposed to authoritarianism is not necessarily appropriate to the analysis of developing countries. The cases illustrate that the state and civil society, under two-different regime types, continue to share a number of similarities.

Theory and research have indicated that well-being can be enhanced via the fulfilment of three key well-being concerns or needs, namely efficacy, integrity, and belonging. This thesis used a positive youth development framework to explore well-being concern experiences within the context of a young person’s most salient activities and goals, referred to here as identity projects (Harré, 2007). Guided by an adaptation of the identity project model (Harré, 2007), using a longitudinal design, this thesis incorporated both quantitative and qualitative methods to explore how identity projects were negotiated during adolescence; what impact well-being concerns had on commitment to projects; and how this related to subjective well-being (SWB). In the quantitative study, 162 ethnically diverse Year 12 high school students participated at time one (T1); and one year later 87 students took part at time two (T2). Participants completed an adaptation of the Personal Project Analysis tool (Little, 1983), and two independent measures of SWB. The main foci of the quantitative study were to explore the predictive value of each well-being concern to project commitment and SWB; and to investigate if commitment mediated the link between well-being concerns and SWB. For the qualitative study, narrative interviews were conducted among 16 adolescents at three time points – Years 12 and 13, and after completing high school. The main foci of the interviews were to investigate how well-being concerns were voiced within the context of specific projects; and to gain insight into how projects were negotiated during life transitions. The quantitative results showed efficacy and integrity, but not belonging, were predictors of concurrent commitment at T1 and actual commitment to T1 projects at T2. The mediating role of commitment (between the well-being concerns and SWB) was, however, not supported. Instead, each well-being concern directly predicted different aspects of SWB, and these relationships changed over time. Overall, experiences of efficacy and belonging, within identity projects, enhanced SWB in the short term, while only experiences of integrity enhanced SWB, namely life satisfaction, in the long term. The qualitative results indicated experiences of efficacy and belonging were most prevalent within leisure pursuits, while integrity was most commonly discussed within education and career projects.

Theory and research have indicated that well-being can be enhanced via the fulfilment of three key well-being concerns or needs, namely efficacy, integrity, and belonging. This thesis used a positive youth development framework to explore well-being concern experiences within the context of a young person’s most salient activities and goals, referred to here as identity projects (Harré, 2007). Guided by an adaptation of the identity project model (Harré, 2007), using a longitudinal design, this thesis incorporated both quantitative and qualitative methods to explore how identity projects were negotiated during adolescence; what impact well-being concerns had on commitment to projects; and how this related to subjective well-being (SWB). In the quantitative study, 162 ethnically diverse Year 12 high school students participated at time one (T1); and one year later 87 students took part at time two (T2). Participants completed an adaptation of the Personal Project Analysis tool (Little, 1983), and two independent measures of SWB. The main foci of the quantitative study were to explore the predictive value of each well-being concern to project commitment and SWB; and to investigate if commitment mediated the link between well-being concerns and SWB. For the qualitative study, narrative interviews were conducted among 16 adolescents at three time points – Years 12 and 13, and after completing high school. The main foci of the interviews were to investigate how well-being concerns were voiced within the context of specific projects; and to gain insight into how projects were negotiated during life transitions. The quantitative results showed efficacy and integrity, but not belonging, were predictors of concurrent commitment at T1 and actual commitment to T1 projects at T2. The mediating role of commitment (between the well-being concerns and SWB) was, however, not supported. Instead, each well-being concern directly predicted different aspects of SWB, and these relationships changed over time. Overall, experiences of efficacy and belonging, within identity projects, enhanced SWB in the short term, while only experiences of integrity enhanced SWB, namely life satisfaction, in the long term. The qualitative results indicated experiences of efficacy and belonging were most prevalent within leisure pursuits, while integrity was most commonly discussed within education and career projects. / Whole document restricted until 04/2012, but available by request, use the feedback form to request access.

Thesis (M. Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 1998. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 292-301).

p. 1 - 145 / Submitted by Santiago Fabio (fabio.ssantiago@hotmail.com) on 2013-01-31T19:51:26Z No. of bitstreams: 1 999999.pdf: 1474291 bytes, checksum: d5adcfd5de02beb61b3247f568142249 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Fatima Cleômenis Botelho Maria (botelho@ufba.br) on 2013-02-04T15:46:06Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 999999.pdf: 1474291 bytes, checksum: d5adcfd5de02beb61b3247f568142249 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2013-02-04T15:46:06Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 999999.pdf: 1474291 bytes, checksum: d5adcfd5de02beb61b3247f568142249 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2007 / O presente trabalho versa sobre a estrutura organizacional de uma empresa de engenharia consultiva, também conhecida como empresa de engenharia de projetos. A organização escolhida para a elaboração deste estudo é a Plena Engenharia e Montagem, uma empresa baiana, criada em 1998, que atua no mercado de elaboração de projetos de engenharia, voltados principalmente para indústria. A forma de atuar desta empresa chamou a atenção quanto a sua estrutura, pois, a primeira vista, não parecia claro qual a estrutura organizacional era aplicada em seu funcionamento. O trabalho tem como principais objetivos esclarecer aos integrantes da organização sua forma de atuação, as inter-relações entre seus componentes e identificar qual a estrutura organizacional deste tipo de empresa. O estudo está embasado na literatura desenvolvida por estudiosos das ciências sociais aplicadas e da engenharia. Após esta fase, e para suportar a parte empírica do estudo, aplicou-se uma pesquisa de campo, que foi realizada no âmbito da empresa em questão. Por fim, as conclusões e recomendações do autor, onde se procura apresentar a confirmação, ou não, dos pressupostos, indicar alguns pontos a serem trabalhados na empresa, com a finalidade de melhorar seu desempenho, aperfeiçoar processos e recursos. Vale salientar que o tema escolhido para este estudo é apenas uma das pesquisas que podem ser realizadas dentro deste tipo de organização. / Salvador

Made available in DSpace on 2016-12-23T13:44:56Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Reziere Degobi.pdf: 1352715 bytes, checksum: f4688f572992d418ccfbf4631611e928 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2007-03-23 / O presente estudo teve por objetivo discutir o tema da participação de colaboradores em projetos e ações sociais organizacionais, confrontando-o com a temática da gestão participativa auxiliada pelas tecnologias da informação para o fortalecimento da participação nos Projetos e Ações Sociais da Diretoria Regional do Espírito Santo da Empresa Brasileira de Correios e Telégrafos, coordenados por seu Comitê Regional de Ações Sociais. Além disso, foi abordada também a temática do s sentidos atribuídos pelos colaboradores à sua participação em tais projetos e ações sociais. O principal resultado apresentado pela pesquisa consiste na constatação de que a participação dos colaboradores da empresa estudada em seus projetos e ações sociais é ainda fraca, mas latentemente potencial; constatou-se ainda que mais definições, apoio, canais de comunicação em duas vias e acesso à informação, além de uma maior abertura por parte da empresa, são essenciais à participação de seus colaboradores, segundo eles mesmos. Integração, expectativas, satisfação, omissão, identificação, oportunidade, missão, frustração, recusa, (in)compatibilidade de perfil, espiritualidade, colaboração e ação são alguns dos sentidos declarados e por vezes indiretamente identificados nas respostas dos colaboradores em geral sobre sua participação em projetos e ações sociais. Essas evidências corroboram o quadro teórico adotado para a compreensão da participação, especialmente a voluntária e no local de trabalho, seus sentidos e formas de gestão e fomento, especialmente quando se tratam de projetos e ações sociais organizacionais. Além disso, revelou-se com a pesquisa que se faz necessário utilizar os recursos tecnológicos já disponíveis na organização de maneira mais adequada para beneficiar seus projetos e ações sociais e tornar sua gestão mais aberta à participação. / The main goal of this study was to argue the subject of employer’s participation in organizational social projects and actions, collating it with the thematic of the Participative Management assisted by the Information Technologies as a way to increase such participation in the Diretoria Regional do Espírito Santo da Empresa Brasileira de Correios e Telégrafos’ Social Projects and Actions, coordinated for its Comitê Regional de Ações Sociais. Moreover, it has been also boarded the thematic of the senses attributed by employers to its own participation in such social projects and actions. The research found as main results that employer’s participation on organizational social project and actions of the studied enterprise still is weak, but latently potential; besides, more definitions, politics, support, two-ways communication-channels and enterprise openness’ are essential to its employer’s participation became possible. Integration, expectations, satisfaction, omission, identification, chance, mission, frustration, refuse, profile compatibility, spirit-state philosophy, contribution and action are some of the declared directions and for times indirectly identified in the answers of the collaborators in general on its participation in projects and social actions. These evidences corroborate the adopted theoretical framework for the participation’s understanding, especially the volunteer kind and occurring at the workplace, its senses and forms of management and increasing, especially when social projects and actions are about organizational initiatives. On the other hand this research revealed that if makes necessary to give a better use to the available technological resources already present in the studied organization as a way to benefit its social projects and actions and to make its management become more open to the employer’s participation.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:24:57Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2007-02Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T20:32:33Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 sgavioli_pc_me_mar.pdf: 3441251 bytes, checksum: 6329657949077436b46a692e21ee245d (MD5) / Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) / A presente pesquisa teve como objetivo principal desenvolver e orientar estudos, reflexões e procedimentos metodológicos, sobre os projetos de leitura e escrita, com um grupo de seis professoras do ciclo I do Ensino Fundamental, de uma escola estadual da cidade de Marília (S.P.). Com isso, buscamos alterar as suas concepções de projetos e do processo de ensino e de aprendizagem. Para alcançar tal objetivo adotamos como metodologia de pesquisa a pesquisa-ação, por entendermos que essa metodologia prioriza os caracteres qualitativos, valorizando esses aspectos no problema estudado e porque todos os envolvidos na pesquisa se tornam agentes participantes do processo de resolução de um problema. Os resultados obtidos indicam que a realização dos projetos de leitura e escrita propiciou a transformação do processo de ensino e de aprendizagem, alterando a qualidade das produções (recepção e produção de textos) dos alunos envolvidos na pesquisa e também a prática pedagógica das docentes responsáveis pelas salas participantes da pesquisa. / The present research had as its main purpose to develop and direct studies, reflections and methodological proceedings, about projects of reading and writing, with a group of six teachers that worked with Cycle I of Elementary School, in an official school of Marília city (S.P.). By means of that work, we aimed to alter their conceptions about projects and processes of teaching and learning. In order to reach that aim, we adopted the researchaction as our methodology, because we understand that this kind of methodology emphasizes the qualitative characteristics, giving value to those aspects in the studied problem and because all the persons involved in the research become participant agents of the process of a problem solving. The obtained results indicate that the accomplishment of the projects of reading and writing conducted to the transformation of the process of teaching and learning, changing the quality of the productions (reading and text production) of the students involved in the research and also the pedagogical practice of the teachers responsible for the classrooms that participate in the research.

The aim of this research is to test the effect of different project complexities and project management competence of project managers in public sector mega engineering projects of Pakistan and their effect on project performance. This research study is applied in Pakistan. Complexities in a project are inevitable. These cannot be controlled or eliminated but one can have their better understanding to counter them resulting in better project performance.  Quantitative research techniques have been applied for this particular research study. A total of 100 questionnaires were handed out among respondents, of which 82 survey questionnaires were useful for further analysis. Hypotheses have been developed to test the effect of variables of  project management competence on project performance and subsequently the effect of Technical, Organizational and environmental complexity on project performance.   Results show that project management competence have a positive effect on project performance, like leadership, management skills, communication, ethics, honesty have a strong impact on project performance. Secondly, Technical and organizational complexity have a negative effect on project performance whereas hypothesis of environmental complexity has not supported the project performance.  Further, a number of complexities were high ranked. For instance, goals, tasks and market conditions were ranked very high with respect to their impact on project performance.  This study contributes theoretically in the field of project management and on practical level study will not only help the Practioners in the field of PM, but also helpful for project managers of mega engineering projects. On societal level this study may help the Government intuitions in formulating rules and regulations such as PM certifications that can improve the project performance.

Submitted by Fabio Sobreira Campos da Costa (fabio.sobreira@ufpe.br) on 2016-03-15T15:42:08Z No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 1232 bytes, checksum: 66e71c371cc565284e70f40736c94386 (MD5) Uncertanty Management in Software Projects - Marcelo Marinho.pdf: 6691446 bytes, checksum: c11ad7bca6e24d387867ffea22b8e5ed (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-03-15T15:42:08Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 1232 bytes, checksum: 66e71c371cc565284e70f40736c94386 (MD5) Uncertanty Management in Software Projects - Marcelo Marinho.pdf: 6691446 bytes, checksum: c11ad7bca6e24d387867ffea22b8e5ed (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-11-11 / Various projects types are proposed with different objectives; it is necessary to manage strategically, according to organizational goals. Successful projects increase sales, reduce costs, improve quality, customer satisfaction, the work environment; among other benefits. An increasing number of companies use project management as a key strategy for maintaining competitiveness, increasing the value possibility to their business. However, many projects with all the ingredients for success fail. One reason for this is related to failure in assessing the uncertainties by executives, managers and project team. In a typical software development environment it is not different. Thus, the aim of this work is to propose an approach to manage uncertainties in software projects to contribute to their better performance and influence their success. The research method used in this work is based on the principles of Evidence-Based Software Engineering. During the guide conception stage an exploratory literature research on managing uncertainty in software projects and a systematic literature review on the state of the art theme in a more structured way along with an action research conducted in a software development project were conducted. In addition, semi-structured interviews with software industry experts and researchers in the field were carried out in order to obtain improvement to the approach. In the evaluation phase a focus group was conducted to evaluate the proposed approach. The results showed that an exploratory literature review helped to characterize the difference between risk and uncertainty and mapped the uncertainty sources. The systematic literature review found 5 ways to manage uncertainties in projects; 18 practices for project management focusing on reducing uncertainties; a confirmation of the uncertainty sources mapped in primary studies and the relationship between uncertainty and innovative projects was assessed. In the action research there was an application of techniques and strategies in projects and investigation on whether those contributed to uncertainty; in semi-structured interviews the addition of the practical point of view for the approach was evaluated and added. Finally, the focus group was performed to assess the elaborated approach. The results of this research contribute to software project management by defining an approach to uncertainty management, as well as describing strategies and guidelines for team members. / Vários tipos de projetos são propostos, com diferentes objetivos, em que é preciso gerenciálos estrategicamente de acordo com metas organizacionais. Projetos bem sucedidos aumentam as vendas, reduzem os custos, melhoram a qualidade, a satisfação do cliente, o ambiente de trabalho, entre outros benefícios. Assim, um número crescente de empresas utilizam o gerenciamento de projetos como uma estratégia fundamental para manter a competitividade, aumentando a possibilidade de valor aos seus negócios. No entanto, muitos projetos com todos os ingredientes para o sucesso, falham. Um dos motivos porque isso acontece relaciona-se com a não avaliação das incertezas pelos executivos, gerentes e equipe do projeto. Em um ambiente de desenvolvimento de software típico não é diferente. Baseado nisso, o objetivo geral deste trabalho é propor uma abordagem para gerenciar as incertezas em projetos de software, contribuindo assim para um melhor desempenho dos projetos de software e influenciando no seu sucesso. O método de pesquisa adotado neste trabalho está fundamentado nos princípios da Engenharia de Software baseado em evidências. Foi realizada uma pesquisa exploratória da literatura sobre gerenciamento das incertezas em projetos de software. Em seguida, de forma mais estruturada, foi realizada uma revisão sistemática da literatura sobre o estado da arte do tema juntamente com uma pesquisa-ação, conduzida em um projeto de desenvolvimento de software. Além disso, entrevistas semi-estruturadas foram realizadas com especialistas da indústria de software e pesquisadores na área a fim de avaliar as evidências encontradas e adicionar insumos para a abordagem. Na fase de avaliação foi realizado um grupo focal com especialistas que avaliaram a abordagem proposta. Os resultados da revisão da literatura exploratória serviu para caracterizar a diferença entre riscos e incertezas e foram mapeadas as fontes de incertezas. Da revisão sistemática da literatura encontramos 5 formas de gerenciar as incertezas nos projetos e 18 práticas para o gerenciamento de projetos focando na redução das incertezas. Foi realizada uma confirmação das fontes de incertezas mapeadas nos estudos primários e avaliada a relação entre incertezas e projetos inovadores. Na pesquisa-ação pôde-se aplicar técnicas e estratégias em projetos e investigar se essas contribuíram para gestão da incerteza. Nas entrevistas semiestruturadas foi avaliado e adicionado o ponto de vista prático para a abordagem. Finalmente, um grupo focal foi realizado para avaliar a abordagem elaborada. Os resultados desta pesquisa contribuem para a gestão de projetos de software por definir uma abordagem para o gerenciamento de incerteza, bem como descrevendo as estratégias e orientações para os membros da equipe.