AN ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS OF LORI A. BARROW, for the Master of Science degree in FORESTRY, presented on October 18, 2012 at Southern Illinois University Carbondale TITLE: ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE AND INSTITUTIONAL SUPPORT FOR USDA FOREST SERVICE PARTNERSHIPS MAJOR PROFESSOR: Dr. Erin Seekamp and Dr. Andrew Carver In an era of constrained appropriations and increasingly complex social and environmental challenges, partnerships have become an essential tool for public land management agencies, such as the USDA Forest Service (USFS), to accomplish critical tasks, meet management goals, and enhance service delivery. Despite the growing practice and reliance on partnerships as an alternative management strategy, few empirical assessments of this management approach have been conducted, and knowledge is limited regarding the structure and function of these relationships. Therefore, the goals of this study were to expand the established partnership knowledge base by systematically examining the institutional characteristics necessary to foster a vibrant partnership culture, uncovering and documenting the various partnership structural types being utilized, and determining whether or not institutional characteristics or external environment characteristics are related to the partnership approach utilized by USFS personnel. To explore these partnership characteristics, and assess whether differences existed between administrative levels and between national forest, an online questionnaire was administered to agency personnel on 13 randomly selected forests during the fall of 2011. Forests were randomly selected from three stratum of internal commitment from all 155 national forests' "Working Together" webpage. Of the 1584 respondent sample, 611 completed the questionnaire (40% response rate). Data collected clearly document a steady increase in the reliance of partnerships as a management strategy in recreation and resource service delivery. While the findings reveal diverse partnership support networks, respondents reported few incentives to cultivate partnerships and limited recognition for their partnership work. Furthermore, this study confirms that agency personnel work with multiple types of volunteer or partnering groups on a fairly regular basis, and make strategic choices when selecting and cultivating partnerships based on the types of work typically performed and their access and proximity to different partnering groups. Moreover, a mixed-method cluster analysis provided further insight into agency-partner interactions by identifying and defining partnership structural types and exposing variation in personnel's capacity to engage partners based on the level of internal support received, the extent of the national forest's partnership dependency, and type of external environment that categorizes the communities adjacent to the national forest (i.e., urban or rural). As the partnership phenomenon continues to be espoused by the USFS as an innovative and alternative management strategy, this thesis provides agency personnels' depiction of the agency's capacity to engage and support partnerships at multiple administrative levels and on different national forests, and helps build the foundation for managing national forests through partnerships.

IntroduktionRevisionsbranschen anses ha utvecklats från att tidigare ha fokuserat på professionella principer och bedömningar, till att idag fokusera mer på kommersiella intressen. Hög NAS-försäljning har antytts utgöra en utmärkande faktor gällande avancemanget till partnerskapet. Vi undersöker hur konkurrensen om partnerskapet påverkar försäljningen av NAS, då den har antytts påverka revisorns arbetsutförande. NAS-försäljning är ett aktuellt ämne som nyligen har reglerats av EU vilket motiverar och aktualiserar studien.  SyfteSyftet med studien är att utforska hur partnerstrukturen i revisionsbolagen påverkar försäljningen av NAS.  MetodStudien har en kvantitativ forskningsstrategi, en deduktiv forskningsansats och är av explorativ art. Genom dokumentstudier har data från svenska noterade bolag och revisionsbyråer samlats in för två enskilda år och har med hjälp OLS-regressioner analyserats. NAS har mätts som det logaritmerade värdet av bolagens kostnader till revisionsbyrån utöver den lagstadgade revisionen. SlutsatsStudien visar på ej samstämmiga resultat då vi för år 2014 fann att ökad konkurrens om partnerskapet leder till minskad försäljning av NAS, medan inget samband upptäcktes för år 2009. Möjliga förklaringar till resultatet återfinns i Turneringsteorin, som säger att anställdas motivation och prestation kan minska vid för hög intern konkurrens. Att inget samband upptäcktes för år 2009 tyder istället på att revisorn är professionell i sin roll och agerar därmed i professionens linje. / IntroductionThere has been an evolution away from the founding values of the audit industry, which centered on professional values and judgements toward profit-minded commercial interests. High sales of NAS has been implied to be a factor that make auditors prominently conspicuous on their path to becoming a partner. We are exploring the possibility that a competitive environment affect sales of NAS, which has been suggested to impact the way the auditor works. NAS is a current topic that recently was regulated by the EU, which is a motivating factor for this study. PurposeThe purpose of this study is to explore how the audit firms’ partnership structure impacts Non-Audit Services.  MethodThis study has a quantitative research strategy and a deductive research approach that is exploratory in nature. Data from the Swedish listed firms and audit firms have been collected for two years through document studies and have been analyzed with an OLS-regression. NAS was measured as the natural logarithm of the listed firms’ cost to the audit firm beyond the statutory audit costs.  ConclusionOur study shows inconsistent results. In 2014 we found that an increased competition for the partnership leads to a decrease in sales of NAS, while in 2009, no correlation was found. The results in 2014 can be explained by the Tournament Theory, whereas the employee’s motivation and accomplishments may decrease if there is high competition within the firm. A lack of correlation in 2009, suggests a professionalism among the auditors that is in accordance with the auditing profession.