The aim of the research was to investigate the prevalence of KM practices in The Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF) (focussing specifically on the Agricultural component of DAFF) to enable its delivery on its mandate by exploring DAFF’s position in relation to specific KM enablers. / Graduate School for Business Leadership / (M.B.A)

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This study focuses on investigating factors influencing the implementation of electronic human resource management (e-HRM) in Bangladesh government organisations. In recent years, research evidence has shown that e-HRM played a significant role in enhancing the performance of human resource (HR) departments in private sector organisations. While it is expected that similar contribution would be found in public sector (government) organisations, there is no empirical research evidence to support this proposition. Given the significant technological advancements today, e-HRM as a strategic tool has grown to encompass seamless functionality to support organisations in providing tactical capability, reducing cost and continuous service improvement as well as the quality of service delivery. Although several private and public sector organisations have implemented e-HRM, its application within public (government) sector organisation in developing nations is quite limited. In a sense, this may reflect the bureaucratic nature of public sector organisation, which are often slow to adopt changes. The low level in the number of public organisations that have implemented e-HRM applications in developing countries may be responsible for the dearth of empirical studies in this area. The dearth of empirical studies and the need to understand the factors that influence the implementation of e-HRM in public sector organisations led the-the author to investigate the factors influencing the implementation of e-HRM in public sector organisation. It is hoped that the findings provide insights into the myth surrounding the lack of and slow implementation of e-HRM among public sector organisation in developing economies but also serve as empirical data for further research. This thesis advances and contributes to the body of knowledge as it examines factors influencing the implementation of e-HRM in Bangladesh public sector organisations and proposes a model for e-HRM implementation in government organisations in developing economies (see Figure 3.3). The e-HRM implementation research presented in this thesis extends recognised standards for e-HRM implementation, by bringing together influential factors – benefits, barriers and risks, thus, enabling government organisations in developing nations to produce more vigorous suggestions for e-HRM implementation. The study adopts a qualitative and multiple case study research approach. Findings from two case organisations exhibit that such an approach contributes towards more healthy and robust decisions for e-HRM implementation and specifies that it is acceptable by the case study organisations. The findings in this study may not be generalised because of the nature of data collected. However, that it should serve as a source of understanding the particular context in which the study was undertaken. Moreover, it should serve as a catalyst for understanding organisations in similar socio-politico and economic context. This piece of research thus proposes, validates and presents a new model for e-HRM implementation in government organisations in developing economies and contributes to literature and the body of knowledge in this field.

This research examines financial reporting by Scottish local authorities. Two particular aspects have been examined, namely audit lags and audit incidents. 65 local authorities were examined for the period 1989/90 until 1995/96. This period is classified as the pre-reorganisation period. Then the research continued by analysing audit lags and audit incidents for the 32 new postreorganisation local authorities for 1996/97 and 1997/98. The researcher used Luder's (1992) contingency model of public sector accounting innovations as a framework to analyse the stimuli for financial reporting changes in the Scottish local authorities. The effect of audit qualifications appears not to be a strong stimulus for the local authorities to improve financial reporting. The discussion on audit lags was divided into pre-reorganisation and postreorganisation periods. In addition, the ten local authorities in the Grampian and Tayside regional areas were studied for an additional 14 years. The results indicated that there was a persistent pattern among the local authorities in Scotland. The good performers were always good and the poor performers were always poor. Authorities like Angus DC managed to get an audit lag of around 4 months, while some local authorities took more than two years. Thus it is not impossible to get the accounts certified within four months. Audit incidents were classified into two categories, that is Audit Qualifications (AQ) and Comments Short of Audit Qualification (CSAQ). The performance among authorities varies tremendously. While some regional councils obtained very few audit incidents, some have many. Likewise some district councils have many and some have none. Islands appear to have more audit incidents. As proven by some authorities, getting a clean report is not impossible. Therefore it is important for local authorities to emphasise improving the audit lags and improving the quality of the accounts to obtain a clean report every year. Lengthy audit lag reflects inefficiency in management. This not only suggests weak internal control but also indicates that financial reporting is considered as a low priority task. Numerous audit incidents seem to signal that local authorities have not complied with all the rules and regulations. Repeated audit incidents imply that they were not serious in rectifying the situation. Reorganisation appears to disturb the ranking of the councils resulting in much longer audit lags in the last year of the abolished councils and the first two years after reorganisation. Thus, reorganisation contributes to longer audit lags and leads to numerous audit incidents, especially for 'limitation in audit scope'. Undoubtedly, Scottish local authorities should improve their financial reporting and their accountability to the public.

The aim of the research was to investigate the prevalence of KM practices in The Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF) (focussing specifically on the Agricultural component of DAFF) to enable its delivery on its mandate by exploring DAFF’s position in relation to specific KM enablers. / Graduate School for Business Leadership / (M.B.A)

Constant media exposure of organisational wrong-doing; unethical dealings and illegal practices have come to dominate the discussions on corporate governance. Such exposures are normally brought about by, among others, stake-holder activism and organisational employees. Usually, in such cases, employees have had prior knowledge about the organisational misdeeds, but chose not to, or were afraid to speak out. If they did speak out, then organisational retaliation would befall the individual whistleblower without any attention to the issues raised; which tends to bring the organisational integrity into question. Numerous case studies and research initiatives have demonstrated that whistle-blowing can and does play a positive role in strengthening accountability mechanisms in organisations, and, by extension, helps build organisational integrity (Jos, 1991:105-118; Johnson & Kraft, 1990:849-874). The aim of this article is to explore theoretically the nature of whistleblowing as it transcends across legal, ethical/moral and social fields. This will be demonstrated using documented South African cases of organisational misfortunes. This exploration will be used to highlight aspects to be considered for a framework in building whistleblower infrastructure as an integral component of the organisational integrity, both in public and private organisations.

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