The completion of the enlistment has become an important goal to us. To realize the policy of establishing modern military force of proper quantity, high quality and strong power, the need of high standard man power, operation and the equipment maintenance has become highly crucial. The history of enlisting professional enlisted men/women has been around 5 or 6 years, and the number of the quantity is growing gradually every year. However, the personal efficiency assessment of enlisted man/women is so far following the rules set for the officers and the NCOs (Non-Commissioned Officer), and doesn¡¦t have a specific assessment themselves. Therefore, we still don¡¦t have a concrete and complete report for the actual quality of the enlisted man/women, the satisfaction at their performance, and the fulfillment of realizing the original target of the enlistment. Nevertheless, the assessment is fairly important for it is closely related to the optimization of our army. The enlisted men/women are the basic manpower and also the major part of our force, hence, they must be well-qualified, extremely loyal, highly magnanimous, and also have a great performance. Therefore, with the limited number of the enlisted men/women, we have to have a restrained, effective, perfect management of human resource to select, train, employ, keep the superior, and eliminate the inferior. Moreover, the content, the category, and the overall grade of the assessment given to our army usually come with ranks, which have too wide range and lack of objectivity. Besides, the fairness is often influenced by the artificial factors and the results may affect certain people¡¦s right and interest. Therefore, we try to use Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) to transfer the rankings into the weighted scores, and by doing so, we are able to effectively reduce and constrain the parts which are over influenced by artificial factors, so that our assessments can be fairer and more reasonable. Also we can develop a specified assessment of working performance for the enlisted men/women to separate from the ones set for the officers and the NCOs, and most important of all, for the reference to authority concerned to assess the enlisted men/women.

The quest towards sustainable development, both nationally and globally, puts the construction industry in the foreground as the main consumer of natural resources. The industry has profound economic, social and environmental impacts. Sustainable construction is one of the most important challenges faced by the construction industry today. In the UK, sustainability is being driven and enforced by the government through stringent fiscal policies and regulations, voluntary initiatives combined with naming and shaming strategies. Stakeholders are becoming more aware of the global challenges and are using their power to exert pressure on companies. Increasingly, construction clients are demanding that their business partners submit: their corporate sustainability policies with tender packages to demonstrate their performance in dealing with opportunities and risks stemming from economic, environmental and social aspect of sustainability. However, the lack of understanding of the concept and its practical application has been a recurrent problem. The conceptual confusion; its vagueness and ambiguity, the complexity of the myriad of challenges and fluidity of the sustainability concept, compounded with the myopic attitude of the industry, lack of clear-cut and practical framework are causing frustration in the construction industry. Consequently, a number of sustainability management frameworks have been proposed. There are probably more than one hundred frameworks for sustainable business strategy. However, the majority of these are either complicated to implement or lack sound theoretical base, effective change management and completeness. These, therefore, do not make the situation any easier. Many are still baffled as to what they should do and how they should go about affecting change. Corporate sustainability in the construction industry is a challenge to many companies. The industry is still under-performing in each of the key themes of sustainable construction and this has lead to a 'blame culture' where each sector of the industry allocates responsibility for its current failings to others (CIRIA C563, 2001). Such a situation poses a need for a comprehensive, practical and easy to use tool that would aid the implementation and management of sustainability at the core of business process. The tool will complement the existing frameworks, which breaks down the strategic and management issues into manageable components. This will enable companies to focus on individual areas and identify actions needed to facilitate change. The problem is that such a tool is virtually non-existent. The main focal point of this research is the development of a tool to facilitate the implementation, management and integration of sustainability issues at the strategic level and promote wider uptake of the concept in the construction industry. This requires a thorough understanding of the concepts of sustainable development, sustainable construction and related issues as well as drivers, benefits, barriers and enablers for achieving corporate sustainability. It also demands an examination of existing management frameworks and collation of case studies from the early adopters to establish critical factors for strategic and management issues involved in achieving corporate sustainability. Through, diverse research epistemologies (quantitative, qualitative and triangulation methods), the research established four main critical factors and thirty-six sub-critical factors for achieving corporate sustainability. These factors underpinned the development of a web-based prototype software (ConPass). This thesis presents the development and evaluation ConPass Model and the prototype software.

Since the 1980s, New Public Management (NPM) has deeply influenced the public sector across the world, and thus measuring or managing performance has become a principal element of government reform. In terms of borrowing models and techniques from the private sector, performance measurement has been significantly extended into government, but differences between the two sectors have led to difficulties and criticism of this practice with a wide inconsistent variety of different theoretical explanations about it. In this context, this thesis investigates the effectiveness of performance measurement and theoretical explanations of conditions for its success in the public sector. It focuses through a comparative methodology on Comprehensive Performance Assessment and Joint Performance Assessment that have recently been introduced between the levels of government in England and Korea for the improvement of local government performance and accountability. Extensive analysis of literature and case studies have allowed the thesis to find firstly, that the introduction of such unique assessment systems, by which the centre assesses localities, was deeply affected by the environmental commonalities of both countries such as centralisation in inter-governmental relations and enthusiasm for NPM. Second, the empirical evaluation of both tools shows that they have in practice been valid for accurate assessment, and directly functional for improvement and indirectly for accountability to the public. Their high validity and functionality proved to be mainly attributable to two characteristics. One was institutionally that both frameworks were based on a balanced approach to performance and the disclosure of assessment results to the public for facilitating competition between localities. The other was that both had impacted on internal management of local government which led to change in organisational culture with more focus on performance. However, it identified a necessity for local authorities to participate in the development process of those tools to ensure legitimacy of central management of local performance since they enjoy their own electorally based political support. The research has also found the importance of assessors’ expertise for accurate assessment and a possibility that performance measurement can contribute to the resolution of political tension and cooperation between central and local government when it focuses more on outcomes than input and process. A deeper theoretical and practical understanding of these successful experiences and important policy elements in contemporary public management contributes significantly to knowledge in the three settings of evaluation of policy instruments, comparison between countries and central-local relations. Finally, the study assists each country and others to draw lessons from each other.

A avaliação de desempenho é uma das ações essenciais à gestão de pessoas, pois dela surgem conseqüências importantes para a motivação, aprendizagem, comprometimento e progressão funcional. Avaliar desempenho constitui um desafio aos líderes. Objetivo - É conhecer e analisar, segundo as lideranças de hospital público, o processo de avaliação de desempenho. Método - Estudo exploratório realizado com amostra intencional de líderes das áreas assistencial, de apoio e administrativa de uma instituição pública, com experiências em processos de avaliação, nos papéis de avaliado e avaliador. Foram estruturados três grupos focais, variando de 8 a 11 componentes cada. Os encontros, gravados, com duração aproximada de duas horas, foram conduzidos pela pesquisadora, utilizando guia de discussão. Resultados - Na análise de conteúdo, as manifestações foram agrupadas em cinco categorias: expectativas dos líderes; sentimentos manifestados; atributos avaliados; atitudes dos líderes evidenciadas; contribuições ao processo. Conclusões - Avaliação de desempenho é imprescindível nas organizações e deve estar alinhada às diretrizes institucionais e políticas de gestão de pessoas; deve ser transparente, objetiva e ética diminuindo subjetividade; gerar planos de desenvolvimento sendo processo educativo e não punitivo. A capacitação técnica e preparo emocional dos avaliadores favorecem o feedback e a aprendizagem, respeitando a individualidade do avaliado. Instrumento de avaliação precisa ter estrutura padronizada inserindo competências técnicas e comportamentais, além de perguntas abertas para o avaliador. Fundamental é mudar a terminologia de avaliação de desempenho para verificação das competências. Considerações finais - Os líderes expressam sentimentos positivos com a avaliação de desempenho quando há justiça, seriedade e sigilo no processo gerando desenvolvimento; manifestam frustrações em situações contrárias que resultam na desmotivação. Foram destacados, para além dos objetivos do estudo, os atributos da liderança a serem avaliados. / The assessment of performance is one of the most essential procedures for the management of people because it causes important consequences in terms of motivation, learning, commitment and functional development. Assessing the performance is a challenge to the leaders. Objective - To know and analyze the process of the assessment of performance, according to the public hospital leaderships. Method - Exploratory study with an intentional sample of leaders in assistential, supporting and administrative areas of a public institution with experience in the process of evaluation, and in the roles of evaluated and evaluator. Three focus groups were formed, ranging from 8 to 11 members each. The meetings were recorded with the duration of approximately two hours and were led by the investigator of this study, by using a guide of discussion. Results - Based on the analysis of contents, the manifestations were grouped into five categories: leaders expectations, demonstrated feelings, enhanced attitudes, assessed attributes and contributions to the process. Conclusion - The assessment of performance is absolutely necessary for the organizations and must be aligned with the institutional orientations and management of people policie; it has to be transparent, ethical and objective, with little subjectiveness; it also has to generate plans for the development, since it is an educating, not punishing process. The technical ability and emotional preparation of the evaluators contribute to the feedback and learning process, preserving the individual aspects of the evaluated ones. The evaluation tool needs to be standardized with behavioral and technical competencies, besides the open questions for the evaluator. It is essential to change the assessment of performance terminology to check the competencies. Final considerations - The leaders demonstrate positive feelings in relation to the assessment of performance when it is fair, serious and sigilous in the process generating development; they show frustation in situations contrary to the cases causing unmotivation. Besides the objectives of this study, it was emphasized the attributes of the leadership to be assessed.

A avaliação de desempenho é uma das ações essenciais à gestão de pessoas, pois dela surgem conseqüências importantes para a motivação, aprendizagem, comprometimento e progressão funcional. Avaliar desempenho constitui um desafio aos líderes. Objetivo - É conhecer e analisar, segundo as lideranças de hospital público, o processo de avaliação de desempenho. Método - Estudo exploratório realizado com amostra intencional de líderes das áreas assistencial, de apoio e administrativa de uma instituição pública, com experiências em processos de avaliação, nos papéis de avaliado e avaliador. Foram estruturados três grupos focais, variando de 8 a 11 componentes cada. Os encontros, gravados, com duração aproximada de duas horas, foram conduzidos pela pesquisadora, utilizando guia de discussão. Resultados - Na análise de conteúdo, as manifestações foram agrupadas em cinco categorias: expectativas dos líderes; sentimentos manifestados; atributos avaliados; atitudes dos líderes evidenciadas; contribuições ao processo. Conclusões - Avaliação de desempenho é imprescindível nas organizações e deve estar alinhada às diretrizes institucionais e políticas de gestão de pessoas; deve ser transparente, objetiva e ética diminuindo subjetividade; gerar planos de desenvolvimento sendo processo educativo e não punitivo. A capacitação técnica e preparo emocional dos avaliadores favorecem o feedback e a aprendizagem, respeitando a individualidade do avaliado. Instrumento de avaliação precisa ter estrutura padronizada inserindo competências técnicas e comportamentais, além de perguntas abertas para o avaliador. Fundamental é mudar a terminologia de avaliação de desempenho para verificação das competências. Considerações finais - Os líderes expressam sentimentos positivos com a avaliação de desempenho quando há justiça, seriedade e sigilo no processo gerando desenvolvimento; manifestam frustrações em situações contrárias que resultam na desmotivação. Foram destacados, para além dos objetivos do estudo, os atributos da liderança a serem avaliados. / The assessment of performance is one of the most essential procedures for the management of people because it causes important consequences in terms of motivation, learning, commitment and functional development. Assessing the performance is a challenge to the leaders. Objective - To know and analyze the process of the assessment of performance, according to the public hospital leaderships. Method - Exploratory study with an intentional sample of leaders in assistential, supporting and administrative areas of a public institution with experience in the process of evaluation, and in the roles of evaluated and evaluator. Three focus groups were formed, ranging from 8 to 11 members each. The meetings were recorded with the duration of approximately two hours and were led by the investigator of this study, by using a guide of discussion. Results - Based on the analysis of contents, the manifestations were grouped into five categories: leaders expectations, demonstrated feelings, enhanced attitudes, assessed attributes and contributions to the process. Conclusion - The assessment of performance is absolutely necessary for the organizations and must be aligned with the institutional orientations and management of people policie; it has to be transparent, ethical and objective, with little subjectiveness; it also has to generate plans for the development, since it is an educating, not punishing process. The technical ability and emotional preparation of the evaluators contribute to the feedback and learning process, preserving the individual aspects of the evaluated ones. The evaluation tool needs to be standardized with behavioral and technical competencies, besides the open questions for the evaluator. It is essential to change the assessment of performance terminology to check the competencies. Final considerations - The leaders demonstrate positive feelings in relation to the assessment of performance when it is fair, serious and sigilous in the process generating development; they show frustation in situations contrary to the cases causing unmotivation. Besides the objectives of this study, it was emphasized the attributes of the leadership to be assessed.

Thesis (M.S.)--Eastern Illinois University, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves [117]-125).

The presented doctoral thesis is focused on assessment of human factor impact on safety of industrial furnaces. Industrial furnaces are classified as machinery and belong to a group of industrial thermal equipment. The operation of industrial furnaces is burdened with the risks which the manufacturers and the furnace operators realize. The first part of the thesis presents an analysis of the current situation of legislation and scientific knowledges in the field of assessment of human factor impact on safety of industrial furnaces. In this part of the thesis the issue of human factor in other industrial branches: chemical industry, aviation and nuclear industry is also described. On the basis of conducted research the main aim of the thesis was established: preparation of a methodology for assessment of human factor impact on safety of industrial furnaces. Secondary targets were also listed. The second part deals with the assessment of risks connected with the operation of industrial furnaces and the assessment of human factor impact on safety of industrial furnaces. The furnace safety requirements, the process of furnaces risk assessment, the methods used for risk assessment and problems connected with the risk assessment are described. This part of the thesis explains the concept of human factor, presents a classification and description of the methods used for human reliability assessment, as well as the factors influencing the reliability of the operator. The third part of the thesis contains a proposed methodology for assessment of human factor impact on safety of industrial furnaces. Within the methodology performance shaping factors are stated, qualitative and quantitative assessment of human factor impact on safety of industrial furnaces is made and the system integration of the knowledges into the developed methodology is proposed – qualitative model for improvement of system state. The methodology is further verified on a real equipment – a hardening furnace.

nÃo hà / De modo a suprirem o aumento de trÃfego previsto para os prÃximos anos, os sistemas de comunicaÃÃes mÃveis da prÃxima geraÃÃo contam com tecnologias avanÃadas, como mÃltiplas subportadoras ortogonais e coordenaÃÃo entre pontos de transmissÃo. Os recursos de rÃdio passam a ser organizados em um nÃmero maior de dimensÃes, tornando mais complexas tarefas como a alocaÃÃo de recursos e a avaliaÃÃo de desempenho do enlace. Com base em tÃcnicas de aprendizagem de mÃquinas, foram investigadas novas maneiras de abordar essas tarefas, de modo a realizÃ-las eficientemente. Esta tese traz duas propostas: (i) agrupamento de pontos de transmissÃo e (ii) realizaÃÃo de interface enlace-a-sistema. Na proposta (i), utiliza-se o algoritmo k-mÃdias para identificar os vetores de forÃa do sinal similares, resultando em reduÃÃo na complexidade de cooperaÃÃo. Na proposta (ii), utilizam-se redes neurais artificiais para que o comportamento de simulaÃÃes de enlace possa ser aprendido, resultando em uma interface enlace-a-sistema mais confiÃvel para certas situaÃÃes na regiÃo de borda de cÃlula. Os resultados obtidos em ambas as propostas confirmam a aprendizagem de mÃquinas como abordagem apropriada aos problemas tratados, sendo capaz de conduzir a interpretaÃÃes alternativas e soluÃÃes eficientes. / In order to bear the growth in the traffic volume expected for the coming years, the next generation of mobile communication systems relies on advanced technologies such as multiple orthogonal subcarriers and coordination of multiple transmission points. The radio resources are organized in a higher number of dimensions, making resource allocation and assessment of link-level performance more complex tasks. Based on techniques from machine learning, we investigated novel ways of addressing these tasks in order to perform them efficiently. This thesis provides two proposals: (i) clustering of transmission points and (ii) design of a link-to-system interface. In proposal (i), the k-means algorithm is used to identify the strength signal vectors that are similar to each other, leading to a decrease on the cooperation complexity. In proposal (ii), we make use of artificial neural networks to learn the behavior of link-level simulations, resulting in a link-to-system interface more reliable for certain situations on the cell-edge region. The results obtained in both proposals confirm machine learning as an appropriate approach to the problems addressed, being able to lead to alternative interpretations and efficient solutions.