This study described and analyzed the development and implementation of an advisory program at one urban middle school. Development of the advisory program began during the 1997-98 school year. The implementation of the program was examined during the 1998-99 and 1999-2000 school years. This school site was chosen because of the in-depth research and planning of the program beyond the typical amount performed by many schools, and the wide-scale staff participation utilized in the program's development. In order to follow the processes of development and implementation, several models of change, innovation, and organizational analysis were used to provide focus for analysis of events that occurred during the three years of the program examined in this study. Data was collected in multiple manners. A complete review of school documents concerning the advisory program was performed, and over 50 percent of the faculty were interviewed through individual and team interviews. The findings of this study include various elements concerning the development and implementation of the advisory program. Data was collected and analyzed in three main categories including a) driving and resisting factors for beginning and implementing the program, b) processes used to plan, maintain and develop the program, and c) the periods in which the program became stable. Additional considerations were examined including the evaluation of the program, future possibilities for implementation, and staff roles in the program. Recommendations of the study include: limiting the focus of the advisory program; maintaining consistent goals; starting with a limited program; securing high staff participation; providing extensive time for planning; maintaining a high level of monitoring by administration and staff leaders; providing in-depth training; and, insuring that open lines of communication exist.

O objetivo principal da pesquisa foi investigar quais fatores motivaram empresas brasileiras de capital aberto a adotarem o Comitê de Auditoria como parte integrante de sua estrutura de Governança Corporativa. Como complemento, investigou-se a associação entre características das companhias, como Liquidez, Porte e Emissão de ADR\'s, e a adoção ou não de comitês de auditoria. Para tanto, foi selecionada uma amostra de 100 companhias, extraídas de um universo de 420, com maior volume de negócios entre abril de 2009 e março de 2010. Para esse grupo, foi submetido um questionário a fim de coletar informações referentes à estrutura geral dos comitês de auditoria, bem como informações sobre os motivos que as levaram a implantar o referido comitê. O índice de respondentes foi de 32%. Para analisar os dados dos questionários, a pesquisa foi dividida em duas partes inter-relacionadas. Na primeira, buscou-se interpretar os resultados provenientes do questionário utilizando-se de técnicas estatísticas simples, com o intuito de descrever os resultados. Na segunda, estudou-se as associações entre características das companhias e a opção de elas adotarem ou não o comitê de auditoria em suas estruturas de governança corporativa. A Análise de Correspondência (ANACOR) foi empregada nessa parte. Em relação à primeira parte, pelas respostas das próprias companhias, os principais determinantes para a adoção do comitê de auditoria foram: i) apoiar as atividades do Conselho de Administração; ii) atender à legislação norte-americana - SOX; iii) atender à Resolução do Conselho Monetário Nacional / Banco Central do Brasil; e iv) incrementar o sistema e as práticas de governança corporativa. Em relação aos resultados da segunda parte, de forma geral, os resultados sugerem que empresas com alta liquidez estão fortemente associadas com a adoção de comitês de auditoria e empresas com baixa liquidez estão associadas à ausência de comitês em sua estrutura de governança. Outro resultado obtido foi com relação ao porte das companhias. Pela ANACOR, foi possível verificar a associação de comitês de auditoria e outros comitês do conselho a empresas de médio e grande porte, com uma maior aproximação entre empresas de médio porte. Por fim, observou-se que empresas que emitem ADR\'s cujos níveis de exigências são mais baixos (ADR\'s Nível 1 e Regra 144-A) estão associadas com a ausência de comitês, enquanto que as empresas que emitem ADR\'s Nível 2 e 3, estão associadas com a adoção de comitês em suas estruturas de governança corporativas, mas não necessariamente o comitê de auditoria. Esse resultado pode ser explicado pela flexibilidade existente na legislação norte-americana que possibilita às empresas optarem pela adaptação do Conselho Fiscal às normas da Securities and Exchange Commission. Todavia, é necessário salientar as limitações inerentes à pesquisa. A primeira importante limitação é com relação à amostra, tendo em vista que as companhias não foram selecionadas aleatoriamente, e sim pelo volume de transações. Logo, há um viés de seleção na amostra, cujo resultado direto é a impossibilidade de generalização dos resultados. Em seguida, cabe salientar que as definições apresentadas na pesquisa também podem ser criticadas, tendo em vista que o conceito de governança corporativa está limitado às características do comitê de auditoria. As técnicas estatísticas também podem ser criticadas, pois as análises descritivas e ANACOR não permitem afirmar haver causalidade entre as variáveis estudadas. / The main objective of this research was to investigate which factors motivated Brazilian public companies to adopt the Audit Committee as part of its Corporate Governance organizational structure. Additionally, it was investigated the association between characteristics of companies, such as Liquidness, Size and Issuance of ADRs, and the adoption or lack of audit committees. For this purpose, a sample of 100 companies were selected, drawn from a universe of 420, with higher trade volume between April 2009 and March 2010. For this group, a questionnaire was sent to collect information regarding the overall structure of audit committees, as well data related with the reasons which led them to establish such a committee. The rate of respondents was 32%. To analyze the data, the research was divided into two interrelated parts. In the first session, the results were analyzed based on simple statistical techniques, in order to describe the results. In the second session, the results were analyzed based on associations between the companies\'characteristics as well as the option to adopt them with regards the Audit Committee in their corporate governance organizational structures. The Correspondence Analysis (ANACOR) was used in this session. Based on the survey results of the first session, the main determinants for the adoption of the Audit Committee are: i) to support the Board of Directors activities; ii) to comply with USA SOX law; iii) to comply with the Resolution established by National Monetary Council / Central Bank of Brazil; and iv) to enhance the best practices of Corporate Governance. Moreover, the results of the second session, in general suggested that the companies of high liquidness are strongly associated with Audit Committees adoption while the companies of low liquidness are associated with the absence of committees in its organizational structure. Another result was related to the size of the companies. As per ANACOR, it was possible to verify the association between the Audit Committees and other board of directors committees with companies from middle to large size with slightly trend to middle size companies. Finally, it was observed that companies with ADR\'s launch which requirement levels is low (ADR\'s level 1 and Rule 144-A) are associated with the absence of Audit Committees while the companies with ADR\'s launch with high requirement level (ADR\'s level 2 and 3) are associated with the adoption of its committees on corporate governance structures, but not necessarily the audit committee. This result can be explained for the flexibility of U.S. law that allows the companies to opt for the adaptation of Fiscal Council to the rules of Securities and Exchange Commission. Notwithstanding is necessary to highlight the limitation inherent in this research. The first important limitation is related to the sample used, considering that the companies were not selected randomly, but by the volume of transactions. So there is a selection bias, whose offer the impossibility of generalizing results. Furthermore, it is important to highlight that the presented definitions in the survey could be criticized considering that the Corporate Governance concept is limited by characteristics of the Audit Committees. The statistics techniques could also be criticized once the descriptive analysis and ANACOR couldn\'t guarantee the causality between the study variables.

The thesis deals with the main principles of Corporate Governance. It focuses on the most important legal regulations and codes in this area, on the role of external and internal audit in Corporate Governance, as well as on its connection with accounting standards. Two basic models are described -- Anglo-American and Continental European model. These models are compared particularly in terms of ownership control, board structure and investor protection. After that, the situation in the Czech Republic is analysed. Finally, the information disclosed in annual reports of corporations from four countries are examined and compared

This study has assessed the role of public participation in effective and efficient local governance at two local municipalities of Elias Motswaledi and Steve Tshwete in South Africa. Public participation is a pillar of development and therefore important to assess the successes and failures thereof. Government invest huge resources to deliver public service to their citizens and it is through public participation that the beneficiaries of these services can be guaranteed public service’ quality and responsiveness. Interviews with key informants in local government and focus groups provided a better understanding of the situation in the two case study areas. Elias Motswaledi has provided a classical challenge of public participation with the reluctance of the community to participate in the development processes and also with projects that do not benefit the majority of the residents; whereas at Steve Tshwete the community is actively engaged in major decision making processes and have also assisted the council in delivering relevant projects and programmes that are responsive to the community needs. The study found that the government has to relook: 1. the relationship between ward committees and community development workers as this was found to be the major contributing factor to poor levels of public participation. 2. There is an urgent need for building capacity for both local communities and ward communities to enable them to effectively participate in developmental processes that affect them. The study also showed how poor public participation initiatives have negatively affected service delivery and development initiatives at local levels in South Africa. This comparative case study maybe useful in shedding some insight in addressing public participation in local government to overcome the relatively weak or low municipal capacity across South Africa.

Submitted by Rosina Valeria Lanzellotti Mattiussi Teixeira (rosina.teixeira@unisantos.br) on 2017-10-27T18:27:25Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Sidney da Cunha Vida Silva.pdf: 869381 bytes, checksum: 096a4b49b17b2a4568b0ddc0de3d9732 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-10-27T18:27:25Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Sidney da Cunha Vida Silva.pdf: 869381 bytes, checksum: 096a4b49b17b2a4568b0ddc0de3d9732 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-09-13 / The environmental issue tends to be somewhat prone to degradation, since the man uses its natural resources, in the midst of your financial/economic growth. In this way, is something worrying about your exploration, since, the constitutional text punctuation in your device art. 225 "everyone is entitled to an ecologically balanced environment, common use of people and essential to healthy quality of life, and to the Government and the collective duty to defend it and preserve it for present and future generations". However, in addition to the society, the Government also has the power to defend it and preserves it, in this way, the Legislature has emerged the need for creation of Committee to discuss and approve measures related to the protection of the environment, signaling a willingness not only to how to debate, discuss and create opinion on civil society, as well as the primordial function of proposing vote and boost laws justifying your nomenclature, namely to reconcile protection of the environment with the promotion of sustainable development in Brazil, in order to influence legislation and be a crucial Forum in formulating national policies that relate to the environment. / A questão ambiental tende a ser algo propenso a degradação, uma vez que o homem utiliza-se de seus recursos naturais, em meio a seu crescimento econômico/financeiro. Desta forma, é algo preocupante quanto a sua exploração, haja vista que, o texto constitucional pontua em seu dispositivo art. 225 ¿Todos têm direito ao meio ambiente ecologicamente equilibrado, bem de uso comum do povo e essencial à sadia qualidade de vida, impondo-se ao poder público e à coletividade o dever de defende-lo e preservá-lo para as presentes e futuras gerações¿. Contudo, além da sociedade, o poder público também tem o condão em defende-lo e preserva-lo, deste modo, o Poder Legislativo despontou a necessidade de criação de comissão própria para discutir e aprovar medidas relacionadas à proteção do ambiente, sinalizando assim a disposição não apenas de debater, discutir e criar movimentos de opinião na sociedade civil, como também a função primordial de propor, votar e impulsionar leis que justifiquem a sua nomenclatura, ou seja, conciliar a proteção ao meio ambiente com a promoção do desenvolvimento sustentável no Brasil, de forma a influenciar, legislar e ser um fórum decisivo na formulação de políticas nacionais que se relacionem com o meio ambiente brasileiro.

Magister Educationis - MEd / A larger number of schools in Lesotho are owned and controlled by churches whereas the government pays teachers’ salaries and provides school facilities through the national budget. It is through this partnership that the Lesotho government and the churches have a strong link that characterises the Lesotho school management system. However, there have been some major shifts taking place in the education sector of Lesotho that are affecting the way schools are organised, managed and governed. The BCP government considered to revise all the education bills which resulted in the enactment of the LEA of 1995. The LEA of 1995 vested the responsibility of the management of primary schools on democratically elected committees. The study investigated the working relationships between principals and chairpersons of school management committees (SMCs) of selected church primary schools in Lesotho. The focus of the study was to analyse the working relationships between principals and chairpersons of the SMCs towards their roles and responsibilities as set out in the LEA of 1995. The study was approached from the capability approach. The core of the capability approach is to evaluate the achievement of a society by paying attention to what its members are able to be and to do. One of the roles of the SMCs is to allocate resources in schools by recommending for the appointment of teachers. Therefore, the study utilised the capability approach in order to explore the freedoms that principals have towards choosing resources that they want for schools. The study adopted the qualitative research approach. Data was collected through three qualitative research instruments namely, semi-structured interviews, observations and document analysis. The interviews were conducted for 16 participants who comprised the chairpersons of the two SMCs (RCC and LEC), principals’ representatives, teachers’ representatives and principals who were non-members of the SMCs. The purpose of the observations was to observe the physical environments, the behaviours of schools as well as the general availability of resources. Document analysis was done in order to draw on the conclusions of the contents of the SMCs’ records of minutes, schools’ financial reports and progress reports. The researcher used different methods of data collection in order to find answers to the research questions and also to achieve the aims of the study. The researcher used both constant comparative method and content analysis to analyse data. The data was analysed and interpreted against the views of the participants and literature review. The study confirmed that in both of the SMCs, most of the principals generally had satisfactory working relationships with the chairpersons. The findings of this study revealed that even though the SMCs perform their roles and responsibilities as set out in the LEA of 1995, there are some broad challenges that church schools face that emanate from the social conversion factors such as social norms, culture and practices within church schools, and environmental conversion factors like geographical locations. The findings further revealed that lack of adequate resources such as classrooms and teachers hampered the teachers’ capability to deliver instruction in a normal way because they had to teach multi-grades. These were found to be the challenges that affected the principals’ freedoms and capabilities to use and convert resources into achievement. Furthermore, the study exposed fair decision-making regarding resource allocation by the SMCs. Principal were free to use school funds as long as they submit the financial reports to the SMCs at the end of the year. However, the conclusion drawn from document analysis showed that not all the schools under study submitted financial reports. The findings reflect that there are no transparent guarantees in some of the school regarding the control and use of school funds. The findings of this study have some implications and recommendations to the Ministry of Education and training, church schools, teachers and principals who wish to work in church schools. The study recommends that the Ministry of Education and Training should reconsider the representation of one principal for six schools in the SMCs by establishing the school management system that calls for one school management committee per school. The Ministry of Education and Training in partnership with churches should make efforts to delineate the appropriate roles of churches in the provision of education with regard to the local hiring system whereby the SMCs select teachers to be appointed in their schools. Teachers should be transferred to the schools where multi-grade teaching is still practised in order to rationalise distribution of teachers in church schools. Principals and teachers should make informed decisions when choosing the schools that they want to work at, especially if it is a church school. They should make sure that the church schools they choose to be appointed to shall serve their beliefs, not only to focus on salaries.

<p>Professionals and researchers have developed a number of strategies aimed at improving the quality and safety of medication use. However, studies continue to demonstrate persistent problems. For instance, the first paper in this thesis reveals the prevalence of potentially harmful drug combinations among elderly people in Europe. The following four papers focus on two professional groups and how they have approached safety and quality issues related to medication use: 1) the Swedish drug and therapeutics committees (DTCs) and 2) pharmacist involved in pharmaceutical care, an international movement. Qualitative research approaches were applied.</p><p>Papers II and III focus on the DTCs: analyses indicate a development of the perception of the DTC role over time. The focus of the activities was broadened – from targeting prescribing physicians to incorporating decision-makers and patients. However, a clear patient-centered perspective was generally lacking. Moreover, the findings indicate a shift in focus from cost aspects of medication use to an increased focus on quality and safety aspects. </p><p>In the studies addressing pharmaceutical care (Papers IV and V), the findings propose that different classification systems for drug-related problems had different characteristics which reflected differences in goals in the pharmaceutical care process. It was also found that the concept of pharmaceutical care was understood in different ways and that the perceptions were based on at least two different understandings of health and illness. First, a patient-centered perspective characterized by a <i>holistic</i> understanding of health and illness, and, second, an “EBM perspective” primarily based on a <i>biomedical</i> understanding of health and illness. </p><p>This thesis has disclosed new aspects of how two groups of professionals perceive their work towards improved quality and safety of medication use. A patient-centered perspective among healthcare collectives is not obvious; therefore, efforts and comprehensive strategies supporting change are necessary. Strategies should focus on challenging the traditional thought patterns and care approaches among professionals and students. </p>

Discretion is commonly analyzed as the scope for choice set by formal superiors. This study aims at developing an alternative theory of discretion which also takes into account the assumptions of the actors in implementing positions. The theory is constructed with the purpose of being an empirical tool for analyzing discretion on a nation-wide basis and in a central-local government context. It concerns two main questions: to what extent does discretion vary and how can this variation be explained? The theory section concludes with a number of empirically testable hypotheses. The concept of discretion is defined as the scope for choice available to actors, in formally subordinate positions, vis-à-vis their superiors. It is seen as a special case of autonomy, as it is attributed to subordinates and primarily concerns one dimension of autonomy, namely freedom of action. In the second half of the study, the theory is applied empirically to the discretion available to Swedish local government Education Committees. A questionnaire study of all Education Committee Chairpersons and Chief Education Officers and in-depth interviews of a selected sample of these have been undertaken. The empirical study clearly indicates that there is variation in discretion. In spite of the uniformity of the system of governing local education, it is found that the limits for discretion are set differently by different Education Committee representatives. The variation follows a pattern which has been, at least partly, reconstructed. Variables which appear as important in explaining variation include: the extent to which the control system is regarded as efficient; the size and population density of the local authority; and individual traits such as length of experience and gender. However, our analysis also shows that these explanations are more valid in certain contexts than in others, which points the way for further research. / digitalisering@umu

Professionals and researchers have developed a number of strategies aimed at improving the quality and safety of medication use. However, studies continue to demonstrate persistent problems. For instance, the first paper in this thesis reveals the prevalence of potentially harmful drug combinations among elderly people in Europe. The following four papers focus on two professional groups and how they have approached safety and quality issues related to medication use: 1) the Swedish drug and therapeutics committees (DTCs) and 2) pharmacist involved in pharmaceutical care, an international movement. Qualitative research approaches were applied. Papers II and III focus on the DTCs: analyses indicate a development of the perception of the DTC role over time. The focus of the activities was broadened – from targeting prescribing physicians to incorporating decision-makers and patients. However, a clear patient-centered perspective was generally lacking. Moreover, the findings indicate a shift in focus from cost aspects of medication use to an increased focus on quality and safety aspects. In the studies addressing pharmaceutical care (Papers IV and V), the findings propose that different classification systems for drug-related problems had different characteristics which reflected differences in goals in the pharmaceutical care process. It was also found that the concept of pharmaceutical care was understood in different ways and that the perceptions were based on at least two different understandings of health and illness. First, a patient-centered perspective characterized by a holistic understanding of health and illness, and, second, an “EBM perspective” primarily based on a biomedical understanding of health and illness. This thesis has disclosed new aspects of how two groups of professionals perceive their work towards improved quality and safety of medication use. A patient-centered perspective among healthcare collectives is not obvious; therefore, efforts and comprehensive strategies supporting change are necessary. Strategies should focus on challenging the traditional thought patterns and care approaches among professionals and students.

This thesis aims to examine the experiences of the resistance committees organized by a revolutionary Movement, Devrimci Yol (Revolutionary Way), in Turkey in the late 1970s. More specifically it focuses on Devrimci Yol&rsquo / s formulations concerning the issue of revolutionary organization, how it and the resistance committee experiences &ndash / within their contexts- embodied the tension between being organized in accordance with initiating change within the social relations of everyday life and being organized in accordance with a strategy of state takeover. The study argues that Devrimci Yol&rsquo / s attempt towards the reconciliation of these two understandings gave the Movement its peculiarity within the left in Turkey. With all their constraints the resistance committees and accompanying experiences of people&rsquo / s and workplace committees pointed out a logic of revolutionary organization different from the predominant one in which any kind of revolutionary transformation was postponed until the forthcoming revolution. When examining Devrimci Yol and the resistance committees, the study refers to different approaches to the question of revolutionary organization in Marxist theory and practice.