This study analyzes the process of the diffusion of structures and practices in an organizational setting using the theory of new institutionalism as the theoretical basis. The explanation of the diffusion process has been subject to major variations due to epistemological and ontological reasons. Former theories of organizational reality looked at organizations as their sole units of analyses and accounted for the diffusion process accordingly / however, today, it is widely observed and accepted that organizational behavior is shaped by historical and environmental factors. This investigation aims to provide evidence for how certain structures and practices diffuse through organizational settings while others do not. Consequently, a qualitative design was conducted to explore the diffusion process in the case of the Council of Higher Education, a high-level bureaucratic organization in Turkey. Fifteen key informants, present or former university rectors and members of the Council, were interviewed and the accumulated data were analyzed qualitatively. Also, the findings were matched and supported with relevant documents analyzed additionally. The findings drawn from the investigation indicate that the emergence of the Council implicates a pattern visible throughout the history of Turkish higher education. The Council is spotted as an important agent in redefining Turkish higher education and thus creating a new organizational field for it. Yet, highly dynamic and interactive face of today&rsquo / s higher education calls for reconsideration of the Council and its functions. A major conclusion that can be reached in this context is that the issue of legitimacy depends on the satisfaction of several demands and expectations at various levels. Therefore, even a formal and regulative organization, such as the Council of Higher Education is prone to the pressures of the organizational field it operates within and is called upon to redefine its structures and implementations accordingly in order to secure its legitimacy.

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Il 29 maggio 1453, dopo un assedio di circa otto settimane, Costantinopoli fu conquistata dal sultano ottomano Mehmed II. La caduta della città fu un duro colpo per la cristianità occidentale, che non era riuscita a valutare la gravità della sua situazione e aveva mandato, nonostante molte promesse, un aiuto del tutto insufficiente. Le polemiche sui mancati soccorsi coinvolsero principalmente il pontefice Niccolò V, il re di Napoli Alfonso d'Aragona e Venezia. La decadenza dell'impero bizantino era tuttavia cominciata da lungo tempo, era stata accelerata dalle funeste conseguenze della quarta crociata ed era divenuta irreversibile allorché i Turchi, impadronitisi dell'intera Asia Minore, avevano attaccato e sistematicamente occupato i territori bizantini in Grecia e nell'Europa orientale. I sovrani della dinastia paleologa si convinsero che solo da Occidente sarebbe potuto giungere a Bisanzio un soccorso efficace e, per ottenerlo, si rivolsero ai papi, all'imperatore, ai sovrani dei principali stati europei, alle repubbliche e ai principati italiani. Condizione irrinunciabile posta dall'Occidente per l'invio di adeguati soccorsi era l'unione delle Chiese greca e latina, che i Bizantini sostenvano dovesse essere ricercata solo attraverso un concilio ecumenico. Il Papato, dopo la conclusione del Grande Scisma e il ristabilimento dell'unità nella Chiesa romana, dovette affrontare la sfida del movimento conciliare; esso la vinse, grazie anche al successo conseguito nel 1439 a Firenze, dove fu proclamata solennemente l'unione di cattolici e ortodossi. Eugenio IV, dopo una lunga contrapposizione con il concilio di Basilea, aveva trasferito il sinodo in Italia, dove, nella prima metà del Quattrocento, si stava assistendo alla graduale formazione di entità statali territoriali: alcune di esse, le repubbliche di Venezia e Genova in particolare, avevano svolto per secoli un ruolo politico-economico di primo piano nell'Oriente bizantino. / On 29 May 1453, after a siege of some eight weeks, Constantinople fell to the Ottoman sultan, Mehmed II. The fall of the city came as a bitter shock to Western Christendom, which had failed to see its plight and had, in spite of promises, sent it negligible help. Bitter controversies followed, involving mainly pope Nicholas V, the king of Naples, Alfonso of Aragona, and Venice. The long decline of the Byzantine Empire, which had been quickened by the outcome of the fourth crusade, became irreversible as the Turks conquered the whole of Asia Minor and occupied the Byzantine territories of Greece and Eastern Europe. The Palaelogan emperors were persuaded that Byzantium could be saved only by Western help; to obtain it, they addressed popes, the Western emperor, European Kings and Italian states. The main condition for proper aid from the West was the union of Greek and Latin Churches; in Byzantine opinion, however, it might be attained exclusively through an oecumenical council. Papacy, after the vicissitudes of the Great Schism, had to face the challenge of the conciliar movement, which it won thanks to the successful, even if ephemeral, result of the council of Florence as well. There, in July 1439, the union between Catholic and Orthodox Churches was solemnly celebrated. The synod had been moved by pope Eugenius IV, after harsh quarrels with the council of Basel to Italy, where, in the first half of fifteenth century, bigger territorial states were forming. Some of them had been long time playing an important political and economical part in the Byzantine East.

<p>The consumer society exploits the earth’s resources more than the earth itself has capability to produce. This over-consumption causes a mass production of products, which mean that more greenhouse gases are being emitted to the atmosphere. This is one of the reasons why the earth’s temperature is rising, where the result of it is worldwide disasters. The paper consumption is part of the causes to climate change, but this is something we can prevent by just changing little things in our everyday lives. Our question is: What does it actually take for us to stop wasting paper as we do? Is it possible at all? We decided to study what the IT-center of Jonkoping county council need to do to reduce their office paper printing. A survey and interviews were made to get to know the employees way to work. Many are very positive towards electronic documents and do not mind a change, as we can see in the results. But many admitted that they have a way to work that is hard to break. With these studies and previous cases, we found a solution for the IT-center. The solutions are reported in an electronic brochure.</p>

Thesis (MPA)--University of Stellenbosch, 2009. / Bibliography. Also available via the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Open University.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Université de Montréal, 2000. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ed.D.)--University of West Florida, 2009. / Submitted to the Dept. of Professional and Community Leadership. Title from title page of source document. Document formatted into pages; contains 85 pages. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.R.E.)--Conservative Baptist Theological Seminary, 1963. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves [103]-105).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Oklahoma, 1993. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 130-134).