This research builds on and contributes to work in the field of educators' professional discretion and the prevention of negligence. Existing literature suggests that many educators are still unaware of how the law operates regarding policy requirements and their in loco parentis obligations. This is demonstrated by the number of litigations and how an educator's liability regarding negligence has grown. In South Africa, numerous authors have made contributions in relation to learner safety and educators' duty of care. An educator is tasked with duty of care and to use professional discretion appropriately. At the same time, educators should be mindful to minimise their exposure to lawsuits. However, not much appears to have been done in this country to establish how educators can maintain a respectable balance between professional discretion and policy requirements without being negligent. The purpose of this study was, thus primarily to explore ways in which educators can reconcile professional discretion and legal and policy requirements to prevent negligence. The study utilised a qualitative research approach underpinned by an interpretive paradigm. Data collection was done by the means of qualitative collection techniques, namely semi-structured interviews supported by an analysis of relevant court cases. Twenty participants from two primary and two secondary public schools in the Tshwane South school district in Gauteng participated in the study. Two of these schools were fee-paying schools and two non-fee-paying schools. Five participants from each school were identified and invited to participate in this study and consisted of the principal, a member of the school management team (deputy-principal or head of department) and three educators. Each of the participants had different legal obligations, discretions, responsibilities and accountabilities as far as negligence is concerned. The conceptual framework for this study, was based on Dworkin’s (1978:31) ‘doughnut’ metaphor for the concept of professional discretion. Based on an adapted version of Dworkin’s ‘doughnut’ metaphor, findings confirm that some educators feel restricted in their decision-making and limited in their professional discretion due to the legal and inflexible policy framework regulating their work. It came to the fore that the understanding and interpretation of certain school policies were dealt with differently by the participants due to their varied levels of experience, knowledge and training. The findings illuminated the fact that the participants did not fully grasp the vii concept of professional discretion. In making decisions and exercising judgement, these participants may not be comfortable in their knowledge experience or personal intuition. Educators’ capacity and ability to apply discretion is influenced by a number of external and internal factors. These factors restrict an educators’ autonomy space, which could ultimately lead to the inability to apply appropriate discretion. This could lead to a form of paralysis to uphold a high standard of care in dire situations and could lead to negligence. Therefore, in order to achieve a high standard of care and not be negligent, educators should not only have the ability to apply appropriate discretion, but also have the freedom to do so. Key terms: professional discretion; duty of care; in loco parentis; negligence; law of delict; standard of care; school safety policies. / Dissertation (MEd)--University of Pretoria, 2020. / DST-NRF Innovation Master’s Scholarship. UNIQUE GRANT NO: 117504 / Education Management and Policy Studies / MEd / Unrestricted

This qualitative essay’s purpose was to interpret the expirience of professional social workers discretion after the implementation of the standardization method Lean. The focus of the study was on: 1) The expirience of changes in discretion from the perspectives of professional social workers and the perspective from managers after Lean implementation; 2) how does the social workers handle the discretionary limits through strategies. The study is based on six semi-structural interviews. Three with professional social workers and three managers in social work. Through thematization and analyzation it showed that the professional social workers did not interpret any discretionary changes with the implementation of Lean. The managers interpretation was of an increase of discretionary power for the professional social worker. Through earlier research we found tendencies of limitation in the discretionary power in planning for the professional social worker in Lean. We found that policies and guidelines implemented politically were more relevant in limiting the discretionary power of professional social workers. The strategies were related to finding loopholes in guidelines to achieve individualized care. The strategies related to Lean were related to managers implementation of the method. They emphasized on the importance of including the social workers in the process of implementation and the work on improvements.

Police have been the subject of increased scrutiny over the past several years, and there exists a contention that this increased scrutiny impacted officer behavior, resulting in diminished proactive policing as officers may be performing their duties less vigorously. The study examines the effect that changes in scrutiny, as measured in terms of public interest and local news coverage, had upon police officer vigor, as measured by monthly counts of pedestrian and vehicle stops. This research is unique in that it examines the effects of scrutiny emanating from local incidents separately from that related to high profile incidents that received considerable nationwide interest; the extant research is currently limited to the latter. A series of fixed-effects negative binomial regression models examine the impact of scrutiny upon vigor over time throughout all neighborhoods in the city of Philadelphia. The study finds that local and national scrutiny do not have the same impact upon officer vigor, as scrutiny emanating from national incidents generally results in increases in officer vigor, while scrutiny emanating from local incidents results in an increase in ped stops in the first month following the scrutiny, and then a subsequent decrease in both forms of vigor in the second month. This study of police officer decision-making across space and time has both theoretical and practical implications. / Criminal Justice

Research has shown that both legal and extra-legal factors are used by the prosecutor in a sexual assault case when making the decision to file charges in the case. However, no study on sexual assault prosecutorial discretion, at this time, has examined the effect of prior consensual sex between the victim and the offender and the affect that it has on the prosecutor’s decision to file charges. Using data from a National Institute of Justice Study on sexual assault case processing, this study tests whether evidence of prior consensual sex between the victim and the offender plays a role in the prosecutor’s decision to file charges in sexual assault cases. This study also examines the effect of the interaction between extra-legal factors and prior consensual sex between the victim and the offender.

This dissertation explores "fairness" as an ethical construct within federal procurement contracting using 3,548 contract dispute decisions published by the Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals (ASBCA) between 2007 and 2021. It employed a multi-faceted, mixed method research design at macro, mezzo, and micro levels that used a blend of descriptive analysis, computational text analysis, and qualitative thematic analysis to explore a little-studied operational domain within public administration. This investigative approach made possible an examination of how fairness manifests in federal procurement in three aspects: equality (competition), equity (contractor demographic identity), and reciprocity (dispute resolution outcome). Aspects of Moore's Public Values Framework were combined with Lipsky's theories regarding street-level bureaucracy and Maynard-Moody and Musheno's conceptualization of frontline workers as knowledge agents to examine the "human" dimensions of administrative discretion in procurement. In addition to explaining the fundamental differences between "fairness" (between individual entities) and "justice" (fairness writ large at the societal level), the dissertation demonstrates how power dynamics between the government sovereign and its commercial civilian partners complicate contract relationships. Its quantitative findings suggest that fairness is impacted by procurement complexity, entrenched arms-length contracting relationships, and strictly construed risk apportionment when contingencies adversely impact contract performance conditions, and that contractor identity plays some role (though its extent is unclear) in the generation and resolution of particularly contentious disputes. This study's qualitative findings indicate that both parties perceive a breakdown in the contractual duty of "good faith and fair dealing" when rivalry is pursued over cooperation, when the parties fail to understand or respect each other's responsibilities and constraints, and when the behavior of government contracting officials creates role confusion between the protection of government interests and the legislatively required fair treatment of contracting partners. Ultimately, this dissertation speaks to ongoing discussions in diverse fields and disciplines such as public administration, organizational studies, empirical legal research, and relational contracting. It also contributes to developing theories regarding complexity in procurement and existing contracting studies from both sociological and economic perspectives. / Doctor of Philosophy / In popular thought, written contracts exist to protect the rights of both parties should one fail to uphold its part of the "bargain." Some legal theorists argue, by contrast, that the contracting process fundamentally is about interpersonal relationships, and that litigated contract disputes are not merely about material redress, but moreover, a failure of the "spirit of contract." From this perspective, a contract's true value lies more in the quality of the relationships it creates than in its documentary perfection. Interpersonal fairness, where the parties treat each other and their contract promises with integrity and respect, is a key component of that relationship. This dissertation studied the ethical expectation of "fairness" in federal defense contracts using 3,548 formal contract dispute decisions published by the Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals (ASBCA) between 2007 and 2021. These decisions were used to examine what procurement fairness means by focusing on three aspects: equality (fair competition for business opportunities), equity (fair distribution of public funding), and reciprocity (how the "spirit of contract" is honored during contract administration). The study explored how government sovereignty impacts contractors' expectations of fair treatment. It further demonstrated that contract relationships are challenged by the complex technical, administrative, and legal requirements of federal contracts. The study's findings revealed that the most contentious disputes (those that require a judge's ruling on legal merit) result from highly competitive contracts where maximum risk has been placed on contractors for performance and price control. The findings also suggested that contractor demographic identity plays some part in how disputes begin and how they are resolved, though the extent and implications of these differences are unclear. Finally, the study indicated that disputes alleging a violation of the contractual duty of "good faith and fair dealing" showed evidence of entrenched rivalry instead of cooperation, the contracting parties' failure to appreciate each other's operating challenges and constraints, and confusion about how federal contracting officers function as both protectors of the government's interests and as contractor rights advocates under federal contract law.

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This dissertation explores both the evolving nature of the public encounter--where state and citizen meet--and the virtual civic space in which the meeting occurs through an examination of selected state and federal web sites. The examination uses multiple qualitative measures and an architectural perspective to bridge the gap between traditional physical-space based government and the virtual-space of e-government. The research focuses on identifying salient e-government issues and explicating their implications for public encounters, public administration practitioners and scholars, and traditional government institutions. The implications of e-government on the exercise of administrative discretion, the digital divide, and policy making are explored. Select prescriptions are offered for public administration education, practitioners and scholars. E-government architecture is conceptualized along two dimensions: the normative and the aesthetic. The normative dimension refers to the extent to which certain key norms or values are fulfilled or emphasized in web site architecture while the aesthetic dimension refers to whether certain technical features of what is considered good message design or high message quality are present. The normative tradition of public administration in combination with prior e-government research is used to construct evaluation criteria for assessing latent public values contained in government web site features and content. Information architecture, information presentation, and instructional message design literature are used to construct aesthetic criteria for determining the message character of web sites. Focus groups and a survey questionnaire are used to both challenge and triangulate the web site data analysis. An argument is made for eliminating the distinction or dichotomy between the two modes of government action--traditional and that of e-government. A unification of the two is proposed as part of an overall strategy for addressing the restructuring and reorganization of extant institutional arrangements necessary to support an integrated approach to e-government and traditional service delivery. Caution is urged with respect to proposals for embedding government services and information within existing commercial and entertainment web sites lest democratic values be subordinated to financial interests. / Ph. D.

Controversies surrounding issues related to eminent domain remain in the forefront of academic and public debate, largely attributed to the United States Supreme Court's landmark 2005 ruling on the subject. Much of the academic discourse on eminent domain centers on constitutional dimensions of public use and just compensation or procedural components of transaction costs and regulation v. flexibility. Noticeably absent from the scholarly conversation, however, is the study of how public administrators actually involved in the process of eminent domain understand relevant issues. This silence has resulted in significant gaps between the study of the purpose and mechanics of eminent domain. How these public administrators understand eminent domain and where they search for guidance are significant questions that may inform and extend existing research on eminent domain. Particularly important to this research are the ways in which administrators' professionalism affects their administrative discretion in the implementation of a legal case, Kelo. Relying on survey and elite interview analysis with public administrators in the state of Connecticut, the birthplace of the Kelo case, this research seeks to answer the following four questions: How do administrators understand eminent domain, where do they turn for guidance, how do they interpret and understand takings law post-Kelo, and how do they understand "public" post-Kelo? This study finds support that administrators are generally unaccepting of eminent domain when used under the Kelo conditions, that they favor a notion of public use incorporating some degree of use by the public, and that they are most likely to turn to statutory and constitutional resources for eminent domain guidance. Further, the interviews were particularly useful in developing a four-part typology of administrators' understanding of eminent domain. / Ph. D.