Infrastructure systems are essential to the functioning of contemporary societies and economies. A major disruption to the built environment can lead to severe public safety issues and economic losses. Within the past few decades, modern control and information technologies have been rapidly developed in an attempt to improve the reliability of individual utility systems by exchanging technologies across them. One of the major ramifications is the emergence of interdependencies among these critical infrastructure systems, especially when facing major disruptions. Failure of an individual system becomes more likely to affect the functionality of other interconnected infrastructure systems. In order to mitigate such consequences, the mechanics of interdependencies and failure propagation among the systems must be understood. This research focuses on the development of a framework for probabilistically quantifying interdependent responses of two essential infrastructure systems - telecommunication and electric power systems - subjected to seismic hazards, which are one of the most powerful and geographically extensive threats. The study explores the effects of seismic hazards beyond the obvious seismic-induced physical damage to utility system facilities. In particular, the seismic evaluation of telecommunication systems considers the degradation of system performance due to physical damage and the abnormally high usage demands in telecommunication systems expected after catastrophic earthquakes. Specifically, a newly developed seismic-induced congestion model is proposed, and the probabilistic formulations of the critical interdependencies across telecommunication and power systems are presented in a probabilistic framework. The study illustrates the procedure for fragility analysis of interdependent systems and presents a practical application through a test bed implementation in Shelby County, TN. From this study, telecommunication systems are found to be very vulnerable to seismic-induced congestion. The electric power interdependencies amplify the degradation in telecommunication systems up to 50% in their vulnerability while electric power operations are heavily dependent upon telecommunication infrastructures and the fragility median of electric power system observability can decrease by 30%. The study also indicates up to 100% overestimation of the independent fragility analysis and the results reveal the relationship between system topology and the sensitivity of system performance to the intensity of interdependencies. The proposed methodology is expected to be a valuable tool for decision making in evaluating seismic mitigation strategies and also to provide the foundation for future studies on interdependent responses of other critical infrastructures.

Assurance of corporate sustainability reports relies on the idea of a third-party assuror who is independent and objective. The assurance approaches typically used by accountancy companies have been developed over many years and are supported by internal as well as external standards. With the help of these standards, the assuror provides credibility to the public statements of the companies through a thorough checking of statements, data and supporting systems. However, the orthodox approach overlooks or neglects the many paradoxes and dilemmas that are the daily experience of most assurors, e.g. what it means to be independent and objective while at the same time trying to develop a relation with the client. There has also been criticism of assurance, as currently practiced, as being too rigid, too predictable and providing too few benefits to the companies assured. In this thesis, the author explores why and how his own assurance practice differs from the more orthodox approach. This has led to the description of an alternative approach to assurance, called the ‘artist’ approach that takes the ethical dilemmas and paradoxes into account. The approach has been developed and described on the basis of the author’s own experiences using a critically reflexive methodology. The methodology builds on personal narratives and iterative feedback from fellow researchers and supervisors. The development of the ‘artist’ approach is based on: 1) a critical investigation into the idea of ‘compromise’, which leads to an alternative way of thinking about the practice of assurance; 2) a critical investigation into notions of trust and distrust, and power relations, and the effect of these on assurance work; and 3) a concept of ‘stumbling together’, which is built on relationality and ‘essential references’, where the assuror and the assuree are mutually exploring the territory. In the ‘artist’ approach, the values of independence and objectivity are compromised. The assuror actively strives to build personal trust based (at least in part) on technical kinship. Through this trust the power dynamics of the ‘insider’ and the ‘outsider’ are contained; indeed, the notion of ‘insider/outsider’ is forgotten in the moment. Independence has turned into interdependence, and objectivity into mutual engagement, where both assuror and assuree together might discover new issues not known to either of them before. In the orthodox approach, the assuree is ‘called to account’, whilst in the artist approach, the assuree is invited to ‘give an account’. This process of collaborative exploration allows the potential for radical new discoveries, for both assuror and assuree. The ‘artist’ approach as described here has affinities with complex responsive processes of relating as explained by Stacey. In the ‘artist’ approach, the craftsman approach is always paradoxically present at the same time, and the approach makes use of the same tools and the same framework as the craftsman approach. A wider understanding and application of the ‘artist’ approach can potentially lead to significant changes in the way assurors act, and hopefully to assurance results that are more relevant and useful.

In the contemporary business environment multiple projects are a common way of organising work and they are usually implemented and managed as a portfolio of projects. It is widely recognised that effective project portfolio management delivers a range of strategic benefits and significantly contributes to overall organisational success. However, project portfolio management is acknowledged by both theory and practice to be a highly challenging task which is even amplified by the presence of project interdependencies. Managing project interdependencies is found to be an area of weakness for contemporary portfolio management, which so far remains under investigated but emergent field within general portfolio management theory. Therefore this study presents an empirical investigation that aims to uncover why and how organisations from the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) industry manage project interdependencies. In order to answer why organisations manage project interdependencies the study examines the benefits of project interdependency management, the negative effects of failed project interdependency management and the related challenges. In order to investigate how project interdependencies are managed this study focuses on the hard and soft practices that portfolio practitioners use. The study is based on cross-case analysis of two case organisations operating within the ICT industry in Italy. The ICT is chosen as an excellent ground for studying project interdependency management since it is of significant importance for the contemporary world’s economy where project and portfolio management is practiced intensively. Qualitative data is collected via semi-structure interviews. The key findings apply to both case organisations demonstrating their similar reasons and manner of managing project interdependencies. The research findings show that there are various types of project interdependencies in the project portfolios that practitioners need to account for and that effective management of these interdependencies delivers significant benefits contributing to the portfolio success, while failed interdependency management distorts the portfolio success. The study indicates potential challenges that project interdependency management may encounter and confirms that comprehensive consideration of project interdependencies is a rather complex task within a project portfolio management. In order to manage issues arising from interdependent projects and leverage related benefits, organisations implement the following hard practices: web application platforms and tracking tools; and soft practices: formal and informal PM meetings, creation of a cooperative culture, leadership, negotiation and convincing and sacred cow. These practices are examined along with their benefits, limitations and context of their application. Although both hard and soft practices are found to be important in the case organisations, the preference is given to soft ones, mainly because of the benefits that soft practices offer over hard ones and the fact that the indicated hard practices allow only identification of project interdependencies, but do not provide managerial solutions per se. Therefore similar organisations operating within ICT industry may find it useful to devote attention to soft practices as they are found to be a prevailing mechanism for managing project interdependencies. The combination of hard and soft practices can also be seen beneficial for realisation of effective project interdependency management.

This study investigates the relationship between the three levels of dynamic capabilities and the two most prominent project interdependencies, by comparing the practises of an organisation in a single case study.  An understanding of organisational change capacity in terms of dynamic capabilities (DC) is widely accepted in academic literature. Likewise, project management literature agrees that multiple projects that serve to implement change may interact amongst one another resulting in increased or decreased benefits compared to individual project execution. The study explores the so far neglected gap between these two areas.  This study follows an inductive path of a single case study, as the authors investigate the case of the transformation of service of Police Scotland. This organisation is unique, as it exhibits a far above average use of project (inter-) dependency management, specifically created for this situation of change. Semi-structured interviews of ten organisational members with different perspectives, roles, and experiences was employed to gain a full understanding of this complex situation and answer questions as to the “how” and “why”.  This study revealed that there exists a connection. It has found practises, which the organisation specifically employs to combine interdependency management and dynamic capabilities. The study also found there to be a distinct pattern that links knowledge interdependencies to first and partially to third level DC, and resource interdependencies to second and third level DC. This investigation also contributes to the understanding of the resource and knowledge based view of the organisation, by expanding the criticism of the former and establishing the use of the latter.

German Russian relations are key partnership for European security and energy. Many European states, including Czech and Slovak republic, are dependent on the German-Russian economic cooperation. Russia is for Germany historically a strategic partner and the importance of their relationship is rising currently, as well. The cooperation extends and the traditional contradictions are ignored. However, the Ukrainian crisis has brought a change of German policy towards Russia. The thesis describes the character of the relation and problems following the methodology of the international relations theories with real reflection. It analyses the relation from the political and economic dimensions and their close interconnection.

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The study explores the project manager’s perception of the competitive dynamic amongst the projects that utilize the same organizational resources in the multi-project context.   The method used is a qualitative research design with an inductive approach where the data corpus was analyzed through thematic analysis. Ten project managers with experience in multi-project environments participated in the study. The analysis resulted in three themes. Theme 1: Competing is outdated and unsavory with the sub-themes No competition, we work together, and Friendly competition for a common goal. This theme reflects the respondents’ perception of the competitive dynamic between the projects. Theme 2: Organization set precedent with the sub-theme Governance of projects shows the respondents’ perception of their work situation with the complex nature of projects. Theme 3: Obstacles are unsolved solutions with the sub-theme Do the best you can with what you got and be a good sport about it; demonstrates the respondents’ attitudes, behavior, and view of their part in the dynamic between the other projects, the project managers, and the rest of the organization. Unexpectedly, the respondents did not appear to agree that there are competing dynamics amongst the projects that utilize the same organizational resources in multi-project organizations. Instead, many respondents were averse to competing and saw it as outdated and problematic for the organization’s success and the work environment. The results show that the respondents prefer cooperation instead of competing and choose to prioritize interpersonal relationships with their fellow project managers instead.

Approved for public release, distribution is unlimited / This thesis examines how globalization has affected Vietnam's view and treatment of religious institutions. In a larger context, it argues that the conditions of globalization foster increased liberalism and the latent development of civil society. The implications of globalization on religion in Vietnam are explored through a case study of the Catholic Church in Vietnam from 1975 to 2004. The Catholic Church is examined during two different periods: during autarky from 1975 to the Doi Moi reforms in 1986, and during international interdependence from 1987 to 2004. Isolated from international norms and pressures during its period of autarky, Vietnam suppressed, rigidly controlled, and severely restricted the Catholic Church. As Vietnam entered its present period of global integration and interdependency, Vietnam's view and treatment of the Catholic Church improved: suppression lessened, controls eased, and many restrictions lifted. The thesis concludes that in order to foster religious freedom and build civil society, policy makers should implement policies that engage rather than isolate. Engagement policies tend to increase a country's degree of global interdependency and integration with the world economy and community. As the level of interdependency increases, countries tend to become more subject to international norms and standards. / Captain, United States Air Force

This research has developed an assessment model and framework to measure cascading economic impacts in terms of gross domestic product (GDP) loss due to severe weather-induced power outages. The major objectives of this research were to (1) identify physical correlations between different industries within an economic system, (2) define deterministic relationships through the values of interconnectedness and interdependency between 71 industries, (3) complete probabilistic estimation of economic impacts using historical economic data spanning from 1997 to 2016, and (4) develop an assessment model that can be used in the future to measure economic loss in terms of gross domestic product (GDP) across 71 industries.

A greater understanding of the nature of leadership can be gained by empirical analyses, such as this quantitative study, addressing the influence executive administrators have on their message recipients, their followers. This study sampled 64 non-teaching K-12 school, district, and state administrators and measured their perceptions of their immediate supervisors’ leadership behaviors by completing the ©Conger-Kanungo Charismatic Leadership Scale (Conger, Kanungo, Menon, & Mathur, 1997) and the ©Perceived Leadership Behavior Measures Inventory (Conger, Kanungo, & Menon, 2000). Analyses of variables measuring perceived leadership behaviors and those effects on the attitudes and perceptions of their followers may contribute to a better understanding of the phenomena of non-teaching administrator follower and leader interdependency in K-12 organizations. Leaders can develop more refined leadership skill characteristics that might enhance ones’ abilities in communicating exemplary characteristics and charismatic behaviors. In turn, these refined abilities can contribute to an organization’s effectiveness by lowering leader and teacher attrition, promoting team building and bonding, and contribute to K-12 administrative leadership development program effectiveness. A General Linear Model with multivariate tests analyses were used to examine correlations between the charismatic leadership behavioral components and the followers’ perceptions of their own motivation, trust, and satisfaction. A significant correlation existed (p =p =