The study examines the potential threat to an auditor’s independence in fact which may result from the extraordinarily favorable personal reputation (superstar status) of an audit client’s CEO This potential threat to an auditors’ independence is the result of a halo effect bias which can distort an individual’s judgment and behavior Accounting firms use a business risk audit approach which involves conducting a strategic risk assessment which assesses the overall threats to the business model of an audit client Prior research has demonstrated that the strategic risk assessment can bias the judgment of auditors pertaining to financial account level risk assessments For example, the Bernie Madoff Ponzi scheme demonstrated how an extraordinarily well respected individual with superstar status can distort the judgment of knowledgeable and normally skeptical individuals An experiment was conducted to examine the potential threat of a superstar CEO on an auditor’s independence as demonstrated by the ability to distort the judgment of the auditor during the performance of the strategic risk assessment In addition, the experiment was designed to examine whether the halo cognitive bias can lessen the impact that an auditor’s professional skepticism has on his or her judgment and behavior during the audit of a client’s financial statement Unlike other studies which have sought only to demonstrate that a cognitive bias exist which impairs auditor judgment; the study also examined whether the influence of a halo effect bias can be mitigated by the formal rating of audit evidence in a similar manner that was used by Embu and Finley (1977) to successfully mitigate a framing effect The experiment did not support the main hypothesis of the study that auditors assess the strategic risk at a lower risk level for firms that employ a superstar CEO than for those whom employ a non-superstar CEO This result may primarily be due to the inability of the scenario used in the experiment to sufficiently differentiate the characteristics of the superstar and non-superstar CEO Without establishing that the participants’ judgment was being distorted by a superstar CEO; the other hypotheses which involved testing a debiasing method to mitigate the halo effect caused by a superstar CEO and investigating whether a halo effect reduces the impact that auditors’ trait skepticism level has on their judgment could not be properly tested / Includes bibliography / Dissertation (PhD)--Florida Atlantic University, 2016 / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

Au début du XXe siècle, le 2e bureau incarne le renseignement militaire à l’état-major de l’armée à Paris. Entre août 1914 et juin 1919, 366 officiers servent dans cette administration secrète du ministère de la Guerre. Ce travail, qui a pour objet une histoire des services dits spéciaux à travers le prisme des dossiers individuels, comprend trois axes : une étude institutionnelle, une étude prosopographique et un dictionnaire biographique. En moins de quatre années, le dispositif de renseignement à l’EMA étend ses activités à des champs nouveaux (économie, politique, diplomatie, coopération interalliée). Ce développement passe par plusieurs réformes structurelles profondes. Pour mener à bien ces activités, le renseignement à l’EMA connaît un accroissement inédit de son personnel et un élargissement du recrutement, qui concerne en particulier les officiers de réserve. Les élites intellectuelles et économiques de la Nation occupent alors une place de choix dans cette organisation. Une fois la guerre terminée, le 2e bureau retrouve sa spécificité militaire. / At the beginning of the 20th century, the “2e bureau” embodied military intelligence at the headquarters of the War Office in Paris. Between August 1914 and June 1919, 366 officers served in this secret administration of the War Office. Through individual files and with the aim of relating the history of services known as special services, this thesis is made up of three main lines: first, an institutional study, then a prosopographic study and finally a biographical dictionary. In less than four years, the intelligence plan set up at the EMA (État-major de l’armée) opened to new fields (economy, politics, diplomacy, inter-allied cooperation). This development went through deep structural reforms. In order to bring its activities to a successful conclusion, the “2e bureau” increased personnel and recruitment, which applied to reserve officers in particular. The intellectual and economic elites of the Nation would then occupy a place of choice in this organisation. Once the war was over, the “2e bureau” was back in charge of purely military matters.

Studiens syfte är att bidra med kunskap om hur upplevelsen av den psykosociala arbetsmiljön påverkar förutsättningarna för ett hållbart arbetsliv. Mer specifikt har studien fokus på en speciellt utsatt yrkesgrupp, poliser, och deras upplevelse av den psykosociala arbetsmiljön. För att behandla syftet har följande frågeställningar varit utgångspunkt i studien: Hur upplevs den psykosociala arbetsmiljön av poliser? Vilka faktorer upplever poliser som mest centrala i deras psykosociala arbetsmiljö? Vilka konsekvenser får faktorer i den psykosociala arbetsmiljön på polisernas förutsättningar för ett hållbart arbetsliv? Datainsamlingsmetoden som använts i denna studie var kvalitativa intervjuer med sex poliser som antingen arbetar eller arbetat som ingripande polis. För att analysera empirin användes teorin KASAM (Känsla av sammanhang) av Aaron Antonovsky. Viktiga begrepp tillhörande teorin som möjliggjort tolkning av empirin var begriplighet, hanterbarhet och meningsfullhet. Som analysmetod användes en tematisk analys. Resultatet visar att faktorerna är kopplade till varandra men att de går att urskilja i tre övergripande teman; individuella, sociala, samt samhälleliga och organisatoriska förutsättningar. De individuella förutsättningarna inbegriper faktorerna mental trötthet, kommunikativ kompetens och yrkeserfarenheter. Det andra temat behandlar sociala förutsättningar där faktorer som kollegialt stöd, humor och privatliv blir centrala. Det tredje och sista temat behandlar samhälleliga och organisatoriska förutsättningar. Här synliggörs faktorerna personalbrist, arbetsbelastning, autonomi, utvecklingsmöjligheter, schema, arbetstider, rättssystem, myndighet och ledarskap. Slutligen visar resultatet hur faktorerna kan förstås i relation till varandra utifrån vilka konsekvenser de ger på förutsättningarna för ett hållbart arbetsliv. / The purpose of the study is to contribute knowledge about how the experience of the psychosocial work environment affects the conditions for a sustainable working life. More specifically, the study focuses on a particularly vulnerable occupational group, police officers, and their experience of the psychosocial work environment. In order to address the purpose, the following questions have been the starting point of the study: How is the psychosocial work environment experienced by police officers? What factors do police officers perceive as central to their psychosocial work environment? What are the consequences of factors in the psychosocial work environment on the police's conditions for a sustainable working life? The data collection method used in this study was qualitative interviews with six police officers who either work or work as an interventionist police. To analyze the empiricism, the theory KASAM (Sense of Coherence) was used by Aaron Antonovsky. Important concepts associated with the theory that enabled interpretation of the empiricism were comprehensibility, manageability and meaningfulness. As a method of analysis, a thematic analysis was used. The result shows that the factors are linked to each other but that they can be distinguished in three general themes; individual, social, and societal and organizational conditions. The individual conditions include the factors of mental fatigue, communicative competence and professional experience. The second theme deals with social conditions in which factors such as collegial support, humor and private life become central. The third and final theme deals with social and organizational conditions. Here, the factors are highlighted by staff shortages, workload, autonomy, development opportunities, schedule, working hours, legal system, authority and leadership. Finally, the results show how the factors can be understood in relation to each other based on the consequences they have on the conditions for a sustainable working life.

Syftet med studien var att undersöka upplevelsen av Work-Life Balance (WLB) hos poliser i yttre tjänst med fokus på en emotionell komponent. Den emotionella komponenten innebar att undersöka om poliserna tar med sig tankar och känslor till privatlivet från händelser som inträffat i tjänst. Metoden som användes var en induktiv tematisk analys och materialet insamlades genom 16 semistrukturerade intervjuer med poliser som arbetar i yttre tjänst. Resultatet genererade 3 huvudteman: Polisernas upplevda balans mellan arbete och privatliv, Polis som identitet samt Vikten av socialt stöd. Resultatet indikerade att det fanns flertalet viktiga faktorer som kunde ha inverkan på polisernas upplevelse av WLB med fokus på en emotionell komponent. En del poliser upplevde att vissa händelser som inträffat i tjänst var svåra att släppa efter arbetstid och därav påverkades även privatlivet. Dock upplevde poliserna att de lättare kunde släppa händelser om de ventilerat dessa med kollegor. På så sätt minskades risken för att ta med sig tankar och känslor från arbetet in i privatlivet.

This was a quantitative study designed to determine the role orientation and role behavior of school resource officers in public secondary schools in a metropolitan area of central Texas. The perception of role orientation and role behavior was assessed by two relevant groups: secondary school principals and school resource officers. Each group's perception of role orientation and role behavior was compared to determine if role conflict was an inhibiting factor in the job performance of the recently created school resource officer position. This instrument relied heavily on the work of James Telb who conducted a 1982 study involving the role perceptions of public safety officers in public institutions of higher learning as viewed by senior patrol officers and campus judicial officers. A questionnaire was distributed to both groups to assess perceptions of role orientation of school resource officers as either service oriented or law enforcement oriented. A statistically significant difference in role orientation was identified between groups on two factors: maintenance of traditional police values and police discretionary powers and handling of behavioral scenarios.

Media and activist groups have recently exposed the problem of negative interactions between law enforcement officers and civilians. Many of these civilians have a mental illness. Various researchers attribute these negative interactions to insufficient officer knowledge of mental illness due to a lack of training, education, and personal experiences. Very little research addresses how insufficient knowledge of mental illness may influence interactions. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore and analyze self reported law enforcement knowledge using Malcolm Knowles' conceptualization of adult learning theory and andragogy as the theoretical framework. This framework bases self-directed learning/training on a needs assessment of the individual's knowledge. The main research question was: 'What factors related to officer knowledge of mental illness impact interactions between law enforcement and people with mental illness?' Data were collected through recorded and then transcribed in-depth interviews with 8 law enforcement officers with experience interacting with mentally ill people. Using aspects of modified Van Kaam method of data analysis, word recognition computer programing identified repetitive words and phrases from the data. This resulted in significant common themes, namely: the need for more effective formal training on mental illness and the influence of personal lived experiences in the interaction with people with mental illness. The implications for social change are positive for officers and people with mental illness, as this study will inform the development of more effective officer training models about mental health, which will reduce the number of negative interactions.

The high recidivism rate of Black male juvenile offenders is a problem in the United States that continues to be of great concern. Probation has gained popularity as being a means of addressing and reducing the high recidivism rates of juvenile offenders. However, there is a lack of research regarding Black male juvenile probationers' perceptions of their probation officers' role in reducing their recidivism. This study examined the following: a) the predictive relationships between Black male probationers' perceptions of their probation officers, their perceptions of the probation officers' job, and their recidivism within 3 years of being place on probation; and (b) Black male probationers' perceptions of their probation officers, their perceptions of the probation officers' job, and their ratings of the probation officer's effectiveness in deterring their recidivism. Ecological systems theory was used as the theoretical foundation for guiding this research. Results from a logistic regression analysis showed that Black male probationers' perceptions of their probation officers and the job of their probation officers did not predict their recidivism. The study has implications for social change because the results provide empirical evidence regarding Black male probationer's perceptions of their probation officers and recidivism. Human services professionals, leaders in the criminal justice field, and policy makers could use findings from the study to advocate for the need to develop training programs for probation officers that foster positive relationship building between probationers and probation officers. The positive relationships may subsequently bring social change by reducing recidivism among Black juvenile male offenders.

Correctional officers work in a stressful environment and are regularly exposed to dangerous and emotionally charged situations. Researchers have detailed the potential negative outcomes of this occupation, yet little research has examined the extent to which correctional officers experience emotion while on their shifts, and how those emotions may translate into stress, divorce, substance abuse issues, domestic violence, and high mortality rates upon retirement. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to learn how correctional officers experience their felt and expressed emotions while at work. Data collection was done using a 15-item open ended questionnaire designed by the researcher and accessed via an online website. The 15-item questionnaire was prescreened by correctional officers not participating in the survey to assure for trustworthiness. Anonymous online survey data was collected from 23 correctional custody staff members working throughout California. The responses from the survey were coded and analyzed using NVivo and Survey Monkey software to account for reoccurring themes in the data. The findings of this study show a high percentage of respondent's report feelings of anxiety throughout a shift at work. Further, the findings show that the participants consistently report a disconnect between felt and expressed emotions while at work. These findings may be used to reform training programs for correctional officers to offer them better ways to process the emotions they experience throughout their career.

There is little academic research that examines whether there are differences between the ways probation officers and community members perceive the use of force on juvenile offenders. Failure to understand the differences in these perceptions negatively affected a probation department in California, which failed to address public concerns regarding the use of force in the juvenile hall, which resulted in a consent decree and a costly financial settlement. Using socialization theory as the foundation, the purpose of this study was to understand if there is a statistically significant difference between probation officers and civilians regarding their perceptions of use of force against juvenile offenders. Data were collected from a nonprobability sample of probation officers (n = 71) and community members (n = 125) in a Northern California community through an online survey that featured 5 scenarios of escalating behavior from a juvenile offender. Respondents were asked to evaluate whether the use of force was appropriate or excessive for each scenario. Data were analyzed using an independent samples t test and chi-square tests of independence. Findings indicated that, overall, there is a statistically significant difference in the perception of use of force between the 2 groups (p <. -4.04). Specifically, community members are more likely to have a lower threshold of tolerance for use of force than probation officers in 3 of the 5 scenarios in the survey. The positive social change implications of this study include recommendations to probation departments in California for enhanced collaboration and training with community members to better understand the expectations of each group related to use of force and the treatment of juvenile offenders.

Thesis (M.Com. (Accountancy))--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, School of Accountancy, 2015 / Many studies considering the effects CEOs‟ characteristics have on the companies they run have been carried out in America. This study considers if organisational outcomes and strategic choices are partially predicted by managerial background characteristics as put forward by Hambrick and Mason (1984). It attempts to determine if the personality traits of CEOs of JSE listed companies (which result in them being classified as a narcissist) have an impact on the financial performance on the company for which they work. As identified by Chatterjee and Hambrick (2007), prior research has explored how executive‟s characteristics are manifested in organisational outcomes, however very little research addresses the narcissistic aspect of CEOs personalities. This study explored whether a relationship exists between CEO narcissism and strategic dynamism in a nonprobability, convenience sample.. A 5-item narcissism index was used as a proxy for narcissism and financial leverage, overhead efficiency and plant and equipment newness, were used to measure strategic dynamism. Multiple regression was used to analyse the data by applying CEO narcissism as the independent variable, strategic dynamism as the dependents variable whilst including control variables, including the CEO tenure, the age of the CEO, the age of the company, and indicator variable for the presence of a COO, the phase of the economy during which the CEO served his tenure and an indicator variable for which industry the company is operating in. The results of this study revealed that there is a viii correlation between the level of narcissism, captured using unobtrusive measures, of a JSE listed company‟s CEO and the level of strategic dynamism of that company. The results of the regression models suggest that whilst there is no observable relationship between narcissism and strategic dynamism, there is a relationship between narcissism and two of the components of strategic dynamism, financial leverage and plant and equipment newness. This research contributes further to the study of the effect of narcissistic CEO‟s on the companies for which they work and suggests that the personality traits of CEOs should be considered by company boards and shareholders when deciding to elect a person as CEO as well as by investors when deciding which companies to invest in.