After the Second World War, Export Processing Zone (EPZ) is the most concrete symbol which lead Taiwan¡¦s economy starting to blossom. EPZ is the main role who guided Taiwan entering the magnificent economical development. EPZ not only increases the domestic employment rate but also creates Taiwan economical miracle. Instead of moving towards the deterioration like other country¡¦s EPZ, Taiwan¡¦s EPZ constantly grows. Therefore it is worth to make a study of this special Institutional power which guides the Taiwan¡¦s EPZ to transform and develop. This research adopted Ostrom¡¦s system analysis model of "the rational choice Institutional theory¡¨ in New Institutionalism to describe the Institutional transformation process in EPZ for the recent 41 years. This study composed seven parts to describe the Institutional transformation process, such as ¡§event or property feature¡¨, ¡§character of community¡¨, ¡§institutional arrangement¡¨, " decision situation feature¡¨, ¡§actor feature¡¨, ¡§action, activity and strategy¡¨, and ¡§collective outcome¡¨. This research clearly described the Institutional development and transformation process of EZP. Through this research we can understand how nation, companies in EZP and association communicated with each other, braked Institutional structure constrain, changed old Institution, and helped EPZ continue to transform and grow. This research¡¦s contribution is using the Institutional economy viewpoint to analyze EZP¡¦s Institutional innovation and transformation which drive economical development of EPZ during these 41 years.

Using the professional literature surrounding change knowledge, this study assesses Utah public school districts' response to Utah Senate Bill 64 (USB64) that was passed in 2012. USB64 required school districts to ensure that principals were evaluating teacher performance through the use of a chosen evaluation tool. The chosen evaluation tool needed to include evaluation rubrics tied to the state teacher standards. USB64 was passed with the intent to improve classroom instruction and thereby improve student learning in Utah schools. Utah school districts complied with USB64 requirements and timelines. Districts successfully identified and adopted observation tools that principals could use to assess teacher effectiveness. Once these tools were identified, districts provided training to principals covering the Utah Effective Teaching Standard Indicators so those principals could demonstrate understanding of how to use the observation tools to evaluate teacher performance. Districts then ensured principals were certified to conduct classroom observations using the relevant observation tool, a requirement set out within USB64 required in USB64, to conduct classroom observations using the adopted tool. Finally, districts successfully created systems to make sure the required number of observations were completed on time by each administrator for all teachers in all school locations. Thirteen district administrators who were responsible for their district's implementation of USB64 were interviewed for this study. Districts of all sizes were represented. Analysis of these interviews found that district implementation efforts were driven by a compliance-based approach to the legislation rather than an attempt to improve the system of learning for students. One common reason for this approach is it is an effective coping strategy that district leaders have used to balance district-initiated improvement efforts and annual state-mandated legislation like USB64.

This study aims to further develop research, from a management approach, by studying how MCS packages change when an organization undergoes an initial public offering. Furthermore, it aims to use Malmi and Brown’s (2008) management control system package in order to categorize and analyze the complexity of organizational change brought on by an initial public offering. This study draws on interviews with top managers in a high technological firm, which has recently been listed on the stock exchange. The results of this study imply that an initial public offering can change the MCS package in a number of different ways. Public companies do not necessarily become short-term, an initial public offering can affect a company’s external focus and measurements without affecting its internal measurements, in order for companies to become suitable for the stock market they formalize policies and appoint an independent board and listed companies can experience changes to their culture.

Organizations that have come to depend on legacy systems face quite a paradoxical problem. Maintaining the system might prove ineffective in accommodating necessary changes, but a system migration project is expensive and incurs a high amount of risk. Organizations are therefore hesitant to respond to the legacy system problem by undertaking action. Legacy system are often not causing their organization any problems at present, but a focus on the future with regard to the legacy system problem is lacking. This results in IT systems reaching an end-of-life state. The research therefore set out to explore a future-oriented perspective on legacy systems by means of observation, a literature review and a survey. The researcher found the key concept of a future-oriented perspective to be that any system that is limiting an organization to grow and innovate can be regarded as a legacy system. A framework to designate legacy status to IT systems is proposed in order to guide practitioners to acknowledge a problematic IT system to facilitate appropriate response at the right time. In relation to a future-oriented perspective, when to designate legacy status is best determined according to the system’s flexibility towards change and the alignment of the system with the business. In that regard, IT systems are end-of-life systems when they are too inflexible to change, and as a result become unaligned with either current operations or a future business opportunity or need.

La Vía Campesina is an international network of peasant farmers that, since 1996, has promoted the concept of food sovereignty. More recently, this collection of over 160 groups worldwide has been connecting this concept with climate justice issues. Drawing on interviews conducted during the 2012 People’s Summit that took place in Rio de Janeiro, and an analysis of the network’s documents, I consider its work in relation to its member organizations and a broader movement tackling the systemic issues that are driving a range of social, economic and ecological crises. I contend that, while many of Vía Campesina’s proposals will require the establishment of intricate processes and systems depending on the geographic, political and cultural context in question, the network is demonstrating that its radical critiques, proposals and decision-making processes may help contribute to a larger counter-hegemonic narrative as a force to counteract global capitalism.

La Vía Campesina is an international network of peasant farmers that, since 1996, has promoted the concept of food sovereignty. More recently, this collection of over 160 groups worldwide has been connecting this concept with climate justice issues. Drawing on interviews conducted during the 2012 People’s Summit that took place in Rio de Janeiro, and an analysis of the network’s documents, I consider its work in relation to its member organizations and a broader movement tackling the systemic issues that are driving a range of social, economic and ecological crises. I contend that, while many of Vía Campesina’s proposals will require the establishment of intricate processes and systems depending on the geographic, political and cultural context in question, the network is demonstrating that its radical critiques, proposals and decision-making processes may help contribute to a larger counter-hegemonic narrative as a force to counteract global capitalism.

The key purpose of this qualitative case study was to gain an understanding of classroom teachers’ perceptions of the process and impact of formative assessment on classroom instruction in a secondary school. The study was designed to obtain information about how teachers view formative assessment as part of their everyday planning and preparation, as well as sought to determine whether or not there was a correlation between teachers’ perceived understanding of formative assessment and their implementation of formative assessment in the classroom. The three main research questions that guided this study were: 1) How do teachers’ perceptions of their own understanding of formative assessment affect their instructional practice? 2) How do teachers’ perceptions of their own understanding of formative assessment evolve over time? 3) What supports exist to help teachers implement formative assessment at the high school level? The case study focused on participants who were current 9-12 public school teachers representing mathematics, physical education, and foreign language. To triangulate the data, multiple types of data were collected from the teachers. Pre- and post-surveys, unstructured interviews, focus groups, classroom observations with participant observation notes, and logs were used to collect the data. Data was then analyzed using analysis of the pre-surveys and compared with information gained from the other data sources. Data was later analyzed using the post-survey and compared with the information from other data sources to determine individual teacher growth over time. The results from the first research question indicated that teachers understood the accountability of both teachers and students in the assessment process, but required additional support in determining how student learning becomes the basis for use of formative assessment, types of different methods used, and overall teacher competencies about formative assessment. The second research question indicated that growth occurred when professional supports were given in areas where weaknesses were identified. Initially, formative assessment was viewed by many as a means of compliance with the new teacher evaluation system. With continued professional development, teachers’ acceptance of formative assessment increased as their understanding of the process dually increased. In addition, as teachers began to see growth in student achievement, their overall acceptance of formative assessment also increased. The third and final research question indicated that supports must not only be global in nature, but must also be focused on the individual. When teachers know where they are and know the target of where they want or need to be, instructional growth does occur. Supports for teacher instructional practice will vary based on identified needs, understanding of formative assessment, and the type of supports available. Recommendations for follow-up study include the use of additional focus groups, extending the formative assessment survey to include lengthening the time of the study, and a change in setting to avoid certain nuances that can occur with studying the same school district. Additionally, research should be completed on the long-term effects of personalized professional development and whether teachers continue to use formative assessment practices as they gain more extensive experience. Since this particular school was undergoing a complete system change while the study was being completed, it would be dually important to investigate a school that was not in the midst of such a change. With all the additional supports available to the teachers in this study, it is important to see if a teacher’s perceived understanding of formative assessment would continue to translate into instructional practice if whole school and individual supports were not as prevalent.

The aim of this master thesis is to describe current relations between political parties and the public. Considering the potential extent of the topic concerned, this thesis focuses on providing an overview of the individual phenomena which can be observed with regard to the relations. The thesis begins with a theoretical chapter which outlines subjects of a political system. The second part focuses on a description of historical starting points of the topic concerned. Following the necessary background information for a comprehensive understanding of the topic, the author presents the main, third part which is the core of the thesis. This part is divided into seven chapters in which the individual phenomena, concerning the current relations between political parties and the public, are introduced. The aim of the third, crucial part is not only to describe the concerned phenomena but also to critically evaluate certain measures which are meant to prevent the described problem. A summary of steps which lead to the described situation are included as well. In the first chapter the author focuses on a crisis of the representation model, especially with regard to the issue of alienation between the representatives and the represented. The second chapter focuses on the issue of electoral volatility and the...

Because of contemporary unsatisfactory political situation in the Czech Republic, caused by presence of widespread corruption networks, many civic initiatives have been established to improve the status quo. This diploma thesis describes two NGO's, which focus on electoral system change of the lower chamber of the parliament of the Czech Republic. These organizations are Přímá volba poslanců 2014 (Direct election of Members of Parliament 2014) and electoral reform of Karel Janeček which is promoted by NGO Pozitivní evoluce (Positive evolution). The thesis is a comparative case study of these two organizations. The main goal is to do complex analysis of these two organizations, and identify interests, which lead them to pursue the electoral system change. Furthermore, basic effects of electoral systems and their changes are described. One of the chapters describes the development of the debate over the electoral system change in the past 20 years and mentions the attitude of contemporary political parties and their representatives to electoral system reform.

This multiple case study examines organizational processes in two municipalities’ school improvement works with the aim of providing accessible learning environments for all students. Different levels of the Swedish education system share the responsibility for improving schools to provide high-quality education for all learners. Previous research shows that it is a complex task to carry that out in practice. The complexity comes from the fact that different levels and parts of the education system need to be coordinated in solving the assignment, and that it is possible to interpret how to carry out the assignment through performance in practice in a number of different ways. The aim of this study is to examine and create knowledge about organizational processes in school improvement for accessible learning environments that bring multiple schools together. The theoretical approach has been organization from a constructivist perspective where organization is seen as a constant doing. Theories about sensemaking, organizational learning as well as governance and management have provided a theoretical framework. Questions about what happens in organizational processes when coordinating the development work of several schools’ joint activities and what opportunities and challenges can be brought up in the organizing have been guiding. Documents from the two municipalities’ school improvement works have been analyzed and actors within the school systems have been interviewed on the basis of themes. The findings showed that school improvement for accessible learning environments is an ongoing dynamic activity that cannot be seen as a linear process with a beginning and an end. The findings also showed that sensemaking about what accessible learning environments can be and how it can be created is ongoing and based on each person´s previous experience but also generates in organizational learning. It was apparent that leaders cannot control and manage how the schools perceive or carry out the assignment in practice, but they can create a common framework. Leaders together with employees, students and others within and outside the school system could meet within that common framework, to collaborate and jointly explore and create future initiatives based on each other's experiences in the work of creating a school for all. These meetings could provide the conditions for responsive decision-making.