This study examined the commitment of teachers to the implementation of ninth grade academies and their perceptions of school leadership during the reform process. Concern for successful high school completion prompted the redesign of ninth grade into a school-within-a-school format within a Florida school district. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine the type of commitment and form of leadership evident in this reform initiative along with the relationship between them. As a mindset for change, commitment was represented as affective, normative, and continuance. Leadership styles were delineated as transformational, transactional, and passive/avoidant along with related outcomes of effectiveness, satisfactions and extra effort. This study utilized an electronic survey with purposive sampling. Five questions concerning the type of commitment, the form of leadership and outcomes, and the correlation between commitment and leadership guided this research. Descriptive analysis of the responses from 105 teachers produced findings of both affective and normative commitment to change and evidence of transformational leadership as well as the contingent reward dimension of transactional leadership. Leadership outcomes of effectiveness, satisfaction, and extra effort were also expressed by teachers. The results validated the presence of affective and normative commitment of teachers responsible for reform efforts and indicated a relational influence between transformational and transactional leadership behaviors with these two forms of commitment to change. Current pressures of accountability have channeled schools into models of continuous improvement. If schools are to enact lasting change, an understanding of commitment and leadership is needed to produce sustainable school reform.

Uncivil behavior in the workplace can cause absenteeism or low job performance among employees, yet little academic literature addresses this relationship, particularly in the public sector. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to use the transactional analysis of communication (TAC) model to explore the ramifications of incivility in the Veterans Health Administration (VHA). The central research questions focused on employee perceptions of incivility and effective communication within the VHA. Twelve VHA employees were recruited for participation through a snowball sampling technique. Data were collected through in-depth interviews with the participants along with some VHA archived video training. Data were inductively coded and analyzed for emergent themes. Key findings revealed that VHA lacked effective communication, and malingering occurred due to workplace incivility. It was concluded that TAC curtailed misunderstandings of social dysfunctions in communicating. Another theme that emerged is that although workplace relationships were highly esteemed by employees, they believed that communication issues hindered those professional relationships and suggested training could be a valuable tool to improve workplace communication and reduce incivility. It was recommended that similar studies of this phenomenon be conducted for greater understanding and knowledge to the discipline. TAC served to effect positive social change by educating VHA leadership and their employees on how to thwart incivility in the workplace.

Η παρούσα διπλωματική έχει ως σκοπό τη διερεύνηση των εννοιών της «μετασχηματιστικής ηγεσίας», της «συναλλακτικής ηγεσίας», της «συναισθηματικής νοημοσύνης», της «επικοινωνίας» και της «λήψης αποφάσεων». Για το σκοπό αυτό διενεργήθηκε και εμπειρική έρευνα, εκτός από βιβλιογραφική, σε οργανισμούς του τραπεζικού κλάδου. Στη μελέτη συμμετείχαν 131 εργαζόμενοι του τραπεζικού κλάδου, από τους οποίους ζητήθηκε συγκατάθεση για συμμετοχή στην έρευνα. Τα πρωτογενή δεδομένα συλλέχθηκαν από τα δομημένα ερωτηματολόγια που διανεμήθηκαν. Το ερωτηματολόγιο αποτελούνταν από 5 θεματικές ενότητες, που οι τέσσερις πρώτες αφορούσαν τις έννοιες που προαναφέραμε και ένα ερωτηματολόγιο κοινωνικο-δημογραφικών στοιχειών. Αφού ολοκληρώθηκε η συλλογή των δεδομένων, πραγματοποιήθηκε επεξεργασία τους με τη χρήση του στατιστικού πακέτου SPSS. Οι στατιστικές αναλύσεις αποτελούνταν από τέσσερα στάδια: i) ανάλυση παραγόντων, ii) έλεγχος αξιοπιστίας, iii) συσχετίσεις και iv) βηματική παλινδρόμηση. Μέσα από το εμπειρικό κομμάτι της έρευνας διαπιστώνουμε, από τις παλινδρομήσεις που διενεργήσαμε, ότι η ενσυναίσθηση (διάσταση της συναισθηματικής νοημοσύνης), η επίσημη επικοινωνία και η συμμετοχική λήψη αποφάσεων αποτελούν προβλεπτικούς παράγοντες τόσο της μετασχηματιστικής ηγεσίας όσο και της συναλλακτικής ηγεσίας. Οι παράγοντας που διαφοροποιούν τους μετασχηματιστικούς ηγέτες από τους συναλλακτικούς ηγέτες είναι οι κοινωνικές δεξιότητες και η αυτορρύθμιση της συναισθηματικής νοημοσύνης (που αποτελούν προσδιοριστικούς παράγοντες της μετασχηματιστικής ηγεσίας), άλλωστε κατέχοντας ένας προϊστάμενος αυτή τη διάσταση της συναισθηματικής νοημοσύνης, μπορεί να ελέγχει τις αντιδράσεις του και κατ’ επέκταση είναι σε θέση να μπορεί να παρακινεί και να έχει ανεπτυγμένες τις κοινωνικές δεξιότητες. / This study aims to explore the relationship of transformational leadership and transactional leadership, with the emotional intelligence, the organizational communication styles and participative decision-making The sample is composed by 131 bank employees who provided consent to participate in our research. The primary data were collected by distributed structured questionnaires. The questionnaire consisted of five thematic sections, the first four were the concepts mentioned above and the latter related to demographics. Data were analyzed by the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (IBM SPSS 20). Statistical analyzes consisted of four stages: i) factor analysis (PCA), ii) internal consistencies, iii) correlations and iv)stepwise multiple regressions. Multiple regressions analyses indicate that empathy (as dimension of emotional intelligence), formal communication, self-regulation and participative decision making were predictors of transformational leadership and transactional leadership, as well. The factor that differentiates leaders with transformation leadership style from those with transactional, is the ability of self-regulation and social skills.

Η παρούσα διπλωματική έχει ως σκοπό την διερεύνηση των εννοιών της συναλλακτικής και μετασχηματιστικής ηγεσίας, της διοίκησης συγκρούσεων και της συναισθηματικής νοημοσύνης στους διεθνοποιημένους οργανισμούς και πιο συγκεκριμένα στις φαρμακοβιομηχανίες που λειτουργούν κάτω από τις δύσβατες συνθήκες της ελληνικής πραγματικότητας. Για το σκοπό αυτό διενεργήθηκε και εμπειρική μελέτη εκτός από βιβλιογραφική, στο κλάδο της φαρμακοβιομηχανίας. Συγκεκριμένα, στη μελέτη που πραγματοποιήθηκε συμμετείχαν 123 διοικητικά στελέχη πολυεθνικών φαρμακοβιομηχανιών, που εδρεύουν στην Ελλάδα ή είναι θυγατρικές ελληνικών εταιριών, από τους οποίους ζητήθηκε συγκατάθεση για συμμετοχή στην έρευνα. Τα πρωτογενή δεδομένα συλλέχθηκαν από τα δομημένα ερωτηματολόγια που διανεμήθηκε.Η παρούσα μελέτη παρουσιάζει σημαντικά ευρήματα σχετικά με τα στυλ ηγεσίας, την συναισθηματική νοημοσύνη και την διοίκηση. Παρόλα αυτά έφερε στο φως και προβλήματα που είναι γνωστά αλλά και δυσεπίλυτα. Όσο αναφορά τη διοίκηση συγκρούσεων έχει γίνει κατανοητό ότι αποτελεί μια διαδικασία και για να είναι αποτελεσματικά διαχειρίσιμη, απαιτείται το άτομο – ηγέτης να διαθέτει αυτεπίγνωση και αυτοέλεγχο. Τέλος όσο αναφορά την ηγεσία παρατηρήθηκε τόσο σύνδεση με την συναισθηματική νοημοσύνη όσο και με την διοίκηση συγκρούσεων πράγμα λογικό αφού ένας ηγέτης είναι αναγκαίο στην σημερινή εποχή να χρησιμοποιεί τα εργαλεία (συναισθηματική νοημοσύνη και διοίκηση συγκρούσεων) για να μπορέσει να αντεπεξέλθει στις απαιτήσεις του περιβάλλοντος. Παράλληλα υπάρχει και αλληλεξάρτηση της ηγεσίας με την επικοινωνία αφού αποτελεί ρόλο κλειδί στη αποτελεσματικότητα και βιωσιμότητα της οργάνωσης / This dissertation is driven by the aim to investigate the significance of transformational and transactional leadership, conflict management and emotional intelligence in the international organizational. Under this scope, a research took place at the pharmaceutical sector. Specifically, the statistical data are from 123 managers of multinational pharmaceutical companies, which are established in Greece or are Greek subsidiary companies. The pharmaceutical companies were asked to confirm the participation at this procedure. The primary data were collected by structured questionnaires.This study presents significant findings according to leadership styles, emotional intelligence and conflict management. Nonetheless, problems that are known and unresolved are analyzed. The conflict management has been understood to be a process and for it to be effective it requires the person – leader to have self-awareness and self-control. Finally, according to leadership, it has been observed and a link to emotional intelligence and a conflict management. A leader is necessary nowadays to use tools like emotional intelligence and conflict management in order to meet the demands of the environment. At the same time, there is interdependence of leadership with the communication for the reason that is the most important factor in the effectiveness and sustainability of the organization

This research investigated the leadership style in a research and development (R&D) work unit within a petro-chemical company, using the Full Range Leadership Development Theory as assessed by Multifactor-Leadership-Questionnaire (MLQ). From the literature review conducted, it was concluded that an R&D environment is multi-dimensional and the workforce can be diverse in the field of specialisation and personality characteristics. Subsequently, the literature review also focused on functional diversity and gender differences within technological and/or scientific environments. Descriptive statistics were provided and the data were then statistically analysed. The research results showed a statistical difference in the perception of the frequency of leadership style between manager-leaders and subordinates. Differences in the mean scores of manager-leaders and subordinates found that the manager-leaders overestimated the frequency ratings of their transformational leadership style and the leadership outcomes, while they under-estimated the frequency ratings for transactional and laissez-faire leadership style. This indicates that although the manager-leaders consider themselves as more transformational, the subordinates of this R&D unit view their immediate managers as not displaying ideal levels of transformational leadership behaviours. A self-bias phenomenon may be present where the manager-leaders judge themselves as overly favourable. It is recommended that this be addressed within the organisation. A statistical significant difference was observed in how some male and female employees experienced their manager-leaders' leadership style. The females indicated a higher frequency of laissez-faire leadership style, while some males viewed their manager-leaders as more transformational compared to the female employees. Manager-leaders may need different skills to manage females and in general an increasing awareness of gender bias within the unit may mitigate stereotypical assumptions. No statistically significant differences (p<0, 05) could be found for the total group between functional areas, being scientists versus engineers. It should be noted that the departments consist of predominantly scientists, while only one department showed a mixture of scientists and engineers. / Thesis (M.B.A.)--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2010.

This research investigated the leadership style in a research and development (R&D) work unit within a petro-chemical company, using the Full Range Leadership Development Theory as assessed by Multifactor-Leadership-Questionnaire (MLQ). From the literature review conducted, it was concluded that an R&D environment is multi-dimensional and the workforce can be diverse in the field of specialisation and personality characteristics. Subsequently, the literature review also focused on functional diversity and gender differences within technological and/or scientific environments. Descriptive statistics were provided and the data were then statistically analysed. The research results showed a statistical difference in the perception of the frequency of leadership style between manager-leaders and subordinates. Differences in the mean scores of manager-leaders and subordinates found that the manager-leaders overestimated the frequency ratings of their transformational leadership style and the leadership outcomes, while they under-estimated the frequency ratings for transactional and laissez-faire leadership style. This indicates that although the manager-leaders consider themselves as more transformational, the subordinates of this R&D unit view their immediate managers as not displaying ideal levels of transformational leadership behaviours. A self-bias phenomenon may be present where the manager-leaders judge themselves as overly favourable. It is recommended that this be addressed within the organisation. A statistical significant difference was observed in how some male and female employees experienced their manager-leaders' leadership style. The females indicated a higher frequency of laissez-faire leadership style, while some males viewed their manager-leaders as more transformational compared to the female employees. Manager-leaders may need different skills to manage females and in general an increasing awareness of gender bias within the unit may mitigate stereotypical assumptions. No statistically significant differences (p<0, 05) could be found for the total group between functional areas, being scientists versus engineers. It should be noted that the departments consist of predominantly scientists, while only one department showed a mixture of scientists and engineers. / Thesis (M.B.A.)--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2010.

Η παρούσα διπλωματική εργασία έχει ως κύριο στόχο τη διερεύνηση των εννοιών της «διοίκησης συγκρούσεων», της «επικοινωνίας», της «μετασχηματιστικής ηγεσίας», της «συναλλακτικής ηγεσίας» και της «λήψης των αποφάσεων». Για το σκοπό αυτό εκπονήθηκε εμπειρική έρευνα στο πλαίσιο των χρηματοπιστωτικών οργανισμών και συγκεκριμένα με τη συμμετοχή υφισταμένων καταστημάτων τραπεζών του Δήμου Πατρέων. Τα πρωτογενή στοιχεία αντλήθηκαν με τη συμπλήρωση εκατό δομημένων ερωτηματολογίων, αποτελούμενων από συνολικά 78 ερωτήσεις το καθένα. Επιπλέον το ερωτηματολόγιο κατηγοριοποιήθηκε σε 5 θεματικές ενότητες. Κάθε ενότητα του ερωτηματολογίου αναφέρεται σε μια από τις βασικές έννοιες που περιλαμβάνει το θέμα της διπλωματικής εργασίας. Τη συλλογή των δεδομένων ακολούθησε η επεξεργασία τους με τη χρήση του στατιστικού πακέτου SPSS (παραγοντική ανάλυση, συσχετίσεις, βηματική παλινδρόμηση). Στη συνέχεια πραγματοποιήθηκε έλεγχος των δεκατεσσάρων υποθέσεων στις οποίες βασίστηκε η έρευνα για την επαλήθευση τους. Ορισμένες επιπτώσεις για τη διοίκηση αναφέρονται στο ότι η οικονομική κρίση, όπως επιδρά στη λειτουργία των τραπεζών και των καταστημάτων τους, αναπτύσσει περισσότερο την συναλλακτική ηγεσία και περιορίζει μορφές μετασχηματιστικής ηγεσίας όπως είναι το χάρισμα και η εμπνευσμένη παρακίνηση. Η συναλλαγή των προϊσταμένων με τους υφισταμένους (ενδεχόμενη ανταμοιβή) οδηγεί τους τελευταίους αρκετές φορές στον συμβιβασμό, δίνοντας μεγαλύτερη έμφαση στην επίτευξη των στόχων. Αντιθέτως τα διανοητικά ερεθίσματα που δίνει ο προϊστάμενος στους υφισταμένους συμβάλλουν στην εναρμόνιση και την επίτευξη των στόχων. Στην ίδια κατεύθυνση η εξατομικευμένη φροντίδα από την πλευρά των προϊσταμένων αφήνει χώρο για συμμετοχή και αποτελεσματική επικοινωνία. / The main goal of the present dissertation is to investigate the concepts of “conflict management”, “communication”, “transformational leadership”, “transactional leadership” and “decision making”. An empirical research was conducted within the framework of credit organizations and more particularly to subordinates of bank branches in the municipality of Patras. Data was collected from one hundred structured questionnaires, each one of which comprised a total of 78 questions. Furthermore, the questionnaire was divided in five thematic units. Εach thematic unit refers to one of the primary concepts included in the subject of the dissertation. Subsequent to its collection, data was processed with the assistance of the statistical package SPSS (factor analysis, correlations, stepwise regression). Fourteen hypotheses which form the basis of the research were tested if they are supported. Implications for management also include that the economic crisis, as this affects the operation of financial institutions and bank branches, is developing more the transactional leadership and restricts transformational leadership components such as charisma and inspirational motivation. The transaction between supervisors and subordinates (contingent reward) leads several times the last to compromise, giving greater emphasis to the objectives. On the other hand intellectual stimulation has a positive impact on integrating and attaining common goals. Moreover, individualized consideration as transformational leadership component contributes to decentralization and communication.

Thesis (MComm (Industrial Psychology))--Stellenbosch University, 2008. / Effective leadership drives an organisation’s members to achieve a common purpose. Leaders must influence followers to work together to achieve one vision. Successful leaders understand their own values and the values of their followers, in order to guide and direct behaviour. Shared values allow organisations to work together and act as one entity. Successful leaders instil a set of commonly held core values to ensure that followers are working towards the same goals. The purpose of the study was to determine the influence of organisational leadership on leader-follower value congruence and leadership success. The aim of the study was to determine the relationship between transactional and transformational leadership, leader-follower value congruence and leadership success. Engelbrecht’s (2002) model was used as a theoretical framework. A literature study of leadership and leadership success, as well as values and value congruence in organisations was conducted. The relationship between these constructs was also analysed in the literature study. The sample comprised of employees of a large petroleum company in the Western Cape. The sample consisted of 162 leaders and subordinates. The sample comprised of two subordinates for every leader. Each of the respondents completed Bass and Avolio’s Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ) and Langley’s Values Scale (VS). Both the MLQ and VS were found reliable for the purpose of the study. The statistical analysis was conducted through correlation analyses. The results revealed that transactional and transformational leadership have a direct and positive influence on leadership success. Some support was found for the influence of transactional leadership and transformational leadership on leader-follower value congruence. The results also indicated some support for the influence of leaderfollower value congruence on leadership success. Some support was found for the proposition that leader-follower value congruence mediates the relationship between transactional leadership and leadership success. Conclusions were drawn from the results obtained and recommendations for future research are made.

A lot of effort is put into diversity by organizations today, but the diversity question mainly focuses on gender, ethnicity, cultural and beliefs (Robertson, et al., (2017), while one of the most daunting diversity challenges has been proven to be diversity between generations, which often goes overlooked and unaddressed. A new generation represent an increasing share of the work force and many of them are already today positioned in leading positions, aspiring for leadership positions or aiming to reach for management positions to be able to do difference. Organizations that understand how to successfully address generational conflict and leverage each generation’s strengths will be better able to keep employees motivated and productive amidst the social and economical changes.   This study aims to explore the leadership preferences and motivation factors for the Millennial Generation, in order to unlock their potential and be able to bridge this knowledge gap. The preferences were examined through a survey, targeting a study group of millennial knowledge workers with various backgrounds from different companies to be able to dismiss possible bias reflecting different cultures. The survey was performed by adopting items from the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ), based on Bass’ (1985) Transactional – Transformational leadership theory and the Career Orientation Inventory (COI) reflecting Schein’s (1985) theory about career anchors.   The survey was delivered through several channels and in the end a sample group of 105 Millennial knowledge workers were included in further analysis. An Explorative Factor Analysis (EFA) was conducted to determine the underlying structure among the variables in the analysis. Since this research is based on previous studies (Blom, 2010), the methodology is chosen as a confirmatory approach with Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) to show how well the model fits the data. A Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) is performed to evaluate the relationship between the variables from Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ) for Transactional and Transformation Leadership theory and Career Orientation Inventory for Career anchors.   Findings by Blom, (2010) reveal that the Millennial knowledge workers prefer leadership dimensions that involve intellectual stimulation and charisma, which correspond to a transformational leadership style compared to a transactional leadership style. This type of leadership focus on the change in individuals and creates valuable and positive changes, which inspires towards both common and individual goals. Similar results were obtained in our study and the relation with motivating factors shows that the sample group with higly educated people in the knowledge sector are motivated by having meaningful purpose with their job. They also wish to reach administrative positions in their companies and are interested by the thought of create and manage their own business. The interrelation between these factors determines the degree of satisfaction which is directly linked to the relationship between motivation and productivity. This is why it shall be one of the highest priorities of each organisation to find how to motivate their employees on an individual level, it is directly connected to productivity. Key words: Millennials, Transformational Leadership, Transactional Leadership, Career Anchors, knowledge workers

A maioria das organizações depende atualmente de algum tipo de infraestrutura computacional para suportar as atividades críticas para o negócio. Esta dependência cresce com o aumento da capacidade dos sistemas informáticos e da confiança que se pode depositar nesses sistemas, ao mesmo tempo que aumenta também o seu tamanho e complexidade. Os sistemas transacionais, tipicamente centrados em bases de dados utilizadas para armazenar e gerir a informação de suporte às tarefas diárias, sofrem naturalmente deste mesmo problema. Assim, uma solução frequentemente utilizada para amenizar a dificuldade em lidar com a complexidade dos sistemas passa por delegar sob outras organizações o trabalho de desenvolvimento, ou mesmo por utilizar soluções já disponíveis no mercado (sejam elas proprietárias ou abertas). A diversidade de software e componentes alternativos disponíveis atualmente torna necessária a existência de testes padronizados que ajudem na seleção da opção mais adequada entre as alternativas existentes, considerando uma conjunto de diferentes características. No entanto, o sucesso da investigação em testes padronizados de desempenho e confiabilidade contrasta radicalmente com os avanços em testes padronizados de segurança, os quais têm sido pouco investigados, apesar da sua extrema relevância. Esta tese discute o problema da definição de testes padronizados de segurança, comparando-o com outras iniciativas de sucesso, como a definição de testes padronizados de desempenho e de confiabilidade. Com base nesta análise é proposta um modelo de base para a definição de testes padronizados de segurança. Este modelo, aplicável de forma genérica a diversos tipos de sistemas e domínios, define duas etapas principais: qualificação de segurança e teste padronizado de confiança. A qualificação de segurança é um processo que permite avaliar um sistema tendo em conta os aspectos e requisitos de segurança mais evidentes num determinado domínio de aplicação, dividindo os sistemas avaliados entre aceitáveis e não aceitáveis. O teste padronizado de confiança, por outro lado, consiste em avaliar os sistemas considerados aceitáveis de modo a estimar a probabilidade de existirem problemas de segurança ocultados ou difíceis de detectar (o objetivo do processo é lidar com as incertezas inerentes aos aspectos de segurança). O modelo proposto é demonstrado e avaliado no contexto de sistemas transacionais, os quais podem ser divididos em duas partes: a infraestrutura e as aplicações de negócio. Uma vez que cada uma destas partes possui objetivos de segurança distintos, o modelo é utilizado no desenvolvimento de metodologias adequadas para cada uma delas. Primeiro, a tese apresenta um teste padronizado de segurança para infraestruturas de sistemas transacionais, descrevendo e justificando todos os passos e decisões tomadas ao longo do seu desenvolvimento. Este teste foi aplicado a quatro infraestruturas reais, sendo os resultados obtidos cuidadosamente apresentados e analisados. Ainda no contexto das infraestruturas de sistemas transacionais, a tese discute o problema da seleção de componentes de software. Este é um problema complexo uma vez que a avaliação de segurança destas infraestruturas não é exequível antes da sua entrada em funcionamento. A ferramenta proposta, que tem por objetivo ajudar na seleção do software básico para suportar este tipo de infraestrutura, é aplicada na avaliação e análise de sete pacotes de software distintos, todos alternativas tipicamente utilizadas em infraestruturas reais. Finalmente, a tese aborda o problema do desenvolvimento de testes padronizados de confiança para aplicações de negócio, focando especificamente em aplicações Web. Primeiro, é proposta uma abordagem baseada no uso de ferramentas de análise de código, sendo apresentadas as diversas experiências realizadas para avaliar a validade da proposta, incluindo um cenário representativo de situações reais, em que o objetivo passa por selecionar o mais seguro de entre sete alternativas de software para suportar fóruns Web. Com base nas análises realizadas e nas limitações desta proposta, é de seguida definida uma abordagem genérica para a definição de testes padronizados de confiança para aplicações Web. / Most organizations nowadays depend on some kind of computer infrastructure to manage business critical activities. This dependence grows as computer systems become more reliable and useful, but so does the complexity and size of systems. Transactional systems, which are database-centered applications used by most organizations to support daily tasks, are no exception. A typical solution to cope with systems complexity is to delegate the software development task, and to use existing solutions independently developed and maintained (either proprietary or open source). The multiplicity of software and component alternatives available has boosted the interest in suitable benchmarks, able to assist in the selection of the best candidate solutions, concerning several attributes. However, the huge success of performance and dependability benchmarking markedly contrasts with the small advances on security benchmarking, which has only sparsely been studied in the past. his thesis discusses the security benchmarking problem and main characteristics, particularly comparing these with other successful benchmarking initiatives, like performance and dependability benchmarking. Based on this analysis, a general framework for security benchmarking is proposed. This framework, suitable for most types of software systems and application domains, includes two main phases: security qualification and trustworthiness benchmarking. Security qualification is a process designed to evaluate the most obvious and identifiable security aspects of the system, dividing the evaluated targets in acceptable or unacceptable, given the specific security requirements of the application domain. Trustworthiness benchmarking, on the other hand, consists of an evaluation process that is applied over the qualified targets to estimate the probability of the existence of hidden or hard to detect security issues in a system (the main goal is to cope with the uncertainties related to security aspects). The framework is thoroughly demonstrated and evaluated in the context of transactional systems, which can be divided in two parts: the infrastructure and the business applications. As these parts have significantly different security goals, the framework is used to develop methodologies and approaches that fit their specific characteristics. First, the thesis proposes a security benchmark for transactional systems infrastructures and describes, discusses and justifies all the steps of the process. The benchmark is applied to four distinct real infrastructures, and the results of the assessment are thoroughly analyzed. Still in the context of transactional systems infrastructures, the thesis also addresses the problem of the selecting software components. This is complex as evaluating the security of an infrastructure cannot be done before deployment. The proposed tool, aimed at helping in the selection of basic software packages to support the infrastructure, is used to evaluate seven different software packages, representative alternatives for the deployment of real infrastructures. Finally, the thesis discusses the problem of designing trustworthiness benchmarks for business applications, focusing specifically on the case of web applications. First, a benchmarking approach based on static code analysis tools is proposed. Several experiments are presented to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed metrics, including a representative experiment where the challenge was the selection of the most secure application among a set of seven web forums. Based on the analysis of the limitations of such approach, a generic approach for the definition of trustworthiness benchmarks for web applications is defined.