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1
Muriro, A. "Design and build procurement method in practice : key challenges and practice based enablers." Thesis, University of Salford, 2015. http://usir.salford.ac.uk/36901/.
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Over the recent years the UK construction industry has seen an increasing level of interest in the use of design and build (D&B) as a construction procurement method. This appears to be mainly driven by an attempt by the industry to increase the level of integration in what is generally viewed as a fragmented industry. The main advantages associated with this procurement method that have been cited in reviewed literature have been numerous. Key advantages appear to be the following: single point responsibility for the whole project delivery encompassing design and construction, early contractor involvement resulting in potential cost savings and earlier completion, easy constructability and minimisation of design and construction risk to clients. Despite its perceived increase in adoption over the last decade as supported by the relatively recent Contracts in use survey in 2010 by the RICS, the construction industry is still experiencing problems associated with D&B procurement. This highlights the need to explore further how this procurement method is being used in practice. The exploration adopted in this research involves identification and evaluation of challenges encountered by key participants (clients, contractors and designers). In addition such an exploration is buttressed by the identification and evaluation of practice based enablers that key participants have used/proposed to use in order to manage better the challenges they have encountered with this procurement method. The nature of the problem investigated in this research is characteristically exploratory, fluid and flexible, data driven and context-sensitive. As a result a combination of in-depth review of related literature, semi-structured interviews and a questionnaire survey were used as main research techniques. The questionnaire survey was targeted at a wider and a different audience to the one used in semi-structured interviews. This approach was adopted in order to gain a holistic insight into this multi-faceted problem. The research shows that adopting D&B procurement method does not necessarily result in integration of design and construction processes. Significant time and effort will need to be spent in creating and facilitating integrative processes and systems to ensure that the gap between the theory and practice of D&B procurement is covered. D&B is not a one size fit all procurement method and each project characteristics and requirements needs to be methodically reviewed and understood to ensure that this fits with the unique features of D&B procurement method. The research implications mainly relate to the D&B procurement practice. Given the practice based enablers that it generates this has direct implications on how practitioners go about applying the processes and methods that facilitate integration of design and construction in a D&B procurement method set up. This, therefore, goes a long way to bridge the gap between the theory and practice of D&B procurement method. This potentially leads to unlocking this integrative procurement method’s benefits that were not previously realised. The output of this research is a framework for facilitating better integration of design and construction processes. Additionally the framework can also be used as a tool kit for effective use and for acting as an enabler for the flow and realization of potential benefits associated with D&B procurement method. It is expected that this framework will help in providing the much needed guidance to users (in particular infrequent/inexperienced users) of the D&B procurement method.
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Chenga, Kaputo Melody. "Electronic Government Procurement (e-GP): A solution to institutional challenges in Zambia’s Medical Supply Chain or another technical solution?" Master's thesis, Faculty of Commerce, 2019. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/31518.
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Do technical solutions override or fast track institutional reforms? This study interrogates the extent to which Zambia’s newly introduced Electronic Government Procurement (e-GP) is addressing the procurement challenges [for essential drugs and medical supplies] in the Ministry of Health (MoH). A brain child of the Zambia Public Procurement Authority (ZPPA), the e-GP is but one of the components of the wider procurement reform agenda. The e-GP was introduced with the intention of enhancing efficiency, effectiveness and Value for Money (VfM) in public procurement. Since 2016, ZPPA has been piloting the approach in selected Procurement Entities (PEs), a combination of sector ministries and state parastatals. Based on review of project documentation, publicly available data, and interviews from key stakeholders; the study explores and interrogates the contextual and institutional challenges characterising the e-GP design and pilot implementation phases, and the extent to which these realities impact the achievement of the intended outcomes. A fair amount of information from interviewees was provided under conditions of confidentiality, thus individuals are not often identified. It is perhaps too early to ascertain the extent to which the e-GP is realising the intended objectives. This is partly explained by the project’s slow start, occasioned by delayed procurement which had knock - on effects on the overall project’s pace. An interrogation of the history and political economy of Zambia suggests however that it is the opaque challenges bordering on the political economy which is the single most binding constraint to reforms; defining the process, the pace and outcomes. The design of the e-GP was generic and non-participatory. There is no evidence to suggest that the process had provided opportunity for PE’s to define and customize the problems that mattered for them to be addressed by the e-GP. Instead, the e-GP seems to have been sold to PEs as a best practice solution. Because of the deep incentive fabric at both organizational and individual levels, the project seems to have some traction. Effort of various actors does not appear to be supportive of each, often latently contradicting each other. Project progress is held constant by the relative ability of the ZPPA to push some strands of work within some pilot PEs. This relative ability of the ZPPA shields the low levels of acceptance and questionable authority within PEs and among actors. Progress on the e-GP appears like a façade of success; suggestive of isomorphic mimicry.
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Boyer, Nathan R. (Nathan Roger). "General Services Administration lease procurement : opportunities and challenges." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/54849.
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Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Program in Real Estate Development in Conjunction with the Center for Real Estate , 2009.This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections.
"September 2009." Cataloged from student submitted PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 64-65).
In 2009's fragile real estate market, many developers are looking for safe investments for their invested capital. Developers are looking to the federal government, specifically the General Services Administration, for growth and safety. The General Services Administration (GSA) is the contracting body of the U.S. federal government. It is the nation's largest public real estate organization. It leases space from private developers in over 7,100 facilities across the United States comprising office buildings, border patrol stations, courthouses, warehouses, clinics, post offices and many other uses. The GSA pays over $4.6 billion in rent to landlords annually on nearly 181 million square feet of space. GSA is authorized by law to acquire, manage, utilize, and dispose of real property for most federal agencies. The thesis is primarily based on interviews conducted with industry professionals: developers, financiers, brokers, and GSA contracting officials. It looks at the opportunities and challenges of working with the General Services Administration on new lease construction build-to-suits. It focuses on four areas; 1) the lease procurement process; 2) opportunities for new procurements in 2009's market; 3) developer financed new lease construction build-to-suit projects; and 4) opportunities and challenges of financing projects in 2009's credit crunch.
by Nathan R. Boyer.
S.M.
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Joshi, Sharadbala. "Challenges in up-scaling good practices." Thesis, Loughborough University, 2008. https://dspace.lboro.ac.uk/2134/34485.
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Focus on achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) has intensified technical and financial support for up-scaling of interventions to improve the quality of life of over 900 million slum dwellers who lack access to adequate clean water, improved sanitation facilities, and security of tenure. One of the means for achieving the MDG Targets is to ‘up-scale', or institutionalize effective approaches, techniques, concepts, and programmes that result in bringing more quality benefits to more urban residents more quickly and more permanently. The challenge of up-scaling is in achieving sustainable results in a large number of communities rather than in planning and implementing large projects (World Bank 2005b). It is therefore essential to determine whether there is evidence to justify support for up-scaling.
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Shahriyari, Salman. "Distributed Agile Development; Suitability, Challenges and Practices." Thesis, Högskolan i Borås, Institutionen Handels- och IT-högskolan, 2013. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:hb:diva-17340.
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Uncertainty in software development and business environment and the need to increase thespeed of development have driven organizations to search for methods that are responsive toboth change and speed. Providing iterative development, agile development involvescustomers and users through different phases of development, and delivers frequent releasesof software to customer while receives the corresponding feedback. Using this approach, agiledevelopment thus aims at addressing mentioned issues of speed and uncertainty whiledeveloping only what customer needs from the beginning of the project. On the other hand,distributed software development is used in many organizations to reach global talent andglobal market. The problems associated with distributed software development such as lack ofenough communication and team coherency, have forced project managers to combine it withagile to mitigate these social problems. This study focuses on distributed agile development,its suitability for a typical project and its challenges and deficiencies. Text analysis andinterviews using qualitative methods are used in this scientific research work. From thetheoretical view point, different text covering agile methodology, distributed development andcombination of them were considered. This study covered two parts: first, an evaluation ofagile and distributed development opportunities and problems to help determine whether ornot distributed development is suitable for a project and second, considering the challengesonce starting to use this method and practices required to regard them. For the empirical part,the focus was put on Volvo IT employees by having seven interviews with members who arecurrently active in distributed agile development. These interviews were used to compare andverify the finding of the theoretical part. The results of the study were categorized into twosections. In the first part, important elements required to verify the suitability of using thismethod are provided. The recommended factors for this evaluation are cost, productivity,customer, team structure, etc. In the second part, the challenges of using distributed agiledevelopment were categorized into four parts: (a) challenges of selected agile method, whichthe focus in this study is Scrum, (b) challenges with time-zone differences, (c) communicationchallenges and (d) finally team building challenges. The required practices to address thesechallenges were also provided.Program: Masterutbildning i Informatik
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Koliousis, Ioannis G. "Analysis of sourcing & procurement practices : a cross industry framework." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2006. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/36143.
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Thesis (M. Eng. in Logistics)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, 2006.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 159-161).
This thesis presents and analyzes the various practices in the functional area of Sourcing and Procurement. The 21 firms that are studied operate in one of the following industries: Aerospace, Apparel/ Footwear, Automotive, Computers, Communications Equipment, Consumer Packaged Goods, Pharmaceuticals, Petroleum and Retail. Those firms have been chosen for their overall supply chain excellence and the research builds on empirical data from case studies, literature survey and interviews with industry experts. By assessing the empirical data and the various practices, a framework is proposed to address the different options that the firms can use relative to the organizational structure of the Procurement Department. These options are based on a combination of the importance of the inputs and the supplier/buyer power differential. Lastly, this thesis identifies the factors that affect these options. Key Words: Procurement, Sourcing, Organizational Architecture, Corporate Strategy.
by Ioannis G. Koliousis.
M.Eng.in Logistics
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Mudyawabikwa, Caleb M. "Challenges and best practices for ground handling services." Thesis, Stellenbosch : University of Stellenbosch, 2011. http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/14641.
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Thesis (MBA)--University of Stellenbosch, 2011.Ground handling is a key component of the air transport logistics supply chain as it facilitates the mobility of cargo and people from one destination to another. Ground handling facilitates international trade hence its existence is critical to the competitiveness of a nation. Airline businesses usually overshadow ground handling due to the historical dominance of airlines in the aviation industry. The importance and effectiveness of the ground handling function as part of the air transport business is fast becoming a global issue as the industry is slowly emerging. The following tenets of ground handling are fast becoming key issues in the air transport business: passenger handling, cargo handling, handling ramp handling, baggage handling, equipment, safety, security, and human resources. Ground handling players are mainly concerned with productivity, profitability and maximising returns on investment. Dwindling revenue, unsustainable profit margins, low productivity and low customer satisfaction and loyalty are terms no shareholder or business leader wants to hear. This research will give insight into ground handling best practices that are a panacea for the industry. The ground handling business is time sensitive and requires massive investment. Therefore, sustainable best practices are the right ingredient for customer loyalty and business success. The focus on ground handling in South Africa and Zimbabwe will help in assessing the level of development in each country. This will aid in recommending best practices for the industry taking into account different country-specific risks and operational conditions. There are few studies in the field of ground handling and it is an industry not many individuals know about. Many ground-handling executives admit that the industry absorbed them by accident and not by design. They only realise the importance of the industry when they are in it. This research is a practical study meant to bring out solutions to the industry.
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Smetana, Victor (Victor Stephan) 1966. "Corporate real estate : challenges and practices in Ukraine." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2000. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/32196.
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Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 2000.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 70-72).
Real property has been called the corporation's last undermanaged resource. However, during the past decade, companies have begun to concentrate more on what constitutes 25 to 40% of a typical corporation's assets. US corporate real estate assets amount to greater than $3 trillion and real estate expenses are typically second or third highest on the corporate ledger, only behind payroll and sometimes technology. Corporate executives have begun to realize the business value real estate can have. Facilities lacking the proper location, finance, design, or the proper amount of flexibility required to manage internal and external uncertainties can negatively impact the corporation's bottom line. Meanwhile, strategic planning increases in importance in the international setting due to the risks and rewards of executing business strategies increases at the international level. The collapse of communism in Central and Eastern Europe has opened twenty-eight countries to free markets. Corporations are hungry to expand into these markets which offer the opportunity of serving over 400 million customers. Uncertainties are heightened in transitional economies, making international corporate real estate management that much more challenging. This thesis research was a qualitative exploration of the corporate real estate challenges and practices in one particular transitional economy, Ukraine. Corporate real estate in Ukraine was found to be transactional in nature, not strategic. Almost all decisions are made locally. The challenges found in Ukraine center around an immature administrative infrastructure along with corporate efforts to control the costs associated with real estate. Although complex, the challenges found in Ukraine do not preclude participation in the market; rather, they merely impede the process.
by Victor Smetana.
S.M.
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Yin, Yuhong. "Geographically Distributed Development : trends, challenges and best practices." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2007. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/42373.
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Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, System Design and Management Program, February 2007."January 2007."
Includes bibliographical references (p. 101-103).
Economic and market forces as well as technological progress emerging throughout the last decade signifies the Geographically Distributed Development (GDD) or Global Software Development (GSD) as a software industry norm or necessity that is receiving considerable interest from companies all over the world. This thesis clarifies the terms used in distributed development practice, studies the status, key business drivers and major challenges of GDD or GSD, and then proposes a revised six-force framework to leverage the capabilities of geographically distributed development model. The proposed framework covers both the strategic and tactic aspects of investing and managing a global project team, including Strategic Vision and Management Skills, Organizational Structure and Team Building, Collaborative Technologies, Development Methodology and Software Life-Cycle Management in planning and managing distributed project and leveraging global teams. This thesis uses a case study to validate the challenges and concerns identified and to conclude that many problems in geographically distributed development can be overcome to enable companies to systematically harness the potential of this development model.
by Yuhong Yin.
S.M.
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Calhoun, McKenzie L., William Buselmeier, and Jesse Gilbreath. "Addressing Complex Patients: Innovation and Challenges in Practices." Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University, 2018. https://dc.etsu.edu/etsu-works/6884.
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Chicot, Julien. "Strategic use of public procurement for innovation : rationales, instruments and practices." Thesis, Université Grenoble Alpes (ComUE), 2017. http://www.theses.fr/2017GREAE012/document.
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Un nombre croissant de pays de l’OCDE encourage l’utilisation des achats publics en soutien à l’innovation, mais les discours ont été peu suivis d’effets. L’ambition de cette thèse est d’aider l’élaboration des initiatives d’achat public d’innovation (API), en identifiant les obstacles à l’innovation qu’ils peuvent résoudre, ainsi que les instruments et les pratiques les plus à mêmes de les aider dans cet objectif. Nous identifions huit idéo-types d’API selon les défaillances de marché ou de système (niveau méso) auxquelles ils tentent de répondre pour stimuler l’innovation. Ces défaillances affectent soit les utilisateurs, soit les producteurs ou touchent leurs interactions. Nous les comparons à celles de niveau macro et déterminons ainsi la contribution potentielle de chacun de ces idéo-types d’API aux politiques tournées vers de grandes missions. Notre typologie constitue un cadre théorique unifié associant défaillances et modalités de mise en œuvre des API. Elle en aide ainsi l’élaboration, l’évaluation et l’analyse. Certains de nos idéo-types doivent soutenir la création de marché pour encourager l’innovation. Nous nous appuyons sur les théories économiques évolutionnistes et une série d’études de cas pour comprendre comment les API peuvent y parvenir. Nous identifions leurs rôles, à différentes étapes de la procédure d’achat public, dans la coordination de connaissances et d’informations pour la création et le développement de marché. Les API doivent notamment permettre aux utilisateurs d’interagir avec les fournisseurs de manière appropriée et suffisamment tôt dans la procédure d’achat. Les recherches sur les achats privés ont néanmoins montré qu’une telle implication précoce des fournisseurs est source de problèmes de niveau micro. Une série d’entretiens avec des acheteurs publics et des fournisseurs permet de mieux identifier les problèmes affectant leur collaboration au cours d’une procédure standard d’API ou d’un dialogue compétitif. La nature de ces défaillances diffère selon la procédure d’achat public, du même que leur moment d’apparition. Les entretiens révèlent également que les acheteurs et fournisseurs perçoivent différemment les pratiques à l’origine de ces défaillances. Nos résultats appellent enfin à reconsidérer l’influence du cadre juridique sur les API, et soulignent l’existence de procédures et stratégies alternatives qui sont plus ou moins privilégiées par les fournisseurs. En somme, notre travail de recherche identifie différents niveaux d’obstacles à l’innovation que les API peuvent résoudre, ainsi que les mesures les plus appropriées pour les aider dans cet objectif. Il plaide en faveur d’une approche dynamique de la décision politique, qui définit problèmes, instruments de politique et pratiques à chacune des étapes des procédures d’achat public, de formation des marchés, et de collaboration entre acheteurs public et fournisseursAn increasing number of OECD countries has adopted measures to encourage the use of public procurement to foster innovation. However, implementation of public procurement of innovation (PPI) is lagging behind policy discourse. The ambition of this dissertation is to address this discrepancy by assisting in the design of PPI initiatives, that is, by identifying the innovation-related failures that PPI can overcome, and the most appropriate policy instruments and practices for achieving this objective. We define eight PPI ideal-types according to the type of meso-level market of system failures they address. These failures can relate to users, producers or to their mutual interactions. We confront them with macro-level failures, and determine accordingly the contribution of each PPI ideal-type to distinct mission-oriented policies. Our typology provides a unified PPI framework associating their rationales with their design. Therefore, it contributes to policymaking, and to policy evaluation and analysis. Some PPI categories aim to spur innovation by stimulating the formation of markets. We employ an evolutionary approach to analyse the influence of PPI at the different stages of the dynamic process of market formation through a series of selected existing case studies. We demonstrate that PPI can underpin the different phases of knowledge coordination for market formation, by ensuring appropriate interactions between users and producers early in the public procurement procedure. The literature on private procurement nevertheless shows that early supplier involvement is subject to a number of micro-level failures having their root in procurement practices. Based on interviews with public procurers and suppliers, we identify relevant collaboration failures related to the standard PPI and competitive dialogue procedures. We highlight differences in these failures and their loci between the two procedures. Furthermore, public procurers and suppliers appear to have different perception of the causes of the failures they have encountered. Finally, our findings discuss the influence of the legal framework on PPI and suggest additional PPI procedures and strategies that are favoured by suppliers to varying extents. In sum, our research identifies innovation-related failures at different levels that PPI can resolve, and relevant instruments to help PPI initiative to achieve their objectives. Furthermore, it advocates a dynamic approach considering failures, instruments, and practices at different stages of public procurement procedures, and market formation and public procurer-supplier collaboration processes
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Dahn, Marcus Anthony. "Investigation of Procurement Practices for Welfare Technologies in Municipalities in Sweden." Thesis, KTH, Medicinteknik och hälsosystem, 2020. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:kth:diva-279146.
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Major demographical changes, such as aging population, constantly increases the demand for healthand social care services and technologies. The concept of welfare technologies is a response to meet this demand, since it increases independency, activity, participation and safety for people that has or is at risk of developing a disability. The procurement process of welfare technology is described as ineffective and problematic and is one of the major bottlenecks in implementing this type of technology. The aim of this study was to explore how the practical procurement process of welfare technology is performed in Swedish municipalities, an area which is currently under-researched. Moreover, the main problematic areas in the procurement, and their causes were investigated, which was carried out through qualitative semi-structured interviews with municipal actors. Data was collected from 3 municipalities, with 8 interview participants in total. The collected data from these interviews was transcribed, using intelligent verbatim, and analyzed inductively in the framework of qualitative content analysis. The data analysis yielded 7 main categories of problematic areas in the procurement process, along with 47 sub-categories. The main issues discussed were related to insufficient resources, such as competence, time and money, too little focus on the userneed, and difficulties with integrating welfare technology with other technical systems. A set of concrete advices for how to target some of the identified problems was generated, along with a couple guidelines for how to streamline the procurement process of welfare technology. It is argued in this report that the municipal organization of this process needs to be looked over, which cannot solely occur within municipalities, but must also be decided from a higher political level.
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PEPIC, SANJIN, and BABACK ZARIF. "Exploring Managerial Challenges Emerging from Procurement of Mineral Concentrates : Case study on Boliden." Thesis, KTH, Skolan för industriell teknik och management (ITM), 2021. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:kth:diva-301281.
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Procurement of copper concentrate is becoming increasingly more challenging as the general quality of concentrates are decreasing. Concentrates are now coming with higher shares of impurities and secondary materials, which makes them harder to process. These concentrates are refereed to as complex concentrates and has historically been purchased by refineries pursuing a high margin strategy, as it is cheaper for refineries to buy. As the global copper concentrate quality decreases, traditional smelters may have to revisit their procurement strategy in order to continue to be competitive and cost efficient, gradually moving towards a strategy which today is considered a niche. This notion raises several questions as to what situation future refineries might find them selves in, when treating increasing shares of complex copper concentrates. On that perceptive, this study addresses this topic from a holistic business perspective by investigating managerial challenges which may occur from procurement of complex copper concentrates. We did this through an exploratory investigation on two smelter facilities within Boliden Group, operating on with this procurement strategy. Our aim was to identify important aspects within the procurement itself, inventory management and processing. We conducted eight interviews with company representatives and analysed data on purchasing behaviour, inventory holdings and process quantities in order to understand critical aspects emerging from this strategy. From there, we identified one general challenge containing three sub challenges. We concluded that the management of risk and productivity balance was essential for the whole business, as complex concentrates aggravates already present supply chain and industry risks. Furthermore we saw challenges with maintaining sufficient and balanced inventory levels, due to arrival uncertainties and vague shipping agreements. Also, aligning goals and priorities was identified as a challenge. As complex concentrates have both attractive margin figures and complex processing requirements, differences in prioritisation surrounding profitability and process stability was evident. Lastly, we uncovered potential productivity losses when treating both clean and complex concentrates.Inköp av kopparkoncentrat blir alltmer utmanande i takt med att koncentratens allmänna kvalitet minskar. Koncentrat kommer nu med större andelar av orenheter och sekundära material, vilket gör dem svårare att bearbeta. Dessa koncentrat betecknas som komplexa koncentrat och har historiskt bearbetats av raffinaderier som bedriver en högmarginalstrategi, eftersom dessa är billigare för raffinaderier att köpa. Då den globala kopparkoncentratkvaliteten minskar kan traditionella smältverk behöva se över sin inköpsstrategiför att fortsätta vara konkurrenskraftiga och kostnadseffektiva. Denna uppfattning väcker flera frågor om vilken situation framtida raffinaderier kan komma att befinna sig i, med ökande andelar av komplexa kopparkoncentrat. Med barkund i detta undersöker denna studie frågan ur ett helhetsperspektiv, genom att utforska operativa utmaningar som kan uppstå till följd av inköp av komplexa kopparkoncentrat. Vi genomförde en fallstudie på två smältverk inom Boliden Group, som förvärvar en hög andel komplexa kopparkoncentrat. Vårt mål var att identifiera viktiga aspekter inom själva upphandlingen, lagerhanteringen och bearbetning av koncentraten samt att identifiera utmaningar som beslutsfattare står inför. Vi genomförde åtta intervjuer med företagsrepresentanter och analyserade data om inköpsbeteende, lagerhållning och processkvantiteter för att förstå kritiska aspekter som framgår av denna strategi. Därifrån identifierade vi en allmän utmaning innehållande tre underutmaningar. Resultatet visade på att hantering av risk- och produktivitetsbalans var väsentlig för hela verksamheten, eftersom komplexa koncentrat förvärrar redan närvarande utmaningar med försörjningskedjan och industririsker. Därtill identifierade vi utmaningar med att upprätthålla en tillräcklig och balanserad lagernivå, på grund av osäkerheter om ankomst och vaga sjöfartsavtal. Gemensamma mål och prioriteringar identifierades också som en utmaning. Eftersom komplexa koncentrat både har attraktiva marginaler och komplexa bearbetningskrav var skillnader i prioritering kring lönsamhet och process-stabilitet uppenbara. Slutligen upptäckte vi potentiella produktivitetsförluster vid behandling av både rena och komplexa koncentrat.
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Gihozo, Diane. "Adoption of e-procurement in Rwandan Public institutions." Thesis, Linnéuniversitetet, Institutionen för ekonomistyrning och logistik (ELO), 2020. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:lnu:diva-98992.
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In the modern competitive business environment, government institutions need to embrace information communications technology to remain competitive. Procurement has been recognized as a priority government agenda by many public sector agencies worldwide. In the same line the Government of Rwanda has taken several initiatives to streamline its public procurement system to bring it into line with the fundamental principles of transparency, competition, economy, efficiency, fairness, and accountability. Seminega the director of Rwanda public procurement authority stated that e-procurement can help the Government of Rwanda to reach to the above-mentioned principles .E-procurement can be described as an electronic way of procuring goods and services as well as other procurement process activities with the help of internet and other information and communication technologies systems. Before the adoption of e-procurement in some institutions in Rwanda, all the procurement activities were done traditionally in their institutions and this procurement method has been criticized for having many deficits, that contributed to huge losses in public funds and lacks transparency, accountability, and fair competition. In this regard, the government of Rwanda decided to adopt an e-procurement system in its public institutions. the e-procurement system was launched in August 2016. The pilot stage started with eight public institutions, ministry of finance and economic planning is one of them and it is a case study used in this thesis research. it has been selected by the researcher because it is a cross-cutting ministry in the procurement process. Different forms of e-procurement have been discussed as well as benefits and challenges associated with the adoption of e-procurement. the purpose of this research study is to examine how the e-procurement system is used and explore the benefits and challenges associated with its adoption in Rwanda’s public institution. Qualitative research was chosen, and a case study was conducted in the ministry of finance and Economic planning. The source of data for the empirical is from personal interviews and second data. The findings of the present study demonstrate that the adoption of the e-procurement system brought several benefits to MINECOFIN but also it presents challenges associated with the adoption of e-procurement
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AlMaawi, Mohammad. "Counter-terrorism in Saudi Arabia : narratives, practices and challenges." Thesis, University of Kent, 2016. https://kar.kent.ac.uk/54562/.
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Since 9/11, both in the Middle East and worldwide, the academic, political and religious focus on extreme radicalisation has intensified. The attacks carried out in Riyadh, the capital of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, by Al-Qaeda in 2003, motivated a succession of bombings within and outside of the Kingdom. These events have led to a plethora of general and specific studies to understand the phenomenon of extremism. This thesis investigates radicalisation in Saudi Arabia since 2001, focusing on the impact of Al-Qaeda and its impact on individuals and the state. It specifically focuses on the role of the Mohammed bin Naif Centre for Counselling, Rehabilitation and Care, in this context referred to as ‘the Centre’, analysing its function as a tool for the ‘soft power’ strategy that has been initiated by the Saudi Arabian Government, intended to de-radicalise individuals who are perceived by the state to have been misled. The study uses a detailed literature review to unpack the historical trends regarding the origins of Saudi Arabia, the political differences therein, as well as the different religious interpretations which are attributed as being a root cause of discontent which thereby leads to radicalisation and violent extremism in the region. In this thesis, I trace the various schools of thought regarding the treatment of religion and governance in relation to local and international politics, and how this impacts upon the radicalisation of individuals. A Critical Terrorism Studies (CTS) approach is used to highlight the need to view studies on security from a reflexive perspective, both in the researcher and the researched subject matter, namely the terrorist organisations and the governments against which they are fighting. The concept of governance is analysed and how this either precipitates or prevents dissent that results in violence. In addition, the political and religious solutions to radicalisation are assessed, with a specific focus on the de-radicalisation process, as reflected through a qualitative research on the views and thinking of the practitioners working in the Centre. In this context, I investigate the motives, roles, responsibilities and strategies used in executing their roles, with the aim of seeking possible explanations for the causes of radicalisation and the challenges faced in de-radicalising individuals. Their views are used to form the main basis for the data for this research. This study should be of interest to politicians, security experts, academics, religious leaders, Islamic scholars and interested individuals. It will be a valuable contribution towards an understanding of the causes, consequences and possible solutions to addressing Islamic extremism and radicalisation.
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Thorne, David. "Investigating Differences in Volunteer Administrator Challenges and Management Practices." Bowling Green State University / OhioLINK, 2021. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1616526934705194.
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Hillion, Mélina. "Teacher recruitment and management : current practices and future challenges." Thesis, Paris Sciences et Lettres (ComUE), 2018. http://www.theses.fr/2018PSLEH118/document.
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L'organisation de la fonction publique française connait de profondes mutations depuis le début des années 2000. Cette thèse examine la capacité du système de recrutement et de gestion des enseignants à répondre aux enjeux d'attractivité, d'efficacité et de diversité au cœur des projets actuels de modernisation du système éducatif. Le premier chapitre examine la neutralité du processus de recrutement des enseignants du secondaire vis-à-vis du genre. Il révèle que des biais d'évaluation existent et tendent à favoriser le genre minoritaire, contribuant ainsi à renforcer la mixité au sein des disciplines universitaires. Les deuxième et troisième chapitres examinent la capacité des incitations monétaires, de la demande d'enseignants et des exigences en matière de diplômes à attirer davantage et potentiellement de meilleurs candidats aux postes d'enseignant. Une hausse du niveau de diplôme requis pour enseigner (réforme de la "masterisation") ne semble pas améliorer l'efficacité du recrutement en termes d'attractivité, de profils de compétences et de diversité. Le quatrième chapitre examine la relation entre absentéisme, mobilité et conditions de travail des enseignants. Il montre que les écoles et les directeurs d'école influencent significativement les absences, les départs et le bien-être psychologique des enseignants. Le manque de soutien hiérarchique, les comportements hostiles et l'intensité du travail semblent jouer un rôle particulièrement importantThe organization of the French civil service has undergone profound changes since the early 2000s. This thesis examines the capacity of the teacher recruitment and management system to meet the challenges of attractiveness, efficiency and diversity at the heart of current projects to modernize the education system. The first chapter examines the gender neutrality of the recruitment process for secondary school teachers. It reveals that evaluation biases tend to favor the minority gender and contribute to strengthening the gender diversity within university disciplines. The second and third chapters examine the ability of monetary incentives, teacher demand and degree requirements to attract more and potentially better candidates for teaching positions. An increase in the level of qualification required to teach (from bachelor's to master's level) does not seem to improve the effectiveness of recruitment in terms of attractiveness, skills profiles and diversity. The fourth chapter examines the relationship between absenteeism, mobility and working conditions of teachers. It shows that schools and school principals significantly influence teacher absences, turnover and psychological well-being. Lack of hierarchical support, hostile behaviors and work intensity seem to play a critical role
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Schitko, Tobias. "Future Development Strategies : Challenges to adopt Open Innovation Practices." Thesis, Högskolan i Halmstad, Akademin för ekonomi, teknik och naturvetenskap, 2016. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:hh:diva-34436.
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Living in the era of globalization and the Internet, the demand for faster innovation cycles is increasing. Thus companies have the aim to explore new innovation strategies. Therefore the basis of this study is to investigate the development from the traditional way of innovation to Open Innovation practices. If companies want to get a benefit of Open Innovation, many structural and cultural changes have to be overcome. The protection of company secrecies and the retention of the core competencies are the most elementary factors, which have to be considered if external stakeholders are involved in the innovation process. In addition to that, the purpose of this is to examine and declare the limitations and challenges of Open Innovation strategies. Through a multiple case study of three companies, including semi-structured interviews with key individuals, who have extensive experiences in the research and development department, the empirical findings are deducted and connected with the framework. Furthermore the gathered data is analysed on the basis of a research model, which was developed from the existing literature. The research model contains the most common challenges when adopting Open Innovation. These challenges are intellectual property, flexibility, internal structure, trust, acceptance and integration. In the course of this study, different significant manifestations of the respective factors were determined. Moreover it can be identified that some factors are related to each other or have several similarities. This study shows that the structure and the size of a company is the most crucial challenge by adopting Open Innovation practices in the ongoing innovation process. The challenge of company size is affecting the corporate and process structures. This includes the organization of intellectual property as well as the cooperation with companies of different sizes. The second important challenge is the generic term of trust, which is related to the overall acceptance of the company towards Open Innovation. Moreover, the factor of trust is influencing the level of integration of suppliers and customers in the innovation process. To find the right balance between trusting and supporting the internal innovation department and be open for external knowledge is the key factor for success. Additionally, it can be recommended to implement a central innovation department, which is only responsible for Open Innovation.
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Winter, Anja, and Anne Bartens. "Translating Sustainability : Sustainable Public Procurement Practices in Swedish and German Public Organizations." Thesis, Uppsala universitet, Företagsekonomiska institutionen, 2014. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-227775.
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The idea of sustainability is widespread, but it often remains unclear how the idea travelled and how it is translated into practice. In this thesis it is analysed how public organizations translate sustainability into action through Sustainable Public Procurement (SPP). First, an overview of translation theory and previous research on SPP is given. Basing on an empirical analysis, two cases of public organizations in Sweden and Germany that integrated SPP in their strategies are described and analysed. It is revealed that translation theory applies to the two cases and that the theory is useful to explain how the concept of sustainability is acted upon. Characteristics of processes of translation can be observed in both cases, indicating that the translation of the same idea can result in different practices and outcomes. It is found that although both public organizations use the same term, the way SPP is implemented and practiced differs highly. The thesis includes reflections on this different outcome and considers the importance of local contexts and actors.
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Ibarra, Romina Busto, Lilli McCubbin, and Sebastian Tschuschke. "Integrating Strategic Sustainable Development into Assessing Following up Suppliers in Procurement Practices." Thesis, Blekinge Tekniska Högskola, Sektionen för ingenjörsvetenskap, 2011. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:bth-2543.
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Currently supply chains are globally interlinked, involve many different stakeholders and have a significant impact on the socio-ecological system. They are associated with materials extraction, design, production methods and volume, which result in pollutants and waste as by-products. Procurement plays a critical role in this process by serving as a ‘gate-keeper’. It acts as a great leverage point to influence which products and services are selected by organisations from the assessment of suppliers’ performance. This thesis examines how supplier assessment and follow up tools and their use by the organisation itself can work towards full sustainability. At present, there is a gap in current practices, with the most notable being a lack of vision of success for sustainability, a definition of sustainability that is not communicated across the supply chain, and the adoption of a short-term perspective. We develop two applications - a Golden Standard model and Key Elements for the organisation to embody to maximise its use in order to bridge this gap. These applications can be used by organisations to tailor their supplier assessment and follow up tools to ultimately move towards a sustainable society.
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Shimada, Tomoaki. "Potential benefits and emerging challenges of B2B e-procurement systems in a supply chain." online access from Digital Dissertation Consortium, 2005. http://libweb.cityu.edu.hk/cgi-bin/er/db/ddcdiss.pl?3195924.
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Abbasi, Salma. "Women and ICT in Muslim countries : policies, practices and challenges." Thesis, Royal Holloway, University of London, 2012. http://repository.royalholloway.ac.uk/items/5d56f72f-4ce5-4a5f-7196-22bc9ff0bec1/7/.
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This thesis explores the challenges and barriers that influence women's engagement with ICTs in Muslim countries, particularly in Pakistan. It examines the extent to which ICT policies, plans and strategies for 24 countries refer to women, and the implications that this has for their experience of ICTs. It analyses the cultural and social constraints on women's engagement with ICTs. Empirical research was conducted in five regions of Pakistan using documentary analysis, interviews, focus groups and questionnaires. The research shows that involving women in the ICT policy formulation process does not necessarily guarantee effective and inclusive ICT policies. Supporting Thas et al. (2007) and Chowdhury and Khanam (2005) it suggests that women from diverse sections of society with real knowledge of cultural and social contexts need to be involved in policy making if it is to be of benefit to women. Building on the work of Wanasundera (2006) and Hafkin (2002), the research suggests that ICT policies cannot be gender-neutral in countries such as Pakistan, where prevailing patriarchal social structures limit understandings of the constraints faced by women in effectively utilising ICTs in their individual and collective interests. The use and impact of ICTs depends greatly on class, education and geographical location (Gurumurthy, 2004; Jorge, 2002). ICT policies/programmes appear to cater mainly for the needs of wealthy, upper and middle class educated urban women. Thus ICTs have negligible benefits for the lower class poor, uneducated rural women (Arun et al., 2004). This research also highlights critical gaps in our understanding of the interface between ICTs, women and development (Momsen, 2004). Women face a wide range of social barriers in their use of ICTs, based on their environments, immersed in tradition and cultural norms. This research identifies substantial barriers that appear to be unaddressed in the design of ICT projects and guidebooks.
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Littke, Helene. "Planning Practices of Greening : Challenges for Public Urban Green Space." Doctoral thesis, KTH, Urbana och regionala studier, 2016. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:kth:diva-187055.
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Public urban green spaces are crucial parts of cities due to the many connections existing between urban greenery and well-being. Additionally, public urban green space represents a wide range of spatial concepts, such as parks, urban forests, commons, in-between-spaces, and gardens. This study explores challenges for contemporary public urban green space in an increasingly urban world, with high demands on urban growth, and simultaneously the need for more sustainable societies and cities. The aim is to problematize the complex reality for contemporary public urban green space from an urban planning perspective in times of urban densification strategies, global competitiveness between cities and trends of ‘re-naturing’. The scope of this thesis is based on four high profile case studies. The Green Walkable City in Stockholm and The Green Living Spaces in Birmingham constitute planning strategies with a holistic approach to urban green space, including a strong focus on well-being. The High Line in New York and Parklets in San Francisco represent urban green space concepts, influential both at the local level and in the larger urban planning debate. The results point to a need to acknowledge the complexity inherent to urban green space provision, design, and management. This study contributes with insights of direct connections between narratives of nature, materialized urban greenery projects and conceptualizations of functionality of nature in urban planning projects. From the post-industrial, pristine flirting, crafted wilderness of the High Line; a symbolic but cosmetic scrambling with planters and narratives of parks of parklets; dualistic argumentations of natural values connected to quality over quantity of nature in a densifying and growing Stockholm; to pragmatic yet emotional and ambitious conceptualizations of human nature in biohilic urbanism and green space planning in Birmingham. Gentrification, publicness and production of public space and densification strategies are central themes in urban studies – and public urban green space can play an active role in these processes.QC 20160518
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Kilaz, Ilker, and Kadir Hayri. "Improving the transparency/anti-corruption efforts in defense procurement: recommendations from global practices." Monterey, California. Naval Postgraduate School, 2011. http://hdl.handle.net/10945/10632.
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MBA Professional ReportThe purpose of this MBA Project is to explore the risks of corruption throughout the defense procurement cycle, and provide an overview of existing anti-corruption conventions and tools. This report includes background information and corruption focused analysis about defense offset agreements and single-source selection methods. The findings related to these corruption risks are supported with the analysis of three informative defense procurement cases. Additionally, the effectiveness of anti-corruption conventions is evaluated through ten countries' score changes in major corruption indices. Finally, several recommendations are offered to improve the integrity, transparency, and accountability of defense purchases.
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Mazibuko, Gezani Phineas. "Analysis of the administration of procurement practices in the South African public sector." Thesis, University of Pretoria, 2018. http://hdl.handle.net/2263/65500.
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The purpose of the study is to analyse the administration of procurement practices in the South African public sector. Ethical procurement practices prohibit breach of the public’s trust by discouraging unethical practices. While the objectives of government are to have positive procurement, practices that are world best practices, there are also negative practices that makes it difficult for the administration of public procurement practices. Owing to the complexity, size and high volumes of financial flow, close transactional relations between public and private sectors public procurement is mostly vulnerable to unethical procurement practices and non-compliance with procurement legislation. The problem is that, there is a distinct inadequacy of documented academic research to procurement practices, and so is the marred unethical practices. Without doubt, a limited knowledge regarding the nature, size and extent of unethical procurement practices prevails. The objective of the study is to analyse the administration of procurement practices, explore the extent, size, nature, the manifestation of unethical procurement practices and to propose a public procurement framework. The triangulation approach of qualitative research method guided the study. The research design used in the study is an exploratory one with a focus on a multiple case study of seven randomly selected national departments categorised under government guide on clusters “the social protection, community and human development government cluster” The South African public sector has challenges with regard to the administration of procurement practices in national departments. Despite government codes of conducts mechanisms and policies developed, there seems to be a manifestation of unethical procurement practices. Based on the key findings, the study proposed a Public-Sector Procurement Governance Framework that will be anchored by governance structures, infrastructural tools, and effective systems underpinned by a center-led action network.Thesis (DAdmin)--University of Pretoria, 2018.
School of Public Management and Administration (SPMA)
DAdmin
Unrestricted
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Lecki, Sabina E. "The non-native modern language teacher : language practices, choices, and challenges." Thesis, University of British Columbia, 2011. http://hdl.handle.net/2429/31407.
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Previous research exploring the issues and challenges facing non-native language teachers has predominantly studied teachers of English. However, due to the status of French as an official language and waves of European and Asian immigration within the Lower Mainland of British Columbia there are many other modern languages of interest and relevance being taught besides English. The question then arises: What are the issues and challenges facing non-native teachers of languages other than English, and what is their unique contribution to modern language teaching? Do the findings and theories developed from previous research conducted mainly in English language teaching contexts, particularly with respect to language use practises, choices, and challenges, apply to other language teaching contexts?
In this qualitative study of 22 non-native modern language teachers, participants teaching various Asian and European languages were interviewed with the subsequent interview and questionnaire data subjected to a cross-case analysis. Four participants were selected as focal cases for greater in-depth analysis. Participants perspectives on the native speaker construct were also explored in relation to their non-native status.
It was found that most participants were challenged in their attempts to maintain and improve their target language proficiency. Many teachers viewed their bilingual or multilingual identity as a strength, though this was sometimes in conflict with the views of stakeholders. Much of the previous research concerning language use, barriers faced by non-native teachers, and reflections on the term native speaker was confirmed by this study. In terms of the principal theme of L1-L2 use, this study further valorised teachers selective and strategic use of the L1, particularly in late-entry programs, while continuing to focus on maximising L2 use. Extensive individual and contextual factors also had an impact on participants language use though the use of L1-L2 boundaries or zones was a useful strategy. Findings have implications for the hiring, training, and professional development of language teachers. Although some of the experiences of non-native teachers of Asian languages were similar to those of their counterparts in other languages, these teachers faced some particularly unique challenges which present avenues for future research.Graduate
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Tong, Kwok-pan, and 湯國斌. "Conditions and constraints on innovative pedagogical practices: challenges to educational leadership." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 2003. http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B29400594.
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Bhardwaj, Suresh. "Challenges and potential of technology integration in modern ship management practices." Thesis, University of Plymouth, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/10026.1/2840.
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This thesis explores the challenges and potential of technology integration in current ship management practices. While technology advancements were designed to be contributing to minimising task complexity, issues such as fatigue, increased administrative burden and technology assisted accidents still plague the industry. In spite of the clearly recognisable benefits of using modern technology in the management of ships, in practice its application appears lacking by a considerable margin. The main driver of the study was to appreciate the cause of this disparity. The study first reviewed a wide body of literature on issues involving the use of technology which included academic literature with empirical evidences and theoretical explanations of implementation of technology at work. With the help of the extant knowledge this research embarked on providing an explanation to the gap that existed in the application of technology in the shipping industry. By taking a case study approach the thesis looked into the induction and integration of technology in the management and operation of ships that primarily interfaced closely between the ship and its management unit on shore. Three companies with mutually diverse management setup were studied. The fourth case comprised of purposefully selected senior members of ships’ staff. The analysis of the data revealed that the manifestation of the gap in technology implementation is caused by deeper influences at work in the shipping industry. The un-optimised technology integration results in the seafarer, who is the keystone to the technology application, becoming a victim of the circumstances. The technology that was intended to ease operations and burdens ends up in controlling him, even leaving him under-resourced and causing fatigue.This was not an unintended outcome but the result of weak regulatory practices, short-term capital outlook and weakened labour practices in the shipping industry all caused by wider social and economic developments affecting not just this industry but businesses globally. The impact of such influences was however more acute in this industry resulting in such extreme consequence. By bringing to light the limited application of some fundamental principles of human-systems integration, this study has attempted to expand the boundaries of research on the subject and contributed to the holistic understanding of the various underlying factors that influence technology integration in ship management processes.
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Voida, Stephen. "Exploring user interface challenges in supporting activity-based knowledge work practices." Diss., Atlanta, Ga. : Georgia Institute of Technology, 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/1853/24721.
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Thesis (Ph.D.)--Computing, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2008.Committee Chair: Mynatt, Elizabeth D.; Committee Member: Abowd, Gregory D.; Committee Member: Edwards, W. Keith; Committee Member: MacIntyre, Blair; Committee Member: Moran, Thomas P.
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Marquardt, Gesine, and Axel Viehweger. "Architecture for people with dementia: planning principles, practices and future challenges." Technische Universität Dresden, 2014. https://tud.qucosa.de/id/qucosa%3A28437.
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Providing care for people with dementia is an increasing societal challenge. In Nursing Homes, Assisted Living Facilities and Housing alike, dementia-friendly concepts are needed.
Whether it is possible to live well with dementia is determined by many factors, among which the architectural design of the living environment plays a major role. Dementia-friendly architectural concepts support the everyday activities, independence, and quality of life not only of people with dementia, but also their care givers. The following issues need to be addressed: Which living and care arrangements support best the needs of people with dementia? How can architectural and technological concepts support family care givers, professional care providers, and volunteers?
Only a holistic approach to the provision of care for people with dementia will allow the generation of economically sustainable concepts. These are especially in demand in light of the demographic changes our society encounters and will become a key issue for the future development of shrinking regions.
This book is a collection of the contributions to the symposium “Architecture for People With Dementia” which took place in Dresden, Germany, in May of 2014. It provides an overview on this important topic and includes new insights form research and care practice on the architectural design of various living and care arrangements of people with dementia.
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Luz, Mariana Helena Silva Da, Candido Alberto Gomes, and Adriana Lira. "Narratives on the Inclusion of Autistic Students: Challenges and Teaching Practices." Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, 2017. http://repositorio.pucp.edu.pe/index/handle/123456789/117380.
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Autism is a widely explored theme in the literature. Nevertheless, school inclusionamong autistic children still constitutes a challenge. On this basis, the generalgoal of this research was to identify the challenges of teaching practices in themonitoring of an autistic student and in which conditions his inclusion occurs.The qualitative research, descriptive and exploratory in its nature, is characterizedas a case study that was conducted in the months of August to October 2014 in aprivate institution of Brasilia. In summary, the study, by means of semi-structuredinterviews and on-site observations, concluded that the school»s inclusionproposal, in which parents seem to trust, is weakened by the lack of professionalpreparation, a fact derived by the precariousness of initial and continuous trainingof these professionals.El autismo es un tema ampliamente explorado en la literatura. Sin embargo, lainclusión escolar de los niños autistas sigue constituyendo un desafío. Basándoseen esta suposición, el objetivo general de esta investigación fue indentificar losdesafíos de la práctica docente en el seguimiento de un niño autista y en quécondiciones se produce su inclusión. El carácter cualitativo, descriptivo yexploratorio, está caracterizado como un estudio de caso que se realizó en losmeses de agosto a octubre de 2014 en una institución privada de Brasília. Enresumen, el estudio, através de entrevistas semi-estructuradas y observaciones insitu llegó a la conclusión de que la propuesta de inclusión de la escuela, en la queapuestan los padres, está debilitada por la falta de preparación profesional, hechoderivado de la precariedad de la formación inicial y continua de los mismos.
O autismo é tema amplamente explorado na literatura. Apesar disso, a inclusãoescolar da criança autista ainda se constitui um desafio. Partindo deste pressuposto,o objetivo da pesquisa foi identificar quais os desafios da prática docente noacompanhamento de uma criança autista e em que condições a sua inclusãoocorreu. A pesquisa qualitativa, de natureza descritiva e exploratória foi realizadanos meses de agosto a outubro de 2014 em uma instituição privada de Brasília.Em síntese, o estudo leva, por meio de entrevistas semiestruturadas e observaçãoin loco, a concluir que a proposta de inclusão da escola, na qual parecem apostaros pais, é fragilizada pela falta de preparo dos profissionais, fato oriundo daprecariedade da formação inicial e continuada destes.
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Muzir, Abd Khalik Khassunah. "School buildings maintenance in Malaysia : current practices, key challenges and implications." Thesis, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/10443/3789.
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The school building has been examined by various research dominated by quantitative approach originated from USA and Europe, which are keen to point out its influence on various learning outcomes. Nevertheless, the underlying factor which affects the building condition, namely school building maintenance receives scant consideration. Hence, the current study intends to fill this gap of knowledge on this under researched topic. Thus, drawing from multiple perspectives of key stakeholders’ (i.e. education officers, school principals, teachers and students) experiences in four types of secondary schools in Malaysia, the research achieves the following: (a) examines the current policy, procedures and mechanism of maintenance in Malaysian secondary schools; (b) establishes the key challenges of school building maintenance in Malaysia; and (c) assesses the level of satisfaction of the administrators and end users on the school building condition and maintenance. Using mixed methods research, survey questionnaire and face-to-face semi-structured interviews were undertaken, besides walk-through observations of the schools and school documents review. Findings reveal the existence of school building maintenance policy, procedures and mechanisms in place, despite minor differences depending on school type. Key challenges include some common urgent school building maintenance issues, varying causes, limited resources and knowledge and skills, as well as critical roles of the different stakeholders. Findings also indicate that school building maintenance has implications for quality of education: school building condition; teaching and learning; and occupants’ feelings and emotions. From the key findings, several recommendations in terms of policy and practice, which are of useful value for Malaysia and beyond, are offered. In conclusion, it is proposed that school building maintenance needs to be viewed from an ecological perspective, where schools are understood within their educational, social, cultural and geographical contexts.
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Acharya, Mod Nath, and Nazam Aslam. "Coordination in Global Software Development : Challenges, associated threats, and mitigating practices." Thesis, Blekinge Tekniska Högskola, Sektionen för datavetenskap och kommunikation, 2012. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:bth-6054.
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Global Software Development (GSD) is an emerging trend in today's software world in which teams are geographically dispersed, either in close proximity or globally. GSD provides certain advantages to development companies like low development cost, access to cheap and skilled labour etc. This type of development is noted as a more risky and challenging as compared to projects developed with teams under same roof. Inherently the nature of GSD projects are cooperative in which many software developers work on a common project, share information and coordinate activities. Coordination is a fundamental part of software development. GSD comprises different types of development systems i.e. insourcing, outsourcing, nearshoring, or farshoring, whatever the types of development systems selected by a company there exist the challenges to coordination. Therefore the knowledge of potential challenges, associated threats to coordination and practices to mitigate them plays a vital role for running a successful global project.
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Islam, Md Moinul. "In-kind donation practices, challenges and strategies for NGOs and donors." Diss., Georgia Institute of Technology, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/1853/50332.
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This thesis focuses on developing a comprehensive framework for understanding the challenges NGOs face with in-kind donations in disaster relief. The overwhelming problem of inappropriate material donations, often referred to as the second disaster, has plagued disaster relief operations for decades now in both domestic and international disaster response. Despite efforts to promote ``cash only'' giving in disaster relief, unsolicited and mostly inappropriate in-kind giving continues to challenge NGOs in every major disaster. Researchers have identified this as one of the most pressing yet understudied challenges in disaster relief to date.
This thesis is divided into three parts. In the first part, we conduct a multidisciplinary literature review from philanthropy, economics, public policy, corporate philanthropy and corporate social responsibility to understand why donors donate in-kind and why NGOs accept those donations. We describe the roles of the various players involved and explain the structure of the distribution channels in-kind donations follow both in disaster and non-disaster contexts. We then explain the challenges NGOs and their donors face with in-kind donations in the context of these channels. We identify systemic issues in the distribution channels and highlight current policies and practices that contribute to the second disaster.
In the second part of this thesis, we propose a comprehensive framework to help donors, NGOs and policy makers comprehend the scope of the problem and identify strategies to address the challenge of unsolicited donations in disaster relief. Our framework provides a succinct representation of the main issues and players involved in the process in a format that is simple to work with and easy to understand. It supports comprehension of the many related issues and can help NGOs and policy making bodies (e.g., FEMA, NVOAD, USAID) assess current strategies and devise new approaches and solution strategies.
In the third part of the thesis, we exploit our framework to propose a tiered strategy consisting of a set of solutions ranging from decision tools to help NGOs better screen in-kind donation offers to entire new channels for more productive in-kind giving in disaster relief. Each of these solutions may deter only a small fraction of the inappropriate flows, but together they can dramatically diminish the problem. Our proposed NGO decision tools both allow quick screening of donation offers in disaster relief and provide a framework for strategic management of corporate in-kind donations in the long term. We also propose a ``retail donation model" which can transform a portion of the current stream of unwanted and unusable in-kind donations from individuals and community groups into a valuable source of needed relief supplies through an entirely new donation channel. We document a successful implementation of an on-line retail donation model in the 2012 Sandy response.
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Hicks, Priscilla Lafond. "Challenges Public School Teachers Face Teaching Military Connected Students." Diss., Virginia Tech, 2020. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/97905.
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Many military children face obstacles during their lives, and these obstacles can affect their classroom environment due to their mobility, social-emotional behavior, and academics. The purpose of this study was to identify challenges, if any, that teachers indicate exist while educating military-connected students in public schools and teacher actions to address any challenges. Existing literature on military connected students and teacher perceptions of military-connected challenges was reviewed.
This study examined teacher perceptions of the challenges, responses to challenges and training these teachers experienced while teaching military-connected students.
A Likert-type survey of questions was administered through an online survey tool to elementary school teachers in two public school divisions in Virginia. The survey instrument was developed by Mittleberg (2014). After collecting the data, the researcher examined and analyzed data based on the survey responses. The following research questions were addressed: - What challenges do teachers identify related to educating military-connected students?
- What practices do teachers use to address the perceived challenges?
- What do teachers indicate as their level of training to teach military-connected students?
Doctor of Education
There are many public school divisions in the United States that service military-connected students. Of the 132 school divisions in the Commonwealth of Virginia, there is at least one military-connected student in each school division. According to Wykes (2015), Virginia is one of the top 10 states for military presence with 10% (Wykes, 2015, p. 23). Teachers in these school divisions face perceived challenges that need to be addressed. Some of those challenges include mobility, academics, and the social-emotional well-being of the military- connected student. This quantitative study focused on the perceived challenges public school teachers face when teaching military-connected students. Data were collected using a Likert-type survey with participants from two school divisions who service military-connected students. There were limitations in this study beyond the researcher's control such as the accuracy and honesty by the respondents and response rate. This study produced eight findings and eight implications. Of the eight findings, three were teachers perceived the adjustment to students leaving and arriving at various times, having a routine in place when new military-connected students arrive into the classroom after the start of the school year, and receiving the level of training needed to prepare them to support parents/guardians of military connected students in their classroom were a challenge. A few of the implications included, the need for teacher preparation programs to address the challenges military connected students face, the development of a handbook of team building activities for teachers to use in the classroom as a resource and the need for resources that could focus on meeting the needs of students' knowledge gaps to support those military connected students.
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Groom, Peter. "An experimental study of mesolithic coastal fishing practices and shellfish procurement in western Scotland." Thesis, University of Edinburgh, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/1842/17623.
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Coastal shell middens, a prominent feature of the Mesolithic (11,500–6000 cal BP) archaeological record of western Scotland, suggest a maritime economy based on fishing and shellfish. Despite evidence for the importance of fish and shellfish to diet, virtually nothing is known as to the methods of procurement. Initially, work focussed on the palaeoenvironments of Scottish West Coast Mesolithic coastal sites, to establish the resources available to Mesolithic coastal dwellers. A range of archaeological/ethnohistorical fishing gear and food procurement strategies is described, together with views of field archaeologists, bushcraft practitioners and experimental archaeologists. These perspectives together with palaeoenvironmental data were considered when producing fishing gear utilising resources and technologies available during the Mesolithic. Fieldwork and experiments were conducted at the Scottish West Coast Mesolithic coastal sites of Ulva Cave, the Oban area, the island of Oronsay, and Sand, together with South Uist and the Urr estuary on the Solway Firth. The fishing gear manufactured reflects current debates as to fishing strategies, as such, several archaeological ‘models’ were tested. The gear also enabled an attempt at targeting the main fish and crab species found in the middens; Pollachius virens, Labridae, Pollachius pollachius, Carcinus maenas, Liocarcinus depurator and Cancer pagurus. In addition to fishing experiments, ecological surveys and forage exercises established the species present and available to a contemporary coastal forager, providing an indication as to the vigour and abundance of shoreline species. This data was compared to data from the middens, providing an insight into potential collection strategies. Exploratory procurement and manufacture experiments were conducted that tested a variety of materials, including their suitability for use, while bait tests assessed bait desirability. The results suggest that for Mesolithic groups to successfully exploit the coastal environments adjacent to the West coast midden sites, knowledge of tides and species together with simple manufacturing skills would have been sufficient.
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Xhala, Ncedo Cameron. "Improving procurement management practices in the public sector : a study of Eastern Cape Province." Thesis, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/10948/d1018640.
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The study explored lack of improvement of public procurement management practices in the public sector. The main themes which the study focused on are the following; causes of non-compliance of public procurement and contracts management procedures, factors influencing the selection of appropriate procurement management processes and the main factors for poor implementation of procurement management processes in the public sector. The study aimed to identify the causes of non-compliance; determine factors influencing selection of appropriate procurement management processes, and lastly examine, the main factors leading to poor implementation of monitoring and evaluation in the public sector. The study employed a qualitative design to investigate the problem using the exploratory method. The purposive sampling method was used to select interviewees from three departments, namely, Department of Local government and Traditional Affairs, Public Works and Office of the Premier with 15 participants as a selective sample of the study. The key findings of this study indicate three main problems which are: that lack of properly understood processes of public procurement leads to poor implementation of the system together with alternative strategies of implementing the system. Shortages of skills and lack of training amongst those who get hired within the supply chain management sections or in the procurement management sections of the departments who have little understanding of holistic public procurement management in general affect selection processes. Findings also indicate lack of adequate monitoring and evaluation on procurement management. The study recommends that people who get hired in the procurement management section of these departments should have proper procurement qualifications. Regulations and rules should be made clear to all those who work in the procurement management sections in the public sector, to enable the improvement of best management practices and also to improve public procurement management practices in the public sector.
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Kvamme, Oscar, and Chilò Maximilian Stegö. "Regulating European defence procurements: implications and challenges : A case study of the Swedish A&D industry on the international fighter market and the role of offset agreements." Thesis, Linköpings universitet, Nationalekonomi, 2016. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:liu:diva-131346.
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Background: When governments procure fighter jets from international suppliers, offsets frequently occur. In 2009, the European Commission issued Defence and Security Directive 2009/81/EC – a first step to incorporate the defence sector into the European single-market model. The regulation has changed the circumstances on the fighter market by limiting the use of offsets. Whether the fighter market, or the defence sector, is able to adjust to these changes remain unanswered.Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate and analyse the role of offsets in procurements of fighter jets, to get a better understanding of the present situation at the fighter market where the EU attempts to ban offset agreements.Research method: This study uses a qualitative method. Seven interviews with employees at Saab Aeronautics were carried through. In addition to the interviews, a literature study was conducted on defence markets, offsets and the European context. The gathered material was thereafter analysed with selected theories of institutional and transaction cost economics, as well as previous research in order to fulfil the purpose of the study.Conclusion: The study concludes that offsets can be seen as a by-product of the existing market imperfections and political transactions, and therefore a natural component in procurements of fighter jets. Certain forms of offset can be used by purchasing governments to neutralize existing market imperfections and lower the transaction costs. However, this is only one dimension to offsets since they may appear in several forms with different purposes and risks attached to them. The institutional change on the European fighter market will produce both winners and losers in the years to come. Whether eliminating offsets will lead to a more open and transparent fighter market remains ambiguous
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Kim, In-Gyu. "Essays on the design of procurement auctions." Diss., Virginia Tech, 1992. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/40184.
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This dissertation is a collection of articles on the design of procurement auctions. Chapter 1 provides a primer to the subsequent three essays. Rather than addressing all the issues involved, it illustrates some basic concepts about auctions, both institutionally and theoretically. It also highlights some problems that arise when auction theory is applied to procurement auctions.Ph. D.
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Doherty, Tanya. "HIV and Infant Feeding : Operational Challenges of Achieving Safe Infant Feeding Practices." Doctoral thesis, Uppsala : Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis (AUU), 2006. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-7291.
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Pinchasin, Esther Sarah. "Challenges and successful practices for planning, contracting, and building sustainable military construction /." May be available electronically:, 2008. http://proquest.umi.com/login?COPT=REJTPTU1MTUmSU5UPTAmVkVSPTI=&clientId=12498.
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Lwakatare, L. E. (Lucy Ellen). "DevOps adoption and implementation in software development practice:concept, practices, benefits and challenges." Doctoral thesis, Oulun yliopisto, 2017. http://urn.fi/urn:isbn:9789526217116.
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Abstract In the last decade, the software industry has been marked by a growing trend of software companies’ ability to deploy new software features fast and frequently in short release cycle times. The companies’ software release cycles have been shortened to hours and minutes rather than months. To enable the transformation towards short release cycle times, companies have adopted several different strategies, including the DevOps approach. DevOps in the software industry emerged to represent a professional movement emphasising the collaboration between software development and operations. In practice, DevOps affects the company culture, processes, products, associated technologies and organisational structures used in software development and operations processes. The multifaceted nature of DevOps makes the concept ambiguous and difficult for software companies to adopt as there are many different paths to its adoption. The purpose of the thesis is to provide detailed description of the adoption and implementation of DevOps in software development comprehending the DevOps concept definition, and its practices, benefits and challenges. The research was performed by systematically reviewing the literature, multi-vocal documents and making qualitative inquiries among software practitioners; and based on that the consolidated body of knowledge of DevOps was constructed. The key finding of the research is that the DevOps approach includes an automated software deployment mechanism focusing on the rapid and repeatable release of software changes and automated management of operational infrastructure. The adoption and implementation of DevOps practices are prominent in software companies that use cloud computing technology, while its adoption is challenging in the embedded system domain. DevOps is not a silver bullet; challenges pertaining to the management of infrastructures due to legacy technologies still persist. The key lesson learned in the adoption and implementation of DevOps is that the software operational infrastructure is no longer considered separate from the development of software features; and this is achieved by having software development and operations teams jointly working togetherTiivistelmä Viimeisen vuosikymmenen aikana ohjelmistoteollisuudessa on ollut kasvavana trendinä ohjelmistotalojen lisääntyvä kyky toimittaa ohjelmistomuutoksia nopeasti ja usein toistuvina päivityksinä. Yritysten ohjelmistotoimitus- ja päivitysjaksot ovat lyhentyneet kuukausista tunneiksi ja jopa minuuteiksi. Yritykset ovat ottaneet käyttöön useita erilaisia toimintatapoja kyetäkseen muuttamaan toimintaansa lyhyen aikavälin ohjelmistopäivityksiin kykeneväksi, joista yksi viimeisimmistä on DevOps (saumaton ohjelmiston kehittäminen ja käyttö). Ohjelmistotuotannossa DevOps syntyi ohjelmistoteollisuudessa ammattilaisten alkaessa painottaa ohjelmistojen kehittämisen ja käytön yhteistyön tärkeyttä. Käytännössä DevOpsilla on vaikutusta ohjelmisto-organisaation toimintakulttuuriin, prosesseihin, tuotteisiin, sekä teknologioihin ja organisaatiorakenteisiin, joita käytetään ohjelmistokehityksessä ja käyttöönottoprosessissa. DevOpsin käsitteen moniulotteisuudesta johtuen käsitteen sisältö jää usein epäselväksi ja samalla sen mukainen toiminta vaikeasti käyttöön otettavaksi ohjelmistoyrityksissä, koska toteutus on mahdollista tehdä monella eri tavalla. Tämän väitöksen tarkoituksena on antaa selkeä kuvaus DevOpsista ja sen toteutuksesta ohjelmistokehityksessä niin, että sen käsite, ja käytännöt, sekä sen tarjoamat edut ja haasteet tulevat ymmärretyiksi. Tutkimuksessa suoritettiin systemaattinen kirjallisuuskatsaus tieteellisiin julkaisuihin ja muihin lähinnä käytännön kokemuksiin pohjautuviin lähteisiin, suoritettiin kvalitatiiviset kyselytutkimukset, joiden kohteena olivat ohjelmistoammattilaiset, sekä muodostettiin näiden pohjalta saumattoman ohjelmistokehityksen ja käytön yhtenäinen tietämyskanta. Tutkimuksen keskeinen tulos on, että DevOps-lähestymistapa sisältää automaattisen ohjelmiston käyttöönottomekanismin, joka keskittyy nopeiden ja toistettavien ohjelmistomuutosten käyttöönottoon ja sitä tukevan operatiivisen infrastruktuurin hallintaan. DevOpsin omaksuminen ja käyttöönotto ovat näkyvästi esillä pilvipalvelinteknologiaa käyttävissä ohjelmistoyrityksissä, kun taas sen käyttöönotto on haastavaa sulautettujen järjestelmien alueella. DevOps ei ole mikään ’hopealuoti’, vaan sisältää erityisesti infrastruktuurien hallintaan liittyviä haasteita, jotka johtuvat edelleen käytössä olevista vanhoista tekniikoista. Keskeisin oppima DevOpsin omaksumisesta ja soveltamisesta käytäntöön on, että ohjelmistojen käyttöinfrastruktuuria ei enää tarkastella erillään ohjelmistojen kehittämisestä, vaan ne toimivat saumattomassa yhteistyössä keskenään
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Thurairajah, N. "Leadership practices to address cultural and behavioural challenges in construction partnering projects." Thesis, University of Salford, 2013. http://usir.salford.ac.uk/29290/.
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Partnering and related forms of collaboration have been seen as a way of tackling fragmentation and lack of integration that have bedevilled attempts to improve project performance over the years. Despite the amount of interest shown in partnering, actual empirical research is sparse and much of the work is notable for its prescriptive tendencies and heavy reliance on anecdotal data with a focus on the experience of the exemplar organisations. Thus, it is important to adequately address and evaluate the challenges and potential problems in construction partnering. A synthesis of construction partnering literature shows that central to any successful partnering arrangement is the change in cultural and behavioural characteristics towards mutual trust and understanding. Therefore, it is essential to bring about cultural change, which encourages project participants to transgress conflicting interests and to build a shared culture. Leadership is seen as the source of beliefs and values that forms shared assumptions of organisational culture. Hence, it is important to focus on leadership practices to embed and transmit a collaborative culture in construction partnering projects. This research investigates cultural and behavioural challenges via a systematic literature review and refines its root causes by collecting and analysing interview data from academic and industry experts. Content analysis of root causes and challenges were represented in the form of a cultural web diagram, and categorised into rituals and routines, stories, symbols, power, structure and control system related challenges. Content analysis of relevant leadership practices pointed out the significance of embedding and reinforcing leadership practices during the construction stage of a project to address cultural and behavioural root causes. This initial conceptual framework for leadership practices was then refined using a multiple case study research approach on UK construction partnering projects. This initial conceptual framework for leadership practices was then refined using a multiple case study research approach on UK construction partnering projects. The findings of this study indicate that a threefold leadership framework comprising ‘initial embedding mechanisms’, ‘continuous embedding mechanisms’ and ‘reinforcement mechanisms’ is essential to tackle cultural and behavioural challenges and their root causes in construction partnering projects.
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Anderson, Michael H. (Michael Hansford). "A study of the federal government's experiences with commercial procurement practices in major defense acquisitions." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1997. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/10535.
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Fields, Curtis L. "Challenges facing Navy contracting agencies attempting to implement an Affirmative Procurement Program pursuant with Executive Order 12873." Thesis, Monterey, Calif. : Springfield, Va. : Naval Postgraduate School ; Available from National Technical Information Service, 1994. http://handle.dtic.mil/100.2/ADA297337.
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Thesis (M.S. in Management) Naval Postgraduate School, December 1994."December 1994." Thesis advisor(s): Walter E. Owen, Alice M. Crawford. Includes bibliographical references. Also available online.
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Gonul, Hande. "A Critical Analysis Of Public Procurement Legislation And Practices In The 2000s: Comparing The North And South Through The Turkish Case." Master's thesis, METU, 2012. http://etd.lib.metu.edu.tr/upload/12614531/index.pdf.
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This thesis analyses the neoliberal reforms in the public procurement field by comparing the Northern and Southern examples, with a particular focus on the enactment of the Turkish Public Procurement Law and the establishment of Turkish Public Procurement Agency in 2001. This thesis argues that despite the depoliticisation claims of neoliberal ideology the reforms in the public procurement field have gone through a highly politicised process in both North and South. The reforms launched in the procurement field have been constructed around
different languages. The language of reform has intended to delegitimize any business-state cooperation. This type of language of reform in themSouth, particularly in Turkey, has turned into a strategy to open the state procurement market to the Western foreign firms on equal footing with the national ones. Coming under the pressure of different coalition groups of national and foreign capital owners, the Turkish government of
has intervened in the decisions of the Public Procurement Authority, which has been formed as an independent regulatory agency and in the Public Procurement Law, which was initially enacted to guarantee transparency. This thesis has reviewed the processes of the enactment and amendment of the Public Procurement. Eventually it states that the highly technical language of reform in the procurement field is highly political, and aims to redistribute resources between different capital groups.
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Lloyd, Brant M. "Perspectives of Foreign Language Teachers on Influences, Challenges, and Practices Affecting Language Choice." BYU ScholarsArchive, 2016. https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/6004.
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In light of the 2010 recommendation of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages that teachers use the target language (TL) "as exclusively as possible," teachers face the necessity of promoting target language use and assessing how their language choices influence their students. The purpose of this study was to analyze teachers' perspectives and practices of whether to use students' first language or the target language. Data from over 100 foreign language teachers, predominantly those in the K-12 sector, were collected through a survey in order to measure how teachers manage the phenomenon of language choice. The findings were analyzed descriptively, categorically, and inferentially to find relationships among teachers in general, as well as within subgroups of participants. Findings indicate that teachers felt using the target language was more of a challenge for academic purposes because of their belief that they should be conducted in the TL. Academic tasks were also reported involving a greater quantity of speech functions, which made them more difficult to complete in the target language. Additional findings showed that teachers in general were most often influenced by student attitudes, motivation, and proficiency as well as their own attitudes, motivation, and proficiency. For certain subgroups, however, when teachers focused more on their own proficiency, motivation, training and experience they were more likely to reach 90% TL use or more. Furthermore, it was found that promoting the target language effectively equated with incorporating many strategies that supported TL goals. The most prevalent techniques found for promoting TL use were preparing for making input comprehensible, giving praise and recognition, and explaining its importance at the beginning of the year. Recommendations for increasing the ability of teachers to face the challenges of TL use are to simplify and increase the academic, social, and managerial purposes for which it can be used, prioritize and focus on the most influential factors of language choice (LC) within teachers' control, and form and promote a plan for TL use built upon a foundation of most effective techniques and practices for optimizing language choices.
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Harris, Michael J. "Accepting the Call and Overcoming the Challenges| Leadership Practices of African American Clergywomen." Thesis, Pepperdine University, 2018. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=13421423.
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Clergy leadership is identified as an immensely challenging vocation. This study proposes that challenges African American clergywomen face are exacerbated due to the combination of their ethnicity and gender. Forces such as patriarchy and gender discrimination are explicated in this study and identified as major sources of oppression for African American women in clergy leadership. This study provides historical background by exploring gender arrangements both on the African continent and in the United States, to allow the reader to understand frustrations that African American clergywomen experience as they encounter myriad challenges to emerging and thriving in clergy leadership roles within the Black church setting.
Social science literature, leadership and management studies, Theological studies, and biblical accounts are provided to offer the researcher propositions, theories, philosophies, and frameworks that aid in providing perspective and understanding of the research topic. The origin, prominence, and role of the historic African American church is also discussed extensively in the study. The African American church has been instrumental in advancing the liberation of African Americans at large, but is also directly complicit in the challenges African American clergywomen experience. As such, this study seeks to identify leadership strategies and practices employed by African American clergywomen to overcome the myriad challenges in their leadership roles. Furthermore, this study highlights how African American women in clergy leadership measure their success. The study also spotlights recommendations and lessons African American clergywomen offer to others in similar leadership positions.
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Sheriko, Matthew. "Accounts of PR Practices and Challenges by Senior Managers: A Qualitative Exploratory Study." Thesis, Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/10393/32772.
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Small nonprofit organizations are faced with limited resources and budgets for setting and reaching their goals. Some are nevertheless able to mitigate these challenges and achieve success. This thesis examines how this can be done. Organizations with excellent public relations programs have been found to be successful in achieving their goals (Grunig et al., 2002). Through the lens of the excellence model, this thesis analyzes, using in depth, semi-structured interview data, how senior managers of seven successful small nonprofits account for their success and address challenges as well as how their practices reflect the excellence model. This thesis does not test the excellence model in the context of small nonprofits, but rather attempts to establish recommendations for communication and PR success for small nonprofits based on what is learned from a small group of successful organizations.
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Kay, Michael A. (Michael Adam). "Transportation megaproject procurement : benefits and challenges for PPPs and alternative delivery strategies, and the resulting implications for Crossrail." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/53328.
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Thesis (S.M. in Transportation)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering; and, (M.C.P.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 2009.This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 170-175).
This thesis evaluates the applicability of public-private partnerships (PPPs) and alternative delivery strategies to transportation megaprojects. There has been tremendous expansion of innovative procurement and financing mechanisms in this area. However, there are still many hurdles to overcome before these options can penetrate the transportation market with any regularity. The thesis identifies the barriers and their origins, and suggests changes to policy and institutional frameworks that may be incorporated to encourage a broader range of delivery options. There is potentially much to be gained from increased private sector involvement in transportation megaproject delivery, but it requires significant investment of public sector time and money at the outset to be able to identify the most appropriate course of action. The public and private sectors often have diverging short-term versus long-term interests that must be reconciled if PPPs are to provide improved outcomes. The thesis introduces the various stages of megaproject development and the way public and private sector strengths may be packaged together throughout these stages to form alternative delivery strategies. It also provides an assessment of the many issues surrounding the business case, risk, management, and contracts. These issues are later revisited in an evaluation of several projects in the U.S. that have utilized "traditional" and alternative delivery strategies in the past. Included in this assessment are two larger case studies: Boston's Big Dig and Puerto Rico's Tren Urbano.
(cont.) Each incurred both successes and failures as a result of the traditional delivery strategy in Boston and the alternative delivery strategy in Puerto Rico, respectively. The research provides guidance to Transport for London (TfL) as TfL proceeds with delivery of Crossrail; a large-scale rail initiative in the greater London region. As part of its preliminary analysis in advance of Crossrail, TfL has sought input from around the world on experiences with unconventional megaproject delivery. To that end, this thesis provides context from North America. Yet the majority of the conclusions and recommendations are intentionally broad so as to have relevance not only for TfL, but for any public sector agency considering experimentation with alternative delivery strategies for transportation megaprojects.
by Michael A. Kay.
M.C.P.
S.M.in Transportation