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The role of the school board in public K-12 schools is considered from the agency and the stakeholder perspectives. A new theoretical model for the school board members practice of due diligence encompassing content and process issues is developed from empirical literature on agency and stakeholder relationships, vision content and process, and strategy-making process capability. A four pronged methodology is used to test the model and resolve research issues on the practice of due diligence: 1) Development of an accountability measure of student performance using the Accountability Repor...

This thesis reviews the transnational problem of human trafficking, a form of slavery. Women and children are trafficked within and between countries at an alarming rate and it has become a prime agenda for the Bush Administration and the Department of State to call for action and solutions to. This thesis opens with a defining of this problem and overview of the scope of the problem on a global scale. It reviews social, political and economic factors which play a role. It describes laws enacted and police responses and describes what research has been conducted to get a grasp of what is invol...

Software developer turnover can have disastrous effects on an organization due to the loss of business process knowledge, as well as acquired technical skills. Annual rates of turnover in information technology (IT) departments have been estimated at 20% or more with the cost of replacing technology workers ranging from 1.5 to 2.5 times annual salaries. This study purposely focused only on software developers as opposed to IT employees in general due to the critical nature of their work. The factors leading to turnover intention in this field are poorly understood; therefore, this study was d...

The primary objective of this study is to determine whether practicing personnelists and research scholars agree on what constitutes an effective performance appraisal system in public safety organization. If Personnel managers at public safety organization possess knowledge of the characteristics of effective performance appraisal system in public safety organizations, they are more likely to design and/or advocate performance appraisal system in public safety organizations that include these important attributes. In addition, the research is an opportunity for the academic community to learn...

Although the significance of ‘9/11’ is subject to debate, it is symbolic of a general sentiment of discontinuity whereby society is vulnerable to undefined and highly disruptive events. Recent catalysts of this sentiment are eye-catching developments such as the SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) and bird flu outbreaks, the Enron and Parmalat scandals, political assassinations in Sweden and the Netherlands, regime changes in Iraq and Afghanistan, and terrorist attacks in Bali, Istanbul, Madrid, and various parts of the Middle East. However, recent discontinuities should not be seen as e...

A careful examination of the evolutions of Curriculum as Political Text and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 1973 disclosed certain contributory facets to teacher disillusionment in an inclusive high school environment. A diminishing sense of professional self-efficacy, self-empowerment, and optimism stemmed primarily from the political machinations of a hidden curriculum and a misapplication of an inclusive classroom practice.The process used to arrive at these conclusions was heuristic research, wherein outward perceptions and realties assumed meaning vis-a-vis inward refle...

This dissertation examines how human resources are managed at selected Ethiopian private companies, how Ethiopian human resource management practice is evolving and how it can be improved. The examination is qualitative and exploratory, since no comparative research on human resource management has yet been conducted at Ethiopian profit or non-profit organizations. An understanding of Ethiopian human resource management practice makes it possible to improve Ethiopian human resource management practice, and thus to increase employee productivity. The study took place at four manufacturing and ...

The main aims of this thesis are as follows:(a) To present a comprehensive analysis of the concept of privatisation its origins and limits, (b) To identify the legal and institutional framework for privatisation in different European countries from a comparative perspective; (c) To define and analyse particularly legal issues which arise during the privatisation transactions: e.g. labour law, competition law etc.; (d) To evaluate which features of the successful legal and organisational framework of privatisation have been successful so as to provide guidelines for those individuals and organi...

This thesis is concerned with the theoretical and practical development of reliable and robust localisation algorithms for autonomous land vehicles operating at high speeds in unstructured, expansive and harsh environments. Localisation is the ability of a vehicle to determine its position and orientation within an operating environment. The need for such a localisation system is motivated by the requirement of developing autonomous vehicles in applications such as mining, agriculture and cargo handling. The main drivers in these applications are for safety, efficien...

This study examined the relationship between the education heterogeneity of top management teams and organizational performance measured as long-term total shareholder returns. The subjects were 46 publicly traded North American insurance companies that had been traded for at least five years. I employed two metrics to measure education heterogeneity. One metric assessed the education heterogeneity of top management teams based on the highest education certification and the other metric assessed education heterogeneity of the teams based on all education certifications, and therefore the under...