Appointment Process Research Articles

Competent educators in every class: The law and the provision of educators

The literature suggests that the quality of the education learners receive in South Africa is well below par, due to, inter alia, the fact that a substantial number of educators in South African schools cannot be characterised as competent, average, good or excellent. A large percentage of educators may be regarded as poor performers and approximately 20 per cent of them do not have the required minimum qualifications for the tasks they have to perform. To explore the challenge facing South Africa, I examine the literature on the relationship between educators and the quality of education, and address the question as to whether legal mechanisms could, at crucial points in a teacher’s career, help ensure that competent educators are attracted to, and employed in the profession. It is common knowledge that the law governs all activities and processes that obtain in education, including those that determine the quality of educators entering the profession. In this article, I examine some of the aspects of the relationship between the law and the quality of educators. I begin with an analysis of key concepts such as ‘education’ and ‘educator/teacher’ and, drawing on the work of renowned meta- analysts who argue convincingly that there is a clear link between educational quality and educator quality, I foreground the need to regulate all aspects of educator deployment optimally, in order to ensure the presence of suitable educators in all classes. I trace the road typically travelled by every educator from pre- recruitment and training, and explore the role the law can play, at a number of crucial waypoints, to help address the less than satisfactory status quo. I consider, inter alia, how education students are recruited, selected, trained, and certified as professional educators. I also scrutinise the role of professional registration, appointments and appointment processes, induction, professional development, and conditions of service of educators. I explore how the law can, at important waypoints in educators’ career, enhance the quality of educators, and argue that the law may be key to ensuring that there are competent educators in every classroom.

Issues of independence in Northern Aboriginal‐state co‐management boards

AbstractA unique set of governance institutions has recently emerged in Canada’s territorial North under finalized comprehensive land claims agreements: Aboriginal‐state co‐management boards for land‐use planning, environmental regulation and wildlife management. Public administration scholars have paid little attention to these boards and the issues – practical and theoretical – that arise with them. Board members are required to act “in the public interest” and not as representatives of the governments and Aboriginal organizations that nominated or appointed them. Yet the boards have strong co‐management mandates. This article examines this apparent contradiction as well as various issues of independence facing the boards: appointment processes and concerns relating to members’ independence once appointed, board staffing and support, financial arrangements, and instances of government attempts to fundamentally alter boards or abolish them altogether.

Quod Licet Iovi non Licet Bovi. The Appointment Process to the Court of Justice and the Reform of Judiciary in Poland

Quod Licet Iovi non Licet Bovi. The Appointment Process to the Court of Justice and the Reform of Judiciary in Poland

On how business students’ personal values and sustainability conceptions impact their sustainability management orientation

PurposeThis paper aims to develop and empirically test a framework on how personal values and sustainability conceptions affect students’ sustainability management orientation (SMO). An understanding of this connection gives insight into the question whether students are likely to engage in sustainable business practices in their future work.Design/methodology/approachA cross-sectional and comparative research design is used, using survey data of business students from Germany, Indonesia and the USA (N = 475). The proposed mediation models are tested by bootstrap procedures using Hayes’s (2013) PROCESS macro for SPSS.FindingsSelf-transcendence values translate into more nuanced sustainability conceptions since individuals with self-transcendence values are more likely to conceptualize sustainability beyond their own (narrow) self-interests. In turn, the stronger individuals’ sustainability conceptions, the higher the likelihood that they prefer sustainable management practices in their future professional working field.Research limitations/implicationsImplications arise for researchers to investigate the engagement of future managers with different personal value types in sustainability practices and to gain insights into values and sustainability conceptions as a learning outcome. Limitations of this research – for instance, arising from potential common method bias – are discussed.Practical implicationsThe findings point to the need to (re-)design appointment processes for management positions in a way that allows taking into account individuals’ personal values and sustainability conceptions. This research may also help firms and higher education institutions to empower their workforce/students to develop more integrated perspectives on sustainability challenges as well as teaching methods that address students’ effective learning outcomes, e.g. their values.Originality/valueThe paper offers a new framework and a cross-country perspective on psychological antecedents of individuals’ SMO as an important prerequisite for responsible behavior in the business context.

Primary school headteacher recruitment and selection in England: the processes and the problematic aspects

ABSTRACTAppointing a headteacher in England is important but under-researched, hence the study reported here. We interviewed and surveyed chairs of governing boards that had recently undertaken the appointment process. Governing bodies follow broadly similar recruitment and selection processes, which have a number of problematic aspects: the unique nature of the context; the complexity of the processes; ensuring adequate recruitment; the processes are demanding, resource intensive, a considerable responsibility and difficult to organise especially when there are internal candidates; the skills required are specialised; engaging external expertise can be beneficial, but not without challenges; and the chair’s involvement is typically substantial.

International Real Estate Review

Previous studies on the impact of clients on real estate appraisals have been limited in terms of their research method and selection of variables. They have been unable to effectively measure the impact of clients on the behavior of appraisers, and also neglected the influence of appraisers on their own behavior. The objective of this study is to therefore focus on real estate appraisers in Taiwan by investigating their awareness of appraiser independence and the factors that influence such independence through a questionnaire survey. The results show that appraisers generally agree that they are highly independent of the decision regarding the final appraisal, but the actual appraisal may be affected by the behavior of the client. The most critical factors that affect the awareness of appraiser independence of appraisers are the size of the appraising company, impact of the behavior of other appraisers, and extent to which appraisers are affected by industry regulations. Accordingly, we recommend building an external environment to make independent appraisals and a third party who plays an intermediary role during the process of appointment to reduce the pressure by clients on appraisers.

Quality improvement of clinic flow for complex genetic conditions: Using Ehlers-Danlos syndrome as a model.

BackgroundGenetic providers face the challenge of having adequate time to conduct a comprehensive evaluation. Hypermobile Ehlers–Danlos (hEDS) syndrome has a complex array of symptoms. An initial visit can involve approximately 60–80 min and an additional 45 min for the check‐in and checkout process. We propose a model to improve clinic flow and patient satisfaction by using: (a) pre‐appointment questionnaire (b) disease information sheet outlining basic management and (c) itinerary detailing the visit.MethodsNew patients were given a questionnaire, an EDS information sheet, and a visit itinerary. In the end, a patient satisfaction survey was administered containing 18 questions pertaining to their satisfaction with the questionnaire, the information sheet, and their overall visit. Completed surveys were turned in to the front desk to maintain anonymity.ResultsBased on the survey results, patient satisfaction toward the implementation of a questionnaire was overwhelmingly positive. Survey responders found that the itinerary was added to their understanding of the appointment process and that the hEDS information sheets were helpful, understandable, and appropriate in length. Respondents said that they strongly agreed or agreed with the following statements: (a) I was satisfied with the visit; (b) I now have a better understanding of my condition; (c) This visit was successful in addressing my most pressing concerns; and (d) I would recommend this clinic to others.ConclusionDesigning a disease‐centered model that implements patient‐centered resources improves patient understanding and satisfaction for new hEDS patient visits. This model can be emulated in diagnosis and management of other complex genetic and nongenetic conditions.

Outpatient clinic process enhancement at children′s hospital: empowered by information technology

On the basis of the existing appointment process, artificial intelligence and Internet of things technologies were introduced to optimize such process. Thanks to the all appointment process management empowered by AI and IoT, patient waiting time is cut short and patient satisfaction enhanced as a result. Key words: Outpatient medical information system; Children′s hospital; Outpatient appointment; Artificial intelligence; Internet of things

Politics and the Supreme Court: The Need for Ideological Balance

Politically controversial decisions and divisive nomination battles at the U.S. Supreme Court reflect a disturbing reality — the Justices’ personal ideologies exert undue influence on the Court’s work. The ability of a mere majority of conservative or liberal Justices to impose their perspective creates three serious and related problems: Members of the public who share the perspective of the Court minority lack meaningful representation on many important issues, the judicial appointment process has become highly politicized as each side fights for a Court majority, and we increase the risk of ill-advised decisions. Better decisions are made when they are based on a diversity of perspectives. Accordingly, I argue for a Supreme Court that operates on an ideologically balanced basis. With ideological balance, the Court would provide meaningful representation to all, it would defuse the politicization of judicial appointments, and it would make wiser decisions. On the relevant metrics, a Court with ideological balance is superior to a Court that brings an ideological bias to its work. Indeed, it is difficult to identify a good reason for permitting the Court to function with a majority on one side or the other of the ideological spectrum. While we can point to the principle of majority rule to justify partisan control in the executive or legislative branches, majorities do not deserve special recognition in a judicial branch that should be guided by legal principle rather than popular sentiment. Drawing on approaches at European constitutional courts and several state supreme courts, I identify three models for achieving ideological balance on the Supreme Court and lower courts. I also discuss how a combination of those models would provide the best results.

A STUDY ON CLASSROOM TEACHER CANDIDATES' CONCERN FOR NON-APPOINTMENT AND THEIR TEACHING MOTIVATION

One of the important elements of the education system is teacher and success of the education system is mainly based on the fact that teachers who will run the system have expected competencies. While the process of bringing teachers in competencies expected from them is seen important in the 21st century world, it is also important to run the appointment process of teachers in a healthy way. It is thought that current teacher appointment system of Turkey causes teachers to get concerned and this affects their motivation for teaching adversely. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the concern of teachers for non-appointment and their motivation for teaching. This study was designed in the screening model. Target population of the study is fourth-grade teacher candidates studying Classroom Department of five different Faculties of Education in Aegean, Black Sea and Marmara Region of Turkey in 2017-2018 academic year. The sample of the study consists of 370 teacher candidates selected by simple random sampling method. In the study, the Concern of Classroom Candidates’ was measured by Teacher Candidates Non-Appointment Concern scale developed by Eskici (2016) and the teaching motivation was measured by Teaching Motivation Scale adapted to Turkish by Candan and Evin Gencel (2015). Analysis of the research data was done by SPSS v.22 packaged software, and ANOVA and t-test techniques were used. According to the results of the study, non-appointment concern of classroom teacher candidates has been found to be at a moderate level and significant differences have been determined by universities. Although the concern is above moderate level, it has been determined that teacher candidates do not lose their teaching motivation and their teaching motivation points are still above moderate level. In addition, it has been determined that the motivation of teacher candidates varies significantly by universities. There has been no significant difference between genders in both variables. It is believed that this study will contribute to improvement of the 21st century teachers’ competencies and will create an environment of data driven thinking and discussion based on the related variables. Article visualizations:

The Dark Side of Self-Regulation

The financial services industry indirectly regulates itself through little-discussed, scandal-prone, and structurally-entrenched self-regulatory organizations. FINRA, the most prominent of these self-regulatory organizations, makes regulations and sets enforcement policy that directly affect public welfare. As with other self-regulatory organizations, FINRA’s structure poses a continual risk that industry members will subvert its processes to act like a cartel, promoting industry interests at the expense of the public and contributing to the excessive rents collected by financial intermediaries. Although this dark side to self-regulation poses a constant danger, structural reforms may increase the likelihood that FINRA and other self-regulatory organizations will take the public’s interests into account. While others have discussed how self-regulatory organizations increasingly resemble a fifth branch of the federal government, this article shifts the focus to how the public actually exercises its voice within FINRA and other self-regulatory organizations. This Article examines the purportedly public representatives serving on FINRA’s Board of Governors. It finds that these public representatives often simultaneously serve on the boards of corporate financial intermediaries, giving rise to conflicts of interest between loyalties to market participants and industry lobbying groups and their roles as protectors of the public interest. To amplify the public’s voice within these organizations, this Article proposes a different appointment process for the public representatives serving within self-regulatory organizations and calls for increased transparency and improved oversight.

Constitutional Politics, Court Packing, and Judicial Appointments Reform

Reforming the Supreme Court is at the center of the political and legal landscape for the first time in generations. The growing gap between the ideological composition of the Court and the democratic will of the electorate, along with perceived procedural irregularities in the appointment of Justices over the last five years, has fueled calls for radical change including expanding the size of the Court. Those calls have in turn triggered renewed efforts to repair the appointments process through term limits and a regularized appointments schedule. But in an age of peaking partisanship, the bipartisan cooperation that would be necessary for that proposal to pass seems far out of reach. This Article offers a novel path forward. First, it completes the unfinished work of designing a full solution to the broken appointments process by addressing the problem of Senate stonewalling, like that we saw in 2016 when the Republican Senate refused to confirm any nominee put forward by President Obama. It offers the only viable solution to that problem: vesting the appointment power in the President in office at the time the vacancy arises. Second, because that solution would require a constitutional amendment, it analyzes the prospects of achieving that challenging goal through game theory. It offers three models of the parties’ strategic behavior in the face of a cycle of escalation: the Prisoner’s Dilemma, the Hawk-Dove Game, and the Asymmetric Hawk-Dove Game. The analysis shows that the increased salience of escalating constitutional hardball tactics in general alters the incentive structure for the parties in a way that makes judicial appointments reform the winning strategy for both parties. It arrives at the counterintuitive conclusion that in this moment of cratering cooperation and collapsing constitutional norms, there may thus be a rare political and legal opportunity to restructure the judicial appointments process for the better and for good.

Appointment overbooking with different time slot structures

Unattended appointments result in underperformance of a healthcare service provider. Such uncertainty in the appointment process not only lowers healthcare utilization and productivity but also hinders patients from having timely access to healthcare services and extends waiting time for receiving medical examinations or treatments. In this study, we formulate this stochastic optimization problem for appointment scheduling as its two-stage deterministic equivalent to simultaneously optimize overbooking and scheduling decisions to compensate patient no-shows with different time slot structures. We examine the impacts of three types of time slot structures, which are of fixed-length slot intervals, dome-pattern slot intervals and flexible appointment start times, on the efficiency of the system. With the optimal solutions found, we investigate the interaction between the time slot structure and the optimal overbooking solution. We found that the flexibility in appointment start times result in a “dome-dome-dome pattern with alternate long and short time slots” and could achieve a better patient experience (regarding the patient waiting time) while maintaining the same service provider efficiency (regarding the resource overtime and idle time), compared with the pre-defined time intervals. While there has been a large body of literature on appointment scheduling, to the best of our knowledge, this “dome-dome-dome” pattern has not been reported in the existing literature. Sensitivity analysis further shows that the flexible slot scheme is more effective when the number of overbooked patients is relatively low and the service duration is relatively long.

Shouldn’t the bench be a mirror? The diversity of the Canadian judiciary

ABSTRACTThis paper assesses the diversity of the judiciary in Canada’s most diverse urban centres of Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal, and it measures the gap between the demographic composition of the judiciary and the population that it serves. The paper then considers the factors that contribute to and perpetuate the homogeneity of Canadian courts, and it addresses the arguments that an identity-conscious appointment process could compromise meritocracy, or that it would challenge the presumed objectivity of judicial decision-making. We argue that reliable public data on the composition of the bench and a clear government vision and strategy are crucial for the administration of justice in Canadian courts.

Независимость уполномоченных по защите прав предпринимателей в субъектах Российской Федерации как условие развития предпринимательства

Objective: to study the issues of ensuring the independence of business rights commissioners from the influence of regional power elites.Methods: the reliability of the study and the validity of the author’s arguments are provided by the use of both empirical and theoretical methods of cognition (description, analysis, synthesis, induction, deduction). In addition to general scientific methods, special legal research methods were used: formal-legal and comparative-legal.Results: based on the analysis of normative-legal legal acts of the Russian Federation subjects regulating the order of accounting for the business community opinion, the problem of independence of business rights commissioners is considered. The author presents in a systematic form the organizational and legal characteristics of the procedure of appointment to the position of a business rights commissioner in different regions of the country, assessing their actual significance in ensuring the accounting of the business community opinion. It is assumed that the procedure based on the following principles could fully account the business community opinion: 1) legislative establishment of the possibility of nominating candidates for the position of a business rights commissioner solely by business associations. Such an opportunity should be provided to all public organizations operating in the region, whose statutory objectives include promoting the creation of favorable conditions for entrepreneurship, and not only to the branches of all-Russian public associations; 2) normative stipulation of a maximally open and transparent procedure of public discussion of candidates for the position of a business rights commissioner. It is necessary to use more intensively the modern technologies allowing remote vote by SMS or through the official website of the region with automatic reflection of results. In addition to voting, an Internet forum should be created for open discussion of candidates with their participation, in which even online debates are possible; 3) legislative stipulation of the region head obligation to make the person who received the greatest support from the vote participants to be appointed a business rights commissioner. We believe that only under this condition the “legal nihilism” of the Russian entrepreneurs can be overcome, who now believe, not without reason, that nothing depends on their opinion. Scientific novelty: based on the research, the author offers an optimal model of legal regulation of the order of accounting of the business community opinion, which provides a real impact of business associations on the process of appointment of a business rights commissioner. Practical significance: the results and recommendations contained in the article can be used to further improve the legal regulation of the business rights commissioners institution, to search the ways to ensure their independence.

DELAY IN CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY: CAUSES, EFFECTS AND MITIGATION MEASURES

The main objectives of this paper are to determine the main causes of delays that occur in construction projects in Cyprus and their effects, and suggest measures that can assist in their effective control and reduction. Seeing that no relevant work has been undertaken for the case of Cyprus, a detailed literature review was carried out to identify the most significant causes of delay at the international level. Based on the review, a survey questionnaire was distributed to members of the construction industry of Cyprus. The analysis of the results indicated variations requested by the client, mistakes and missing information from consultants’ drawings, and low productivity and inadequate programming of works from the contractor’s side to be the main causes of delay. By considering the delay causes analysis specific mitigation measures are proposed that are mainly related to the programming of the works, work progress and productivity monitoring, and the appointment process of the parties involved in a construction project.

The De Facto Independence of Federal Offices of Inspector General

The question of whether executive agencies can be subject to the control of politically elected legislators has been answered affirmatively, but it remains an open question whether legislators can likewise design an agency to be able to resist such control and influence. This article examines whether the de jure elements established for the system of U.S. federal offices of inspectors general (OIGs) adequately guard their role as independent and objective monitors of the agencies they oversee, and are reflected in their de facto independence from political pressures in the OIGs’ environments, operationalized as changes in the majority party in Congress, the presidency, and executive leadership. This research tests the self-reported outputs of 54 federal OIGs over a 10-and-a-half-year period to see if there are correlations between differences in inspector general (IG) appointment processes, OIGs’ environmental changes, and fluctuations in OIG outputs. Furthermore, it examines whether these results vary depending on whether the OIGs are performing pre factum audits or post factum investigations. Analyses show that OIGs with IGs appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate are more productive than those appointed by agency heads. Furthermore, federal OIGs’ productivity varies depending on who is president and with the OIGs’ proximity to the president, although pre factum audits and post factum investigations do not demonstrate similar patterns. This article sheds light on issues of institutional design and suggests an implicit political nature of pre factum oversight. Implications for policy and practice in the area of government accountability are discussed.

Board leadership and governance for clear-sighted CEO succession at Air New Zealand

AbstractIn this case study we address the issue of CEO succession drawing directly on the experience of the board of directors of Air New Zealand. Despite extensive literature on CEO-board relations, there has been a scarce number of studies on managing the processes of CEO succession and appointment from the board perspective. Drawing on documentary sources as well as in-depth interviews with all board members and CEOs appointed in the period 2002–2013, we shed light on this important governance process primarily for teaching purposes. We emphasise the board’s role in the context of the transformation of the airline into an award-winning, financially performing company in a highly competitive and mature industry. The case study examines how the board developed, implemented, and managed a succession process for three CEOs that was sound in design and achieved its desired benefits. By focusing on board leadership and board processes our case study provides evidence that independent boards can shape a specific combination of governance practices which contribute to successful CEO transitions.

Policy and praxis of principals’ appointment: The case of Palestinian-Arab minority education in Israel

The research investigated the appointment of principals in the Arab education system (AES) in Israel and the challenges they facing candidate. Interviews gathered from 40 currently serving principals and six rejected principalship candidates. Findings indicated that principalship candidates were motivated to become principals due to their quest for self-realization, a sense of social mission, professional advancement and managerial promotion. The research identifies outside interventions that frequently overcome professional criteria including political priorities. A filtering process is recommended before the principals’ course as part of the appointment process. Further conclusions and implications are discussed.

The WTO in 2017: Systemic Developments, Disputes and Review of the Appellate Body's and Panels' Reports

This analytical but concise survey of WTO case law for 2017 is carried out within the framework of the PhD program in International Law and Economics of the PhD School of Bocconi University (Milan). Giorgio Sacerdoti, Emeritus Professor of International Law at Bocconi University and former Chairman of the WTO Appellate Body, has coordinated and supervised the individual comments of Appellate Body's and Panels' Reports. An abridged version of this review will be published in the 2018 Italian Yearbook of International Law as has been the case in the past years. The WTO system risks to be undermined by the direct challenge to its rules initiated by the Trump administration at the beginning of 2018 with the introduction of substantial anti-dumping duties on washers from Korea and solar panels from India, the announcement of safeguards based on the security exception of Article XXI GATT on steel and aluminium imports, and the restrictive measures on a variety of exports from China to the US. Apparently, the dispute settlement system is functioning well. Seventeen new disputes had been introduced through requests of consultations in 2017, bringing their total number to 535 from the establishment of the system. The Appellate Body issued five reports. Eleven panel reports were issued in 2017 (two of which in compliance proceedings under Article 21.5 DSU), six of which were not appealed. One arbitration award was issued under Article 21.3(c) DSU for the determination of the “reasonable period of time” to comply. The WTO dispute settlement system, however, has not remained unaffected by the above adverse political trend. While the US is challenging a key element of the system, namely the appointment process for replacing outgoing members of the Appellate Body, the other Members appear uncertain how to respond, inspired by the desire not to antagonise frontally the US at least at this stage.