The Effectiveness of Citizen Participation in Public Hearing of Current China

Public hearing system is regarded as the soul and core of modem administrative procedure; it plays a more and more important part in modem administrative affairs. Public hearing is an important way to listen to the voice of the public, and the main method to gauge public opinion before making public policies, laws, and regulations. In recent years, with the growing awareness of civic participation, public hearing system has played a big role in public policy-making process in contemporary China, but there is also a phenomenon that citizen participation is largely symbolic in most of the hearing, citizen participation cannot play its due role, and the effectiveness of citizen participation in public hearing is limited. Based on this background, the analyses about how to strengthen public hearing system construction, improve the representativeness of the representative and information disclosure system, are all very important to improve the validity of citizen participation in public hearings now to China.     

Social Determinants and E-Disclosure： Empirical Evidence From Spain

In the last few years, new communication tools have been changing the relationship between administration and citizens in order to enhance public accountability that is essential for government transparency. Public accountability and transparency on the web are topics that have attracted the interest of several scholars, who have begun to investigate the determinants of disclosure. The local government＇s websites have become the main channel for communication with stakeholders and the most important disclosure tools. This paper explores the use of websites by local governments; especially, its aim is to find out which social determinants predict the diffusion of e-disclosure in the public sector in light of agency theory and neo-institutional theory. In particular, the paper contributes to increasing the literature on the e-disclosure, moreover, the scoring system for the e-disclosure analysis in public local government is proposed. The analysis is carried out on a sample of local governments （LGs） in Spain during 2012.     

Citizen Participation Models in the Local Government

This research pretends to propose and test a new explanatory model relating to citizen participation, which will help us to implement participatory public policies in the local government scheme, comparing with the models of citizen participation derivatives of structural theories and choice theories. The author refers to the case of Spain and he tests five hypotheses derived from these theories, using structural equations. This study used an open and cross-sectional design. He uses ＂Citizenship, Participation and Democracy Survey＂ from Sociological Research Center of Spain. The model proposed in this study has taken into account both structural variables from the macro context of participation （political opportunity structure） and individual variables （individual resources）, thus considering that the most recent literature on citizen participation tells us that it is necessary to overcome the reductionist perspectives limited to individual factors. Based on the above, we saw the importance of structural variables and individual variables for the participation of people. In line with that, we find that a citizen is involved in participatory policy when they have individual resources such as education, interest in politics, non-political disaffection, civic social norms, personal effectiveness, and community pride. Another find from this research, according to the empirical results, is that structural variables are predictive of citizen participation： resources, mobilization, membership of deprived group, economic deprivation, interpersonal trust, membership of associations, ties to the local community, and membership of an informal network.     

Analysis on the major obstacles of public participation in public policy-making

Participation in public policy-making is one of the important approaches for citizens to affect public policy, and also the guarantee of the scientific and democratic paths of the public policy. To enhance the cognitive level and ability of the citizen who participate in public policy-making, ensure the institutionalization and procedures of the public policy-making, make the information about the public policy-making open and transparent, this paper points out the main obstacles of citizens＇ participation in public policy-making mostly at present and enhance the quality of public policy.     

Governance Under Surveillance in South Africa

Good governance and legitimacy are becoming more and more important in South African society. Increasingly there are tendencies and trends of corruption, poor service delivery, crime, violence, and xenophobia in South Africa. The lack of accountability, responsiveness, and transparency reflects negatively on governance principles. It is becoming more evident that governance in South Africa must be investigated. Government is finding it difficult to tend to public participation, maintain law and order, provide for the basic needs of citizens, and combat unemployment and strikes. There is a direct link between governance and legitimacy because good governance is one of the essential elements and a prerequisite for legitimacy. Legitimacy depends on the government＇s performance and the support of citizens for the ruling party.     

An investigation on information management issues in Albanian public administration

Political changes in the early 1990s created an opportunity for the Albanians to increase communication with the rest of the world. For the first time Albanians were exposed to technology and tools that had been used so frequently in the neighbor countries decades in advance. Despite the great promise of technological advancement, public sector innovation has tended to be small-scale and gradual. Factors such as institutional arrangements, budget scarcity, group conflict, cultural norms and prevailing patterns of social and political behavior have restricted government actions. This study examines issues caused by a poor information management and looks for some ways to turn into an efficient information system in Albanian public administration. It uses primary data from sample surveys of public administration organizations in local and central level during these transitions.     

Normative Stakeholder Theory in Local Public Services in Italy： Ethical Profiles and Effectiveness Management

It is well-known that stakeholder theory plays a unique role among management theories due to its focus on the moral foundations of business. Under this theory, managers should always act in the interests of the stakeholders, and their actions should reflect the liberal notions of autonomy, solidarity and fairness. Normative stakeholder theory is usually linked to philosophical ethics. Whereas some authors see stakeholder theory as applicable to the private sector alone, normative stakeholder theory has found its way into debate on the public administration, because a number of studies affirm that it can contribute to the effectiveness of public organization. On this basis, this work analyses local utilities that are now one of the areas where citizens can better assess government policy in terms of quality of life and the satisfaction of their basic needs by evaluating their ethical behaviour. Thus, it may well be interesting to analyse some of the behaviour patterns of local utility entities to verify the link between ethics and the efficient use of resources that assumes special significance in this context because the two elements have to coincide in order to obtain true fairness. Therefore, using a deductive-inductive methodological approach, the study begins by analysing the different normative concepts of stakeholder theory, to find the possible normative core best suited to this context. In the second part, it examines the ethical behavior of local utility entities to make a comparison with the previous normative stakeholder theory. This study will also be a useful starting point for future empirical research.     

An analysis of e-government in the Department of Home Affairs of South Africa

The new information and communication technologies （ICTs） are radically redefining the world＇s social, economic and political landscape. People live in the information age and their environment and needs are changed by the development of ICTs. The Republic of South Africa as a democratic country also faces the challenge in the information age. The Government of South Africa has embarked on a number of measures to ensure that information and communication technologies （ICTs） play a vital role in society. The Department of Home Affairs （DHA） plays a central and indispensable role within the public service, impacting on the lives of all the citizens and the people who visit South Africa. The DHA has felt the pressures emanating from South Africa＇s transition to democracy and the tremendous growth in the demand for its services. It is important for the DHA to adopt the ICTs in its services to deliver them conveniently and efficiently to citizens. The paper presents the research undertaken of the present status and application of e-government in the Department of Home Affairs in Republic of South Africa as well as the analysis of challenges the DHA faces in the quest to deliver services with ICT. Feedback obtained from clients was reviewed with the aim of offering recommendations on how the DHA can improve service delivery using ICT.     

Integration period of e-learning in universities： A survey in Turkey

E-learning is an important subject for successful university education. It is known that during the integration period of e-learning, universities face difficulties and trade-offs that will discourage their adoption. This study concentrates on e-learning with benefits and problems faced throughout the integration period by stakeholders and finally the university as a new education program method. The study aims to look at the factors which affect the integration period of e-learning programs and measure the drivers that affect the adoption process The research method is based on quantitative analysis which generally searches information about the factors＇ effectiveness related to the integration level of e-learning. During the empirical analysis, factors are categorized and measured according to their effectiveness, and then questionnaire study has examined the factors＇ effectiveness related to the adoption success of e-learning by using statistical analysis methods. The information about the factors that is effective for e-learning integration provides considerable educational framework for universities, instructors, students and also for information technology experts and other decision makers that manage the electronic environment for e-learning.     

Parliamentary Elections Egypt 2011： A Multi-Stakeholder Groups Assessment

This study aimed at conducting a multi-stakeholder assessment of the recent Egyptian parliamentary elections that took place after the Egyptian January 25, 2011 revolution. Using both qualitative and quantitative methodologies, it outlines the directions of different stakeholder groups＇ perceptions toward the elections. The qualitative analysis, based on a review of the literature and an examination of published and online media, emphasized the divergent opinions of the groups studied. The quantitative analysis focused on the results of an online survey distributed to a sample of 299 resident Egyptians representing the different demographic features of the eligible voting community. A valid and reliable scale was used to assess the perception of respondents to six different aspects of elections governance. The empirical study pointed to an overall negative perception of elections. The direction of respondents＇ perception was negative toward elections administration, information access, manipulation, and fairness. On the other hand, the respondents＇ perception tended to be neutral toward freedom and reference the new parliament＇s empowerment and tendency to complete its term. The study concluded with a number of proposed strategies for improving efficiency and enhancing fairness and freedom. Soon Egypt shall witness a new parliamentary election by 2014, and there will be an opportunity to learn from past mistakes.     

Development of E-Governance and Electronic Services in Ministry of Finance

Over the last two decades, government has made essential changes in order to improve public administration functioning. These changes were driven by a new government philosophy. The key concept in this new public policy is to connect information society, and public administration. In this context, the purpose of this study is through analyzing the process of computerization of public administration to determine the specific services provided electronically to the National Revenue Agency （NRA） in Ministry of Finance. Ministry of Finance and NRA are the administrative bodies that are reformed significantly in this field. E-governance is a political concept and philosophy which includes principles and the public administration working mechanism. E-government is electronic services provision platform that uses information and communication technology. The extensive monitoring and analysis lead to conclusions in two key areas--legal and technical organization. The lack of consistency between governments and the total reorganization of some areas of the state causes difficulties in implementing cyber plan in administrative services. There are other essential weaknesses that corrupt the system electronic reforms. It is important to be created a digital broadband market in Bulgaria. This will integrate the network systems of Bulgarian official institutions in a common electronic network.     

Unleashing the power of consultations and partnerships through Aboriginal participation

What are the extent to which and the means by which Canada＇s Aboriginals are involved in consultation and more importantly, partnerships with other political actors to achieve indigenous-based change？ This paper examines this question in the larger framework of new public management （NPM） theory. NPM postulates that consultation involving public sector engagement with citizens （community engagement/ participation） will improve the quality of decisions regarding the content and delivery of policies and programs. The degree to which the public is empowered to engage with the public sector can be measured along a public participation spectrum, developed by the International Association for Public Participation （IAP2）, which measures varying degrees of public participation resulting in different forms of consultations and/or partnerships （inform, consult, involve, collaborate and empower）. This paper will examine the existing literature on public consultation and public participation which will help identify the level of Aboriginal involvement in the policy process. More specifically, this paper will examine the Government of Alberta＇s 2004 ＂Grades 10-12 Social Studies Consultation＂ and the Government of Canada＇s 2008 ＂Environment Canada＇s Aboriginal Consultations on Wastewater＂, each of which involved government initiatives to carry out consultation with various Aboriginal actors. Ultimately, this paper argues that the different levels of governments in Canada have only employed the first two stages of the public participation spectrum （＂inform＂ and ＂consult＂） and therefore, have not empowered First Nations communities to become meaningful partners in the policy-making process and the democratic process at large.     

Information strategy： An analysis framework

Strategic information requirements define which information an enterprise needs to operate and manage its business. These requirements are told ＂strategic＂, since they are at a very high abstraction level, and reflect what managers want to know about operations. In an ideal world, managers would simply express their needs in natural language and the analyst will translate them in actual systems. To get close to these ideal results, a key point is to structure requirements and go from a strategic level, suitable for managers but not for IT analysts, from a semantic level, suitable for IT analysts. For this purpose, we here present an approach to strategic information requirements elicitation （SIRE）. It includes a meta-model, analysis steps and a software tool. The meta-model describes the information domains of the enterprise. The design steps specify the activities the analyst should perform to go from a strategic level to an engineering level. SIRE is based on some key ideas. First, an enterprise processes information made of universal information domains, which include stakeholders, products, process and contexts. By specializing these domains, the analyst identifies domains specific to individual enterprises. Second, whatever domain includes different information types： Master information that defines structural properties, transaction information that describes events, indicators that describe performances. By crossing information domains and types the analyst identifies strategic information entities （SIE）. The method requires few definitions and is readily understood by management and users. Of course, it can be used to design new systems. Additionally, it can be used in information systems planning to assess the coverage of current systems （fill-gap analysis）. The tool enables to store high level schemas that can be mapped against real database schemas of commercial software platforms to understand their coverage.     

A Common Future and a Common Identity： The Transformation Process of Political and Social Identities in the South Caucasus Countries

In reflecting on the case of the South Caucasus （Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia）, one of the most popular perspectives is its lack of a common identity. The main argument is that it is a culturally diverse region with old-fashioned, ethnically exclusive nationalism. From this point of view, the process of the formation of a European identity in the region acquires particular importance. A European identity could act as a catalyst for bringing the region together. This identity could be considered as based on much more than just political orientation but fundamentally grounded in common values. This comprehensive integration in the South Caucasus can be achieved through the formulation and acceptance of a common political identity based on the political orientations of the South Caucasian States and their citizens. The main question that this study tries to answer is how people in the South Caucasian countries identify themselves in terms of a European identity. A suitable analysis is increasingly important at both the micro and the macro levels. The author examines the people＇s attitudes in the three South Caucasian states toward Western culture, states, and organizations, drawing on opinion polls conducted by the Caucasus Research Resources Center （CRRC）. The author seeks to analyze attitudes toward the West in the South Caucasus on a macro as well as on a micro level. The author seeks also to provide a much-needed analysis for decision making, based on empirical data that help understand public opinion toward the European Union （EU） in the countries of the South Caucasus, and that can contribute to the refinement of integration strategies.     

E-Documentation as Medical Services Quality Determinant on the Private Dentist＇s Surgery Example

The paper presents the modem management of health care institutions in the electronic medical document （EMD） context. Electronic medical document is in the form of software that provides a comprehensive system for the whole dentist＇s surgery management. The program allows for complete service of the patient in the private dentist by keeping records, archival photographs, the settlement of visits, and patient registration. It has been shown that technological innovation can fundamentally change the quality of the medical services in Poland, making a revolution in the management of budgetary expenditure. Electronic medical document is a system for the citizens of the 21st century. This is a new quality in healthcare administration, reimbursement systems, and most importantly patient care. Created based on specified standards and national standards, information databases ensure the reliability and comparability of data, and can be an analytical tool for health policy planning at various levels of the administration.     

Correlation Between Employee Bonus and Company Performances＂ FTSE TWSE Taiwan 50 Index Companies

In addition to examining the efl＇ect of employee compensation tools on its financial report, a public company should evaluate whether such tools could also retain or attract talent that can strengthen its competitiveness. This research aims to study how an employee reward system could impact on a company＇s performance, and develop a theory on how enterprises choose their employee reward plan. Taking into consideration that there is a lack of agreed objective of an employee reward plan, this paper attempts to evaluate the need for an employee reward system and its effectiveness from the perspective of how a system is implemented. In order to explore the relationship between an employee reward system and company performance, this research will compare in total the performance of 80 companies between 2002 and 2012：50 of them are from the FTSE TWSE Taiwan 50 index that have a reward system and the other 30 are also listed companies but without a structured reward plan in place. The findings include that companies with an employee reward system generally perform better than those without one, and this is especially the case for those implementing a single employee bonus system than those with multiple systems. It is found that the employee reward tools can have a positive impact on a company＇s performance, particularly employee cash dividends and employee shares and bonuses.     

Information Freedom in the Contemporary Indonesia： Regulations and Its Dynamics on Public Sphere

The ＂reform order＂ is belief and generates a lot of regulations and laws. Among these are laws that guarantee the public in obtaining information. It is a sign that the society and the people of Indonesia have changed and entered a century of information society. The information freedom contained in openness also requires the support of public sphere. By Habermas＇s concept of the public sphere and its structural transformation in his early writings, it is noted how he takes up similar themes in his recent 1990s work within the context of a structural transformation of his own work in his linguistic turn. At the stake is delineating a concept of the public sphere which facilitates maximum public participation and debate over the key issues of the current conjuncture and which consequently promotes the cause of participatory democracy. From the studies conducted by reading the texts of mass media and primary literature sources that also direct observations, it is likely to find new public management model for bridging the transition after the political change in authoritarian Indonesia associated with public access to the freedom of public information transparent to strengthening citizenship.     

Social networks versus technical networks： How different social interaction patterns effect information system utilization in the organizations？

Improvements in information and communication technologies have reshaped production and consumption relations during the post-modern era. Societies have tried to adapt themselves to the requirements of new knowledge-based economy. It has also become vital for the organizations to meet the needs of knowledge society. Whether they are public or private, organizations play key roles in the transformation processes of the societies and economies. It is important for the organizations not only to use the latest information technologies, but also create social structures, which can ease information flow throughout the organization. Social network studies that are quite different from traditional approaches in sociology can be very useful tools to understand arid manipulate organizational networks. The results of several research activities have shown that actors use their social connections to reach information, resources and possible opportunities （Garguilo ＆ Benassi, 2000）. It is not enough to use advanced information technologies in an organization to build an effective knowledge distribution system regarding the social network perspective, it is required to understand the patterns of social interactions between actors and to find a fit between technical structure and social structure for effective knowledge-based organizational design. Structural holes theory （Butt, 1992） emphasized the importance of brokerage roles of the actors in a social network. Structural holes are unconnected actors （individuals, groups or organizations） in a social network （Burt, 1992）. If there are numerous structural holes in an organization, there will also be quite a number of brokerage opportunities for some actors in the organizational networks. Brokers are the bridges and gatekeepers who are controlling information flow in the organizations. It is vitally important to explore brokerage patterns in an organizational network for an effective knowledge based design. This study is a conceptual framework aiming at bringing an explanation to socially created information flow structures in the organizations by using structural holes theory.     

Social development,community development and participation

Unlike social development, community development could not be achieved without participation. Participation is participating in decision making, to choose a community project, plan it, implement it, manage it, monitor it and control it. People can make a contribution to the planning process at the implementation stage, only if they are presented with a well articulated and feasible framework of approaches, objectives, alternative, etc. The paper focuses on the definition of social development, community development and participation in order to elaborate them. Main question of this article is： Participation is a vehicle to achieve development that community members can be involved directly in development process. This is theoretical research that method of data collection is document method.     

Administrative Innovation and Culture： Pillars of the Competitive Strategies in Horticultural Companies of Sinaloa

In contemporary times, a fundamental aspect for organization has been to achieve innovation through culture and approach to encourage the search and development of new ideas, new products, and new services; this is a key point to fulfill the competitive advantages which a company needs to be successful in the global market. The Sinaloa horticultural company has more than 100 years＇ history in the United States export market, and is presenting new challenges and demands from the market in order for it to achieve its permanence. The objective of this research is to identify and propose different strategies to implement management innovation, which in its essence is the one that coordinates, directs, and controls the human resource considering culture as an integral part, with a capacity to generate the spark and function as a motivating source which drives companies to consolidate and integrate supply chains.