Internal Control and Its Application in Public Management: a Literature Review

Currently, having a transparent and orderly public institution is related to the public policy of modernization of the state, which is not easy because it requires managers who have the will to implement an internal control system that allows the efficiency and effectiveness of the acts of the entities. The internal control in recent years has greater relevance seeking that the state entities are strengthened through new processes and changes of actions that allow transparency and achieve the objectives set and have an efficient management with a level of security of their administrative acts. The objective of this research is to study the simplification of actions and administrative transformations in public management through internal control. The methodology used for the literature review was descriptive, a search was made through the Scopus database, obtaining general data of 24 records, a not very significant number for the topic addressed, which has been subjected to bibliometric analysis that allowed to determine that the growth of publications from 1977 to 2020 has had an insignificant growth, having been accentuated in 2 publications from 2019 to 2020, likewise the greatest number of researches have been carried out in undefined countries, followed by Portugal, United Kingdom and United States, being the article the publication medium that has the greatest significance and the area that stands out most in publications is the social sciences followed by the economic sciences. Likewise, the Vos viewer was used to obtain the study map and the heat map of the Internal Control and Public Management theme. From the analysis, the theories related to the paradigms of internal control and public management have been analyzed, which will lead us to understand the changes or actions that public entities have or have had.

(Lack of) knowledge of mothers about sickle cell trait and disease: a qualitative study

ABSTRACT Objective: to analyze the understanding of mothers about sickle cell disease and/or trait of the family from a diagnosed child. Methods: this is a qualitative study, using a semi-structured interview with 23 mothers, at a sickle cell disease outpatient clinic of a public institution, from October to December 2017. Analysis was thematic. Results: all participants had sickle cell trait as well as the parents of their children. Twenty children were diagnosed with sickle cell disease by Heel Prick Test, and three, after hospitalization due to the disease. Most did not know how to report the presence of the trait or disease in relatives other than nuclear. Final considerations: diagnosis cannot be restricted to the result of neonatal screening, requiring that preventive information on sickle cell crises be reinforced. It is recommended to search for other affected relatives to learn about their genetic condition, reflecting on their reproductive decisions.

Smart City Technology and Civic Engagement in Ontario, Canada

As smart technologies become more integrated with daily life, vital digital literacy skills are necessary for citizens to engage with and benefit from their cities, local government, and economy. Libraries play an important role in mitigating the growing wealth gap in our communities, especially as it relates to opportunities provided by emerging technologies. With the call for smart city proposals in Toronto, Ontario, what role will the city's LAMs have in collaborating with these future developments? The Toronto Public Library (TPL), a trusted public institution, has a stake in implementing various frameworks and collaborating with government agencies in addressing public concerns around technologies that collect personal information for various purposes and ensuring that vulnerable populations are not left behind. Following an examination of the role libraries play in mitigating consequences of the digital divide, this chapter will discuss the various ways in which TPL and similar community libraries have been involved with digital literacy and inclusion. It will also explore how TPL has been identified by government agencies as a vehicle for civic engagement and oversight in the former Sidewalk Toronto smart city plan.

Students at the Table

This chapter explores the benefits of involving students in institutional decision making. The authors describe an action research project conducted at a public institution that involved a working group of students, faculty, and administrators researching and cocreating solutions to develop a more inclusive and equitable environment for learning and student development. The university gained direct insight from the students' viewpoints, and students earned course credit while gaining skills in research methods, leadership, communication, negotiation, and writing. The collaborative, cocurricular experience resulted in the development of a center for cross-cultural engagement on campus. The authors also discuss considerations for this model. Institutions must demonstrate a firm commitment to addressing the issues they investigate by providing sufficient resources and recognizing the labor inherent in the transformative leadership of the community members who work to create institutional change.

Spiritual Care in Public Institution in Europe, eds. Jiří Rajmund Tretera and Záboj Horák. Berlin: Berliner Wissenschafts-Verlag, 2019, 140 pp.

Spiritual Care in Public Institution in Europe, eds. Jiří Rajmund Tretera and Záboj Horák. Berlin: Berliner Wissenschafts-Verlag, 2019, 140 pp.

THE PROSPECTS AND CHALLENGES OF YOUTH ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN ZANZIBAR, TANZANIA: ADMINISTRATORS’ PERSPECTIVES

Youth entrepreneurship is an emerging enquiry, which is critical in addressing unemployment crisis among young people. This paper explored prospects and challenges of youth entrepreneurship in developing economy, Zanzibar in Tanzania. The paper adopted qualitative methods using thematic analysis techniques to derive prospects and challenges from recorded transcripts according to administrator’s perspective from public and private institutions responsible for entrepreneurship in the country. The study found that youth entrepreneurship is strategic initiative of transforming necessity entrepreneurship into opportunity entrepreneurship, stimulating innovation initiatives for solving challenges facing society, promoting sectoral linkage, job creation and building entrepreneurial culture. However, youth entrepreneurship is constrained internally by lack of funds, poor growth and sustainability of youth enterprises, lack of entrepreneurial mindset and alertness to opportunities, while externally by poor coordination of public institution responsible for entrepreneurship development, bureaucracy, and lack of family support. The study becomes empirical evidence on the importance of youth entrepreneurship and thereby recommended for policy intervention would ameliorate the challenges and helps build entrepreneurial culture for the development of entrepreneurship in the country.

The Effect of Formal Contracts, Transaction Cost, Agency Cost, Principal Agent Conflicts and Principal Agent Relationships on Village Funds Allocation in Facing the Covid 19 Crisis in Dolok Masihul District, Serdang Bedagai Regency

This study is related to the concept of public institution on principal agent relationship, namely the relationship between the Village Head and the Village Secretary in local government named Dolok Masihul. The number of villages studied were 44 respondents. Analysis statistical investigates relationship of research variable and using multiple regressions model. After analysing was known that formal contract had a significant positive effect on village funds allocation with value of 0.355. it means both head villager and secretaries had the competence and authority to carry it out, as Pascal (1997), Meinard (1997), Sarwoko (2010: 28) and Syofyan (2019). Hypothesis is accepted. Transaction costs have a negative effect and the hypothesis is rejected. Transaction costs refer to the governance structure as (Klein, 1999: 464-466), (Williamson, 1985). This result is different from the research by Syofyan (2019). Agency costs have coefficient value 0.072. It means agency cost significant to village funds. The hypothesis is accepted. Agency costs in this study are coaching and supervision that are positively related to the total allocation of village funds. This result is in line with Syofyan (2019).

USING ACTIVE LEARNING METHODOLOGIES IN AN INTRODUCTORY STATISTICS COURSE

In general, engineering students show little interest in the activities inherent in statistics subjects. This claim may be partly explained by the competition with other subjects in the first years of undergraduate courses, or by student perceived low attractiveness of the classes. In this context, several studies indicated that methodologies where the student is the protagonist of the learning process lead to greater engagement during the activities and better scores in the assessments. This work describes the use of active learning methodologies in an introductory probability and statistics course for Engineering classes at a Brazilian public institution. Two classes were monitored during one term: in the first one (control class) traditional lectures were used, in the second one (experimental class) three different active methodologies were applied, namely: Jigsaw, Peer Instruction and Think-Pair-Share. On the one hand, the results indicated slightly better performances in the experimental class, as well as an increase in attendance. On the other hand, dropout rates were similar in both classes. This study is part of a renewal proposal of the mathematics subjects, based on the use of active learning methodologies and the review of curricular content to meet current pedagogical demands. Abstract: Portuguese Em geral, os alunos de Engenharia demonstram pouco interesse nas atividades inerentes à disciplina de Estatística. Tal constatação pode ser em parte explicada pela concorrência com outras disciplinas do ciclo básico, ou ainda, pela pouca atratividade das aulas. Nesse contexto, diversos estudos apontam que metodologias onde o aluno é o protagonista do processo de aprendizagem acarretam maior engajamento durante as atividades e melhores escores nas avaliações. Este trabalho descreve o uso de metodologias de aprendizagem ativa em um curso introdutório de Probabilidade e Estatística para turmas de Engenharia, numa instituição pública brasileira. Duas turmas foram monitoradas ao longo de um semestre: na primeira, fez-se uso de aulas expositivas dialogadas (turma controle) e, na segunda, aulas com três metodologias ativas diferentes, a saber: Jigsaw, Peer Instruction e Think-Pair-Share (turma experimental). Os resultados indicam um desempenho acadêmico levemente melhor da turma experimental, assim como na frequência dessa turma. Por outro lado, a taxa de evasão manteve-se semelhante em ambas as turmas. Este estudo é parte de uma proposta de renovação para as disciplinas de cunho matemático da instituição, baseada no uso de metodologias de aprendizagem ativa e na revisão de conteúdos curriculares para atender às demandas pedagógicas atuais.

La evaluación de lo público: prácticas y comunicación en las instituciones públicas costarricenses / Evaluation of public matters: practices and communication in Costa Rican public institutions

The evaluation was not until a little more than two decades ago a relevant matter for public activity, concentrated in execution and guided by intuition, public approval or some data to record success in government work. This story has changed due to an increasingly demanding national and international context requiering transparency of public actions, efficiency in activities that each government in turn prioritizes, and of course, the effectiveness of what is proposed. The practice of evaluation in the Costa Rican state system is governed by an exhaustive normative and procedural framework. However, this platform has not necessarily ruled the execution of communication in the institutions. According to a study performed out in Costa Rican institutions between 2019-2020, first with a mapping of the communication units carried out with a survey (43) examining their operation, projects they execute and some evaluation practices they carry out; lack of rigorous evaluation practices were identified. Furthermore, these units there has no obligation to carry out operational planning of their annual activities, to apply systematic evaluations, nor are they obliged to prepare reports on the work carried out. Subsequently, an inquiry was conducted through interviews (22) with planning heads of the institutions and governing bodies to learn about the evaluation regulations, the formats and platforms used, inter-institutional link for evaluation and the scope of the mandatory nature of this function. The results suggest that the praxis of the units is dominated by the macro-institutional planning exercise that uses matrices and quantitative formats that record compliance but do not evaluate effects, changes, or impact of their activities, which reduces visibility of the public value provided by state sector, and to which is also added the work accomplish by the communication units. The true evaluation in the State is limited to a few government projects registered within the National Development Plan and not to a daily action in the entire state system. Some of the planning offices even indicate that neither planning, and even less evaluation, constitute a resource that is considered as strategic, conversely, they are seen more as an operational, compliance and organization resource, and for the different areas the filling of matrices and formats to record the execution of their tasks is an additional burden. In fact, one of the difficulties raised by these offices is the planning of their annual programs with objectives that can be evaluated, a position that is also recognized by the Contraloria General de la Republica (Comptroller General of the Republic), which indicates the absence, in a relevant percentage, of objectives in public institution programs. For the communication units, this set of practices produces inertia in the communicative action, little or no influence of the communication units in the institutional decision-making process, and an operational focus on execution, which reduces their strategic role. It is also clear that there is a predominance in the use of techniques and tools for reporting results in communication that does not correspond to evaluation, measurement is used with greater emphasis, and even in some cases the use of reportings which not apply to neither of the two processes.