Integrity Advisors and the Development of Administrative Communication Culture

The integrity advisers are the central actors of integrity management systems of the administrative organizational structure, whose main task is to promote the implementation of the integrity approach within state administration institutions. As a complementary part of this task, we can separate the tasks of corruption prevention and the improvement of organizational integrity, of which the latter being discussed in more detail in this research and presentation. Integrity advisers play a key role in the development of organizational culture among public administration bodies, such as bodies exercising administrative authority. Looking at the topic more closely, with regard to the activities of integrity advisers, it can be clearly established that one of the engines of their operation is the proper and deep communication, which is not only necessary within the public administration and inter-agency transactions, but it also means communication activities that can be interpreted in the relationship between the public and clients. Equally important is their training and other activities aimed at developing staff awareness, relationships, situation assessment and action practices, which, in addition to and in part within public service training, provide an opportunity to shape organizational culture. The presentation and the paper aims to show the role of integrity advisors in developing organizational culture and transparency in the administration based on recent research experience about online presence of integrity advisors and in-depth interview surveys

Az alternatív vitarendezési módszerek alkalmazásának hatásai a hatósági eljárás átláthatóságára és nyitottságára

Sok, korábban nem vár és adott esetben nem is szándékolt feladat elé állítják napjaink rohanó társadalmi, gazdasági változásai a közigazgatást és azon belül a hatósági jogalkalmazást végző szervezetrendszert és annak személyzetét is. A nyitottságra, az ügyfél- és társadalomközpontúságra minden korábbinál nagyobb szükség van annak érdekében, hogy az információs társadalomban élő, hagyományos értékeit, fogódzkodóit fokozatosan elvesztő társadalom és annak minden egyes tagja megőrizhesse bizalmát a közigazgatás joghoz kötöttségével, céljainak teljes körű és következetes megvalósításával, a várt és elvárt jogbiztonság megteremtésével, saját tevékenységének és szervezetének átláthatóvá tételével, egyszóval önmagával közigazgatással szemben. E tanulmány arra irányul, hogy e rendkívül összetett, sokdimenziós rendszer vonatkozásában megragadjon két témát, amelyek hathatósan hozzájárulhatnak a fenti célkitűzés megvalósításához, a hatósági eljárásban a döntések diverzifikálásával illetve az integritás-szemlélet erősítésével kapcsolatban. Jelen tanulmány a Rézler Gyula Alapítvány támogatásával, a hazai PhD-tanulmányok támogatására irányuló ösztöndíj pályázathoz kapcsolódóan jött létre. A tanulmányba foglalt gondolatokkal kívánom tiszteletemet kifejezni Rézler Gyula professzor úr kiemelkedő jelentőségű munkássága előtt és megköszönni a Rézler Gyula Alapítvány támogatását, amely hozzájárult szakmai fejlődésemhez a doktori fokozat megszerzéséhez vezető út során

Development of a decision support system through modelling of critical infrastructure interdependencies : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Emergency Management at Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand

Critical Infrastructure (CI) networks provide functional services to support the wellbeing of a community. Although it is possible to obtain detailed information about individual CI and their components, the interdependencies between different CI networks are often implicit, hidden or not well understood by experts. In the event of a hazard, failures of one or more CI networks and their components can disrupt the functionality and consequently affect the supply of services. Understanding the extent of disruption and quantification of the resulting consequences is important to assist various stakeholders' decision-making processes to complete their tasks successfully. A comprehensive review of the literature shows that a Decision Support System (DSS) integrated with appropriate modelling and simulation techniques is a useful tool for CI network providers and relevant emergency management personnel to understand the network recovery process of a region following a hazard event. However, the majority of existing DSSs focus on risk assessment or stakeholders' involvement without addressing the overall CI interdependency modelling process. Furthermore, these DSSs are primarily developed for data visualization or CI representation but not specifically to help decision-makers by providing them with a variety of customizable decision options that are practically viable. To address these limitations, a Knowledge-centred Decision Support System (KCDSS) has been developed in this study with the following aims: 1) To develop a computer-based DSS using efficient CI network recovery modelling algorithms, 2) To create a knowledge-base of various recovery options relevant to specific CI damage scenarios so that the decision-makers can test and verify several ‘what-if’ scenarios using a variety of control variables, and 3) To bridge the gap between hazard and socio-economic modelling tools through a multidisciplinary and integrated natural hazard impact assessment. Driven by the design science research strategy, this study proposes an integrated impact assessment framework using an iterative design process as its first research outcome. This framework has been developed as a conceptual artefact using a topology network-based approach by adopting the shortest path tree method. The second research outcome, a computer-based KCDSS, provides a convenient and efficient platform for enhanced decision making through a knowledge-base consisting of real-life recovery strategies. These strategies have been identified from the respective decision-makers of the CI network providers through the Critical Decision Method (CDM), a Cognitive Task Analysis (CTA) method for requirement elicitation. The capabilities of the KCDSS are demonstrated through electricity, potable water, and road networks in the Wellington region of Aotearoa New Zealand. The network performance has been analysed independently and with interdependencies to generate outage of services spatially and temporally. The outcomes of this study provide a range of theoretical and practical contributions. Firstly, the topology network-based analysis of CI interdependencies will allow a group of users to build different models, make and test assumptions, and try out different damage scenarios for CI network components. Secondly, the step-by-step process of knowledge elicitation, knowledge representation and knowledge modelling of CI network recovery tasks will provide a guideline for improved interactions between researchers and decision-makers in this field. Thirdly, the KCDSS can be used to test the variations in outage and restoration time estimates of CI networks due to the potential uncertainty related to the damage modelling of CI network components. The outcomes of this study also have significant practical implications by utilizing the KCDSS as an interface to integrate and add additional capabilities to the hazard and socio-economic modelling tools. Finally, the variety of ‘what-if’ scenarios embedded in the KCDSS would allow the CI network providers to identify vulnerabilities in their networks and to examine various post-disaster recovery options for CI reinstatement projects