An exploration of public sector leadership in the context of Bangladeshi public sector reforms : the dilemmas of public sector leadership

The purpose of the research is to explore the significance and role of the Bangladeshi public sector leadership (PSL) in the context of public sector reforms (PSR). I examine how the adoption of the reforms depends on the interaction between the PSL of the home government and the donor agencies, resulting in reform challenges on the part of the home government. To do this, the research explores how bureaucratic behaviour responds to and matches donor agenda vis-à-vis their dual role of protecting the traditional socio-economic system, cultural and political norms, values and developing the institutional basis when dealing with reforms. Thus, the research emphasises the need for exploring the elite actors’ beliefs about their governmental traditions as they shape PSR.Taking an interpretive approach, this thesis presents empirical insights in three important areas of public sector management, namely, perceptions and lived experiences of PSL; bureaucratic response to PSR; and traditions in governance and governance intervention by donors. Its contribution is to illuminate the key aspects of PSL roles/practice within the Bangladeshi PSR.Findings offer an understanding of how public sector leaders construe and respond to reform initiatives. Analysis of the PSL role shows that reform is fundamentally a political and contested process. The current study presents an empirical analysis of the elite actors’ webs of belief about the PSR in the context of normative roots of the Bangladeshi governance traditions and culture vis-à-vis the motives of the aid regimes.Part of the originality of this research is its attempt to conceptualise governance traditions as adaptable sets of beliefs that stresses the role of agency in PSR in the Bangladeshi context. I also claim my research to be worthwhile as I situate the Bangladeshi governance traditions within a context that goes beyond the typology of traditions advanced by Painter and Peters (2010). Moreover, this research argues for the performative accounts of the governance traditions.The key argument in this thesis is that public sector leaders’ response towards the public sector reforms is shaped by the wider web of beliefs embedded in a historically inherited tradition and that dilemmas arise when the public sector leaders face new situations uncommon and unfamiliar to them in terms of atypical reform agenda prescribed by international donors. Dilemmas also arise because of the incongruity between the traditional socio-economic, cultural values and donor-prescribed reform initiatives. This study suggests that dilemmas and conflicts – two important constructs illuminating cultures and traditions in public sector management – have an explanatory link to the bureaucratic response towards reforms. Thus, change is the outcome of the dilemma, if not the solution (Bevir & Rhodes, 2010).Looking from an interpretive lens, I contend that the Bangladeshi governance tradition is postcolonial, combining multiple features directly traceable to colonial institutions and ancient Samaj (village life/society) with post-independence adaptations and innovations based on administrative reform prescriptions by donor agencies, the latter essentially appearing as new ‘layers’ on the original bedrock. Therefore, it can be called a hybrid tradition

The impact of sterile neutrinos on CP measurements at long baselines

With the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) as an example, we show that the presence of even one sterile neutrino of mass $\sim$1 eV can significantly impact the measurements of CP violation in long baseline experiments. Using a probability level analysis and neutrino-antineutrino asymmetry calculations, we discuss the large magnitude of these effects, and show how they translate into significant event rate deviations at DUNE. Our results demonstrate that measurements which, when interpreted in the context of the standard three family paradigm, indicate CP conservation at long baselines, may, in fact hide large CP violation if there is a sterile state. Similarly, any data indicating the violation of CP cannot be properly interpreted within the standard paradigm unless the presence of sterile states of mass O(1 eV) can be conclusively ruled out. Our work underscores the need for a parallel and linked short baseline oscillation program and a highly capable near detector for DUNE, in order that its highly anticipated results on CP violation in the lepton sector may be correctly interpreted.Comment: Published in Journal of High Energy Physics, Volume 2015, Issue 1

Can Lorentz Invariance Violation affect the Sensitivity of Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment?

We examine the impact of Lorentz Invariance Violation (LIV) in measuring the octant of $\theta_{23}$ and CP phases in the context of Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE). We consider the CPT-violating LIV parameters involving $e - \mu$ ($a_{e\mu}$) and $e - \tau$ ($a_{e\tau}$) flavors, which induce an additional interference term in neutrino and antineutrino appearance probabilities. This new interference term depends on both the standard CP phase $\delta$ and the new dynamical CP phase $\varphi_{e\mu}$/$\varphi_{e\tau}$, giving rise to new degeneracies among ($\theta_{23}$, $\delta$, $\varphi$). Considering a small value of $|a_{e\mu}| = |a_{e\tau}| = 5 \times 10^{-24}$ GeV (taken one at-a-time), we find that the octant discovery potential of DUNE gets substantially deteriorated for unfavorable combinations of $\delta$ and $\varphi_{e\mu}$/$\varphi_{e\tau}$. The octant of $\theta_{23}$ can only be resolved at $3\sigma$ if $\theta_{23}$ turns out to be at least $5^{\circ}$ to $7^{\circ}$ away from maximal mixing for any choices of $\delta$ and $\varphi$. Interestingly, we also observe that DUNE can regain its octant resolution capability if we consider both the LIV parameters $a_{e\mu}$ and $a_{e\tau}$ together in the analysis. We also reconstruct the CP phases $\delta$ and $\varphi_{e\mu}$/$\varphi_{e\tau}$. The typical $1\sigma$ uncertainty on $\delta$ is $10^{\circ}$ to $15^{\circ}$ and the same on $\varphi_{e\mu}$/$\varphi_{e\tau}$ is $25^{\circ}$ to $30^{\circ}$.Comment: 24 pages, 6 figures, 1 tabl

An Examination of Case Studies in Management Research: A Paradigmatic Bridge

The paper maps the value of case study in management research. In particular, it deals with the paradigmatic aspects of case study as a research strategy. In order to analyse the convergence and divergence on different dimensions of the case study research, I focus on three well-known methodology experts, namely Robert Yin, Sharan Merriam and Robert Stake. I argue that case study is a comprehensive research strategy. It has the capacity to embrace paradigm plurality representing both inductive and deductive strategies. Because of its epistemological, ontological and methodological flexibility case study has become one of the established research approaches in management. There is no fixed set of methods for the case study research. This depends on the ontological presuppositions of the researchers. The significance of the ontology becomes apparent depending on the nature of the case and the types of the research questions. As case study research is reflexive, flexible and context-specific, it allows emerging contexts to shape methods. That is why it can act as a bridge across the research paradigms. I then look at the considerable influence that the case study approach has on the management research, i.e., the role for case study in the research process. Because of its overarching role, multi-paradigmatic approach can be adopted under case study research. Case study research is, in practice a varied methodology with paradigmatic pluralism covering an array of research methods and techniques and different levels of analysis

Capabilities of long-baseline experiments in the presence of a sterile neutrino

Assuming that there is a sterile neutrino, we ask what then is the ability of long-baseline experiments to i) establish that neutrino oscillation violates CP, ii) determine the three-neutrino mass ordering, and iii) determine which CP-violating phase or phases are the cause of any CP violation that may be observed. We find that the ability to establish CP violation and to determine the mass ordering could be very substantial. However, the effects of the sterile neutrino could be quite large, and it might prove very difficult to determine which phase is responsible for an observed CP violation. We explain why a sterile neutrino changes the long-baseline sensitivities to CP violation and to the mass ordering in the ways that it does. We note that long-baseline experiments can probe the presence of sterile neutrinos in a way that is different from, and complementary to, the probes of short-baseline experiments. We explore the question of how large sterile-active mixing angles need to be before long-baseline experiments can detect their effects, or how small they need to be before the interpretation of these experiments can safely disregard the possible existence of sterile neutrinos.Comment: Published in JHEP, 24 pages, 12 figures, IH results adde

Cornering the revamped BMV model with neutrino oscillation data

Using the latest global determination of neutrino oscillation parameters from~\cite{deSalas:2017kay} we examine the status of the simplest revamped version of the BMV (Babu-Ma-Valle) model, proposed in~\cite{Morisi:2013qna}. The model predicts a striking correlation between the "poorly determined" atmospheric angle $\theta_{23}$ and CP phase $\delta_{CP}$, leading to either maximal CP violation or none, depending on the preferred $\theta_{23}$ octants. We determine the allowed BMV parameter regions and compare with the general three-neutrino oscillation scenario. We show that in the BMV model the higher octant is possible only at $99\%$ C.L., a stronger rejection than found in the general case. By performing quantitative simulations of forthcoming DUNE and T2HK experiments, using only the four "well-measured" oscillation parameters and the indication for normal mass ordering, we also map out the potential of these experiments to corner the model. The resulting global sensitivities are given in a robust form, that holds irrespective of the true values of the oscillation parameters.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figure