Date of Conferral

1-1-2021

Degree

Ph.D.

School

Public Policy and Administration

Advisor

Anthony Fleming

Abstract

Local government agencies have deviated from federal hazard mitigation contractual requirements despite been paid by the federal emergency management agency (FEMA) to accomplish these requirements. Noncompliance with meeting federal requirements can result in returning part or all the financial award to the federal government. The current literature does not address the causations of the deviations. The purpose of this case study research was to gain the perceptions from local government employees in the state of Florida that are managing the hurricane IRMA hazard mitigation grant program (HMGP) projects on the effectiveness of the 5% management costs allocation. The theoretical framework grounding this research was principal-agent theory which was formalized by Jensen and Meckling. The research questions focused on barriers experienced by employees responsible for the implementation. Eight project managers were interviewed, data collection involved unstructured interviews, grouping of key responses and a qualitative narrative analysis was used. Three central themes emerged from the study (a) local government agencies did not request the full amount of management costs that were allowable, (b) local agency employees believe the local government should have more than the 5% to develop their skills and (c) local agency employees were willing to be trained. These themes support the conclusion that employees believed that training and compensation can be improved in these federal and local government relationships. The implication for a positive social change that emerged from this research identified the need for local government employees’ development that would enhance their skills, morale, compensation, and motivation to meet technical assignments.

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