Negotiating the Business Environment: Theory, Practice for all Governance Styles

The business environment across the globe is today characterised by three primary governance arrangements - bureaucracies, markets and networks. For organisations operating within each of these business contexts the terms of engagement in regard to negotiation are different. Rather than starting from a broad ‘how to’ approach or a specific cultural interface, Negotiating the Business Environment looks at governance arrangements within the business environment and at how such governance arrangements impact on how negotiation occurs. This text provides an Australian—not an overseas—perspective on negotiations that will be a welcome change for Australian students. Uniquely, it takes into account the context in which negotiations take place. Negotiating the Business Environment demonstrates how responding to business style in negotiations can effect successful outcomes. It include strong pedagogy including: key terms, key points, further reading lists, case studies, and end of chapter questions

Crowdsourcing information systems : a systems theory perspective

Crowdsourcing harnesses the potential of large and open networks of people. It is a relatively new phenomenon and attracted substantial interest in practice. Related research, however, lacks a theoretical foundation. We propose a system-theoretical perspective on crowdsourcing systems to address this gap and illustrate its applicability by using it to classify crowdsourcing systems. By deriving two principal dimensions from theory, we identify four fundamental types of crowdsourcing systems that help to distinguish important features of such systems. We analyse their respective characteristics and discuss implications and requirements for various aspects related to the design of such systems. Our results demonstrate that systems theory can inform the study of crowdsourcing systems. The identified system types and the implications on their design may prove useful for researchers to frame future studies and for practitioners to identify the right crowdsourcing systems for a particular purpose.

Negotiation theory and application in the business environment

This chapter introduces different theoretical approaches to negotiation and provides an explanation of these differing frameworks. While the action of a negotiation centres on the background research undertaken and what happens at the negotiation table, there is a need to know what principles and assumptions are informing these activities. Theories offer a way of understanding the underlying structures, processes and relationships of negotiation. Further, negotiation theories also assist with focusing attention on the 'basis of the bargain' and provide a standpoint from which to judge offers and counter-offers during the negotiation.

Addressing bullying and cyberbullying in schools: Translating theory into practice

Overviews of research are clear that bullying occurs in every school, and that there are significant negative physical and mental health outcomes associated with it (Beaty and Alexeyev, 2008; Carter, 2011). As such, it is imperative to develop successful intervention strategies to help students cope with bullying, including the emergent form of cyberbullying. Research suggests, however, that students have a very limited repertoire of strategies for dealing with bullying generally (Owens, Shute, and Slee, 2004). In this paper the authors outline what is currently known about bullying, including cyberbullying, its impact on students, how theory can assist in developing interventions to assist and support students to cope with bullying, and some of the implications for schools.

Different kinds of openings of Luhmann's systems theory: A reply to la Cour et al

Various researchers have called for an 'opening up' of Luhmann's systems theory. We take this short paper as an occasion for a critical reflection on the necessity, existence and possibilities of such an opening. We start by pointing out the inherent openness of Luhmann's theory, and, based on this, discuss three kinds of openings: the international opening, the theoretical opening and the empirical opening. With regard to the latter, we distinguish three general options of using Luhmann's theory for empirical research. Copyright © 2007 SAGE.

Towards an orchestration theory in business transformation management (research in progress)

Business transformations are large-scale organisational change projects that, evidence suggests, are often unsuccessful. This study aims to develop a conceptual model that explains how management services that are required for a business transformation are orchestrated during such a initiative. We classify management services such as (but not limited to) change management, risk management, IT management, financial management, program management and so forth as bearing transformational and/or transactional capabilities in a transformation initiative. We then draw upon three principles of musical composition, namely melody, harmony and rhythm, and illustrate how they apply to the orchestration of management services in the management of business transformations. In order to illustrate our emerging model, we examine the case of Malaysia Airlines, who have managed to successfully turnaround the near-bankrupt organisation beyond survival. We demonstrate how the notions of melody, harmony and rhythm can be used to describe their endeavour. We conclude by discussing next steps of our research.

After Sex? On Writing since Queer Theory, edited by Janet Halley and Andrew Parker [Review]

In its earliest and simplest form queer theory proposes that sexual identity is not essential, but socially constructed, and understandings of identity, gender and sexuality are constructed differently at different times and in different places. Queer theory aims to challenge normative understandings of sex, sexuality and gender, and also normative concepts of knowledge and being. Since its inception, queer theory has been taken up by a number of disciplines as an analytical framework. These include cultural geography, education studies, film studies and sociology. In the last decade queer theory has been used to consider citizenship, diasporas and post colonial experiences. A queer theoretical perspective has also been used to analyse emotions, the Death Drive, phenomenology, and disability. As queer theory enters its third decade Janet Halley and Andrew Parker ask what is after sex? ‘What has queer theory become now that it has a past?’

Competitive advantages as a foundation for social advantage: The role of social enterprise in regional development

The belief that regions play a role in determining national economic development and that advantages are found at the local and regional level has been the focus of economic geography and development studies over the last 10 years. However, this issue has historically been dominated by economic perspectives, industrial firms, and public bodies. In recent years the social economy is starting to receive greater attention in creating regional advantage as well as ameliorating regional disadvantage. The social economy includes the impact of the third sector such as social enterprises. This paper proposes that understanding the role and function of social enterprise will enable a more nuanced understanding of the socio-economic aspects of regional development. Drawing upon Oliver’s (1997) framework for sustainable competitive advantage it is argued that this established management framework provides a valuable foundation for examining the organisational resources that social enterprise need to operate effectively, as well as the socio-economic resources they produce for regional communities.

How quantum theory is developing the field of information retrieval

This position paper provides an overview of work conducted and an outlook of future directions within the field of Information Retrieval (IR) that aims to develop novel models, methods and frameworks inspired by Quantum Theory (QT).

Automata modeling for cognitive interference in users' relevance judgement

Quantum theory has recently been employed to further advance the theory of information retrieval (IR). A challenging research topic is to investigate the so called quantum-like interference in users’ relevance judgement process, where users are involved to judge the relevance degree of each document with respect to a given query. In this process, users’ relevance judgement for the current document is often interfered by the judgement for previous documents, due to the interference on users’ cognitive status. Research from cognitive science has demonstrated some initial evidence of quantum-like cognitive interference in human decision making, which underpins the user’s relevance judgement process. This motivates us to model such cognitive interference in the relevance judgement process, which in our belief will lead to a better modeling and explanation of user behaviors in relevance judgement process for IR and eventually lead to more user-centric IR models. In this paper, we propose to use probabilistic automaton(PA) and quantum finite automaton (QFA), which are suitable to represent the transition of user judgement states, to dynamically model the cognitive interference when the user is judging a list of documents.

Community protest groups' perceptions of environmental risks using social contagion theory

Local communities are vulnerable to the potential environmental risks associated with construction activity. Currently, little is understood about how perceptions of environmental risks are shaped and spread within a community. A better understanding of this process can help bridge the gap between developers and communities and bring about more sustainable development practices. This paper reports a research methodology which uses social contagion theory to investigate this process. The research adopts a single case study approach of a highly controversial housing project in the greater Sydney metropolitan area. The case study is particularly significant as it investigates an extensive and on-going community-based protest campaign (dating back almost 20 years) that has generated the longest standing 24 hour community picket in the New South Wales.

A strategy for delayed research method selection : deciding between grounded theory and phenomenology

This paper presents a strategy for delayed research method selection in a qualitative interpretivist research. An exemplary case details how explorative interviews were designed and conducted in accordance with a paradigm prior to deciding whether to adopt grounded theory or phenomenology for data analysis. The focus here is to determine the most appropriate research strategy in this case the methodological framing to conduct research and represent findings, both of which are detailed. Research addressing current management issues requires both a flexible framework and the capability to consider the research problem from various angles, to derive tangible results for academia with immediate application to business demands. Researchers, and in particular novices, often struggle to decide on an appropriate research method suitable to address their research problem. This often applies to interpretative qualitative research where it is not always immediately clear which is the most appropriate method to use, as the research objectives shift and crystallize over time. This paper uses an exemplary case to reveal how the strategy for delayed research method selection contributes to deciding whether to adopt grounded theory or phenomenology in the initial phase of a PhD research project. In this case, semi-structured interviews were used for data generation framed in an interpretivist approach, situated in a business context. Research questions for this study were thoroughly defined and carefully framed in accordance with the research paradigm‟s principles, while at the same time ensuring that the requirements of both potential research methods were met. The grounded theory and phenomenology methods were compared and contrasted to determine their suitability and whether they meet the research objectives based on a pilot study. The strategy proposed in this paper is an alternative to the more „traditional‟ approach, which initially selects the methodological formulation, followed by data generation. In conclusion, the suggested strategy for delayed research method selection intends to help researchers identify and apply the most appropriate method to their research. This strategy is based on explorations of data generation and analysis in order to derive faithful results from the data generated.

An application of the Health Belief Model to understanding use of child restraint practices

Aims Multi-method study including two parts: Study One: three sets of observations in two regional areas of Queensland Study Two: two sets of parent intercept interviews conducted in Toowoomba, Queensland. The aim of Study Two is to determine parents’ views, opinions and knowledge of child restraint practices and the Queensland legislative amendment.

From cultural to creative industries : theory, industry, and policy implications

Across post-industrial societies worldwide, the creative industries are increasingly seen as a key economic driver. These industries - including fields as diverse as advertising, art, computer games, crafts, design, fashion, film, museums, music, performing arts, publishing, radio, theatre and TV - are built upon individual creativity and innovation and have the potential to create wealth and employment through the mechanism of intellectual property. Creative Industries: Critical Readings brings together the key writings - drawing on both journals and books - to present an authoritative and wide-ranging survey of this emerging field of study. The set is presented with an introduction and the writings are divided into four volumes, organized thematically: Volume 1: Concepts - focuses on the concept of creativity and the development of government and industry interest in creative industries; Volume 2: Economy - maps the role and function of creative industries in the economy at large; Volume 3: Organization - examines the ways in which creative institutions organize themselves; and Volume 4: Work - addresses issues of creative work, labour and careers This major reference work will be invaluable to scholars in economics, cultural studies, sociology, media studies and organization studies.