On governance structures for cloud resources and assessing their effectiveness

This research suggests information technology (IT) governance structures to manage cloud computing resources. The interest in acquiring IT resources as a utility from the cloud is gaining momentum. Cloud computing resources present organizations with opportunities to manage their IT expenditure on an ongoing basis, and are providing organizations access to modern IT resources to innovate and manage their continuity. However, cloud computing resources are no silver bullet. Organizations would need to have appropriate governance structures and policies in place to manage the cloud resources. The subsequent decisions from these governance structures will ensure effective management of cloud resources. This management will facilitate a better fit of cloud resources into organizations existing processes to achieve business (process-level) and financial (firm-level) objectives. Using a triangulation approach, we suggest four possible governance structures for managing the cloud computing resources. These structures are a chief cloud officer, a cloud management committee, a cloud service facilitation centre, and a cloud relationship centre. We also propose that these governance structures would relate to organizations cloud-related business objectives directly and indirectly to cloud-related financial objectives. Perceptive field survey data from actual and prospective cloud service adopters confirmed that the suggested structures would contribute directly to cloud-related business objectives and indirectly to cloud-related financial objectives.

Building project competence : developing dynamic capabilities with knowledge governance mechanisms

This research investigates the development of project competence, and particularly, three related dynamic capabilities (shifting, adapting, leveraging) that contribute to project competence development. In doing so, we make use of the emerging literature on knowledge governance and theorize how knowledge governance mechanisms can move the organization towards desired knowledge-based goals. A multiple-case study comprising 23 cases advances our understanding of the elements that trigger, enable, hamper, and drive shifting, leveraging and adapting. Finally, the paper offers a tentative framework of dynamic capability building promoting project competence development.

Knowledge governance in project-based organizations : theoretical and empirical approaches

This paper conceptualizes knowledge governance (KG) in project-based organizations (PBOs) and its methodological approaches for empirical investigation. Three key contributions towards a multi-faceted view of KG and an understanding of KG in PBOs are advanced. These contributions include a definition of KG in PBOs, a conceptual framework to investigate KG and a methodological framework for empirical inquiry into KG in PBO settings. Our definition highlights the contingent nature of KG processes in relation to their organizational context. The conceptual framework addresses macro- and micro-level elements of KG and their interaction. The methodological framework proposes five different research approaches, structured by differentiation and integration of various ontological and epistemological stances. Together these contributions provide a novel platform for understanding KG in PBOs and developing new insights into the design and execution of research on KG within PBOs.

Ownership, corporate governance and liquidity in Caribbean firms

This thesis provides the first evidence on how ownership structure and corporate governance relate to stock liquidity in the Caribbean. Based on panel data of 71 firms from three selected Caribbean markets − Barbados, Jamaica, and Trinidad & Tobago − results show that firms with concentrated ownership are associated with lower liquidity. The identity of the largest shareholder also matters: family firms and firms with foreign holding companies are more liquid than government firms. Although the second largest shareholding does not appear to matter to liquidity, there is some evidence showing that firms with foreign holding companies as the second largest shareholder are less liquid. Caribbean firms suffer from poor corporate governance but this study is unable to establish a significant relationship between corporate governance and liquidity.

Sessional Academic Success : A distributed framework for academic support and development

With approximately half of Australian university teaching now performed by sessional academics, there has been growing recognition of the contribution they make to student learning. At the same time, sector-wide research and institutional audits continue to raise concerns about academic development, quality assurance, recognition and belonging. In response, universities have increasingly begun to offer academic development programs for sessional academics. However, such programs may be centrally delivered, generic in nature, and contained within the moment of delivery, while the Faculty contexts and cultures that sessional academics work within are diverse, and the need for support unfolds in ad-hoc and often unpredictable ways. In this paper we present the Sessional Academic Success (SAS) program–a new framework that complements and extends the central academic development program for sessional academic staff at Queensland University of Technology. This program recognises that experienced sessional academics have much to contribute to the advancement of learning and teaching, and harnesses their expertise to provide school-based academic development opportunities, peer-to-peer support, and locally contextualized community building. We describe the program’s implementation and explain how Sessional Academic Success Advisors (SASAs) are employed, trained and supported to provide advice and mentorship and, through a co-design methodology, to develop local development opportunities and communities of teaching practice within their schools. Besides anticipated benefits to new sessional academics in terms of timely and contextual support and improved sense of belonging, we explain how SAS provides a pathway for building leadership capacity and academic advancement for experienced sessional academics. We take a collaborative, dialogic and reflective practice approach to this paper, interlacing insights from the Associate Director, Academic: Sessional Development who designed the program, and two Sessional Academic Success Advisors who have piloted it within their schools.

Project governance : ethical decision making in project procurement in the Malaysian public sectors

Managing public sector projects in Malaysia is a unique challenge. This is because of the ethical issues involved during the project procurement process. These ethical issues need attention because they will have an impact on the quality, cost and time of the project itself. The ethical issues here include conflict of interest, bid shopping, collusive tendering, bid cutting, corruption and the payment game. In 2006, 17.3% of 417 Malaysian government contract projects were considered sick due to contractors' performances that failed to conduct the project according to the project plan. Some of the sick projects from these statistics are due to the ethical issues involved. These construction projects have low quality due to the selection of the contractors, done unethically due to personal relationships instead of professional qualifications. That is why it is important to govern the project procurement processes to ensure the accountability and transparency of the decision making process to ensure that these ethical issues can be avoided. Extensive research has been conducted on the ethical issues in the tendering process or the award phase of project management. There is a lack of studies looking at the role of clients, including the government client, in relation to unethical practice in project procurement in the public sector. It is important to understand that ethical issues not only involve the contractors and suppliers but also the clients. Even though there are codes of ethics in the public sectors, ethical issues still arise. Therefore, this research develops a project governance framework (PGEDM) for ethical decision making in the Malaysian public sectors. This framework combines the ethical decision making process together with the project governance principals in guiding the public sectors with ethical decision making in project procurement. A triangulation of questionnaire survey and Delphi study was employed in this research to collect required qualitative and quantitative data. A questionnaire survey was conducted among the public officials (the practitioners) who are currently working in the procurement area in the Malaysian public sectors, in identifying the ethical behaviours and factors influencing further ethical behaviour to occur. A Delphi study was also conducted with the assistance of a panel of experts consisting of practitioners that have expertise in the area of project governance and project procurement as well as academician, which further considered the relationship and the influence of the criteria and indicators of ethical decision making (EDM) and project governance (project criteria, organisational culture, contract award criteria, individual criteria, client's requirements, government procedures and professional ethics). Through the identification and integration of the factors and EDM criteria as well as the project governance criteria and EDM steps for ethical issues, a PGEDM framework was developed to promote, and drive consistent decision outcome in project procurement in the public sector. The framework contributes significantly to ethical decision making in the project procurement process. These findings not only give benefit to the people involved in project procurement but also to the public officials in guiding them to be more accountable in handling ethical issues in the future and to have a more transparent decision making process.

Family representatives in family firms

Research Question/Issue: Family control in family firms can extend beyond the direct involvement of family members, but identifying these mechanisms is difficult in most markets. We utilize unique disclosures made by Taiwanese firms to examine the role played by family representatives in listed family firms. Family representatives are non-family members that represent the controlling family’s indirect shareholdings in the firm. We examine whether family representatives are used in the same manner as family members and whether they provide net benefits or costs to shareholders. Research Findings/Insights: In our sample of listed family firms, we find that omitting family representatives understates the influence of controlling families by 46 percent. We show that family representatives are associated with net costs to shareholders, but to a lesser extent than family members. We also find that controlling families use family members and family representatives differently. Family members are more involved in older family firms and in firms founded by the family. Family representatives are more involved in acquired and second generation family firms and in larger firms with more fixed assets. Theoretical/Academic Implications: We apply agency theory to the use of family representatives and show that family representatives are being used by controlling families to extend their influence within their firms, increasing agency costs to minority shareholders. Practitioner/Policy Implications: For policymakers, our analysis shows that disclosure of family member and representative relationships within firms is important and value-relevant to investors. Furthermore, our results suggest that firm performance could be improved by limiting the involvement of family members and family representatives in family firms.

Risky business : mapping ethical landscapes and negotiating governance tensions when researching female offending

Whilst there is an excellent and growing body of literature around female criminality underpinned by feminist methodologies, the nitty gritty of the methodological journey is nowhere as well detailed as it is in the context of the Higher Degree Research (HDR) thesis. Thus the purpose of this paper is threefold: i) to explore a range of feminist methodologies underpinning 20 Australian HDR theses focussing on female criminality; ii) to identify and map the governance/ethics tensions experienced by these researchers whilst undertaking high risk research in the area of female offending; and iii) to document strategies drawn from negotiations, resolutions and outcomes to a range of gate-keeping issues. By exploring the strategies used by these researchers, this paper aims to: promote discussion on feminist methodologies; highlight pathways that may be created when negotiating the challenging process of accessing data pertinent to this relatively understudied area; contribute to a community of practice; and provide useful insights into what Mason & Stubbs (2010:16) refer to as “the open and honest reflexivity through the research process by describing the assumptions, and hiccups” for future researchers navigating governance landscapes.

Parents’ perception about children’s academic stress and child care related issues

The present study intends to understand the parents' perception about children's academic stress and child care related issues. A group of 139 parents, 68 fathers and 71 mothers, participated in the study voluntarily and they were selected following convenience sampling technique. In order to achieve the objective of the study, a specially designed semi-structured questionnaire was used. Findings disclosed that about one-third of the fathers (29.4%) and one-tenth of the mothers (9.9%) frankly admitted that they could not provide quality care and guidance to their children and in this regard significant difference was observed between fathers and mothers (p<.05). More than four-fifth of the parents stated that they should be friendly with their children so that children feel comfortable to share their personal issues with them. More than one-fifth fathers (27.9%) and one-fourth mothers (16.9%) applied corporal punishment as they believed it is necessary to discipline them and/or for better academic performance.

Students' academic stress and welfare as perceived by the teachers

The objective of the present study was to understand the teachers' perception about students' academic stress and other welfare related issues. A group of 125 secondary and higher secondary school teachers (43 male and 82 female) from five schools located in Kolkata were covered in the study following convenience sampling technique. Data were collected by using a semi-structured questionnaire developed by the first author. Findings revealed that more than half of the teachers (55.8% male and 54.9% female) felt that today's students are not brought up in child friendly environment while an overwhelming number of teachers stated that students face some social problems (88.4% male and 96.3% female) which affects their mental health and causes stress (90.7% male and 92.7% female). However, majority of them (79.1% male and 78% female teachers), irrespective of gender, denied the fact that teaching method followed in schools could cause academic stress. Vast majority of the teachers felt that New Education System in India i.e., making Grade X examination (popularly known as secondary examination) optional will not be beneficial for students. So far as motivation of the students is concerned, introducing innovative teaching methods like project work, field visit, using audio-visual aids in the schools has been suggested by more than 95% of the teachers. This apart, most of the teachers suggested reward system in the schools in addition to taking classes seriously by the teachers and punctuality. Reduction of load of home work was also suggested by more than two-fifth teachers. Although corporal punishment has gone down, it is still practiced by some of the teachers' especially male teachers in Kolkata. Male and female teachers differed significantly with respect to two issues only (p < .05) i.e., applying corporal punishment and impact of sexual health education. Male teachers apply more corporal punishment compared to female teachers and secondly, male teachers do not forsee any negative influence of sexual health education.

Corporate ownership, corporate governance reform and timeliness of earnings : Malaysian evidence

This paper provides the first evidence showing that ownership concentration and the identity of the largest shareholder matter to the timeliness of corporate earnings, measured by a stock price-based timeliness metric and the reporting lag. Using panel data of 1276 Malaysian firms from 1996 to 2009, we find a non-linear relationship between concentrated ownership, measured by the largest shareholding in a firm, and the reporting lag but not the timeliness of price discovery. Although firms with government as the largest shareholder and political connections have a significantly shorter reporting lag, only the former are timelier in price discovery. Firms with family and foreigners as the largest shareholder however are less timely in price discovery. While the reporting lag is shorter in the period after the integration of the Malaysian Code of Corporate Governance (MCCG) into Bursa listing rules, its impact on the timeliness of price discovery is mostly immaterial.

Ensuring sessional academic success by rethinking the place of academic development

There has been growing recognition of the contribution that Sessional Academics make to student learning in higher education; with recent studies concluding that around half Australian university teaching is now performed by casual staff [Red Report 2008; May, 2013]. However, sector-wide research and institutional audits continue to raise concerns about academic development and quality assurance, as well as the recognition and retention of Sessional Academics. In response, universities offer academic development programs. However, while such centrally offered programs are undoubtedly useful, they are necessarily generic and cannot address the local contexts of faculties or provide ‘on the ground’ support. This paper presents a new, distributed model of academic support and development for Sessional academics at Queensland University of Technology. Entitled the Sessional Academic Success program, it employs the principles of distributed leadership. Experienced Sessional academics are trained and supported to assume roles as Sessional Academic Success Advisors within their schools. Complementing our central programs, they design bespoke, locally situated, peer-to-peer academic development for new Sessional teachers; provide ‘just in time’, safe and reliable advice; and build supportive communities of teaching practice in their local contexts. This distributed model re-envisages the forms and places of academic development and support. It helps ensure that new Sessional Academics are embraced by faculty life. And, recognizing that experienced Sessional Academics have much to contribute to the advancement of learning and teaching, it builds their capacity through leadership opportunities. As the designer/facilitator of the program and a Sessional Academic Success Advisor, the authors take a dialogic approach and together describe the design, implementation and outcomes of the program.

The Sessional Academic Success (SAS) project

The Sessional Academic Success (SAS) project is a sustainable, distributed model for supporting sessional staff at QUT. Developed by the Learning and Teaching Unit. SAS complements our Sessional Academic Program (SAP): a sequence of formal academic development workshops explained in complementary nomination. SAS recognises that while these programs are very well received and a crucial aspect of preparing and advancing sessional teachers, they are necessarily encapsulated in the moment of their delivery and are generic, as they address all faculties (with their varied cultures, processes and pedagogies). The SAS project extends this formal, centrally offered activity into local, ‘just in time’, ongoing support within schools. It takes a distributed leadership approach. Experienced sessional academics are recruited and employed as Sessional Academic Success Advisors (SASAs). They provide sessional staff in their schools with contextually specific, needs based, peer-to-peer development opportunities; one-on-one advice on classroom management and strategies for success; and help to trouble-shoot challenges. The SASAs are trained by the Learning and Teaching Unit co-ordinator, and ongoing support is provided centrally and by school-based co-ordinators. This team approach situates the SASAs at the centre of an organisation map (see diagram of support relationships below). The SAS project aims to support sessional staff in their professional development by: • Offering contextual, needs-based support at school level by harnessing local expertise; • Providing further development opportunities that are local and focal; SAS aims to retain Sessional Staff by: • Responding to self-nominated requests for support and ‘just in time’, safe and reliable advice in times of need; • Building sessional staff confidence through help with dealing with challenges from a trusted peer; • Building a supportive academic community for sessional staff, which helps them feel a part of faculty life, and a community of teaching practice. SAS aims to support sessional staff in the development of academic teaching careers by: • Recognising the capacity of experienced sessional staff to support their peers in ways that are unique, valuable and valued and providing the agency to do so; • Providing career advancement and leadership opportunities for sessional staff. SAS takes unique approaches within each school using strategies such as: • Welcomes and schools orientation by SASAs; • Regular check ins; face-to-face advice and online support; • Compiling local resources to complement university wide resources. • Sessional-to-sessional ‘just in time’ training (eg. assessment and marking when marking commences); • Peer feedback and mentoring (the opportunities to sit in more experiences sessionals’ classes; • Sessional staff awards (nominated by students); • Communities of practice to discuss topics and issues with a view to (and support for) publishing on learning and teaching. In these ways, SASAs complement support offered by unit coordinators, administrators, and the Learning and Teaching Unit. Pairing senior and ‘understudy’ advisors ensures a line of succession, sustainability and continuity. A pilot program commenced in 2012 involving three schools (Psychology and Social Work; Electrical Engineering and Computer Science; Media, Entertainment and Creative Arts). It will be expanded across schools in 2013.

Academic Development Program : QUT University Wide

The QUT Sessional Academic Program (SAP) has scaffolded levels, each with experience-appropriate objectives: • SAP 1: Introduction to Learning and Teaching aims to develop confidence and build awareness of pedagogy and managing class-room scenarios. • SAP 2: Learning and Teaching in Large Units focuses on aligning curriculum and assessment through learning activities and builds a community of teaching practice with sessionals and subject coordinators. • SAP 3: Developing your Teaching Practice focuses on whole of university and classroom strategies to ensure student success through effective feedback; reflective practice and learning communities. • SAP 4: Enhancing your Teaching Practice applies these factors to teaching success. In conjunction with: • Sessional Career Advancement Development: for Higher Degree Research students/ sessional staff who aspire to become academics provides guidance on developing an academic portfolio in teaching, research and service. And • Sessional Academic Success program providing ongoing, local support (see separate nomination). A critical factor in its success is its praxis approach. Theoretical principles are modelled. Eg, ‘active learning’ is explained and modelled through learning activities, which participants evaluate ‘on the fly’ against the criteria of learning, engagement and connection with peers. The topics ‘learning communities’ and ‘reflective practice’ are explored as a learning community–then applied in participants’ classes, with reflections shared in the next session. This produces a ‘meta-awareness’ of theory and principles, as they are explained, applied in practice, and critically analysed for their effectiveness in workshops.