Stakeholder analysis of a retirement village development in Australia : Insights from an interdisciplinary workshop

In Australia, the retirement village is regarded as a viable accommodation option for the fast-growing population of older people. Given that diverse stakeholders are involved in the village development process, a comprehensive stakeholder analysis, especially understanding stakeholders' concerns and expectations, is of critical importance to project success. This paper describes a stakeholder analysis based on a typical retirement village. The main methods utilized in this research were case study and an interdisciplinary workshop comprising intensive work sessions and cross-functional review. The participants of this 2014 Brisbane workshop included four village managers from an Australian retirement village developer and eight academics from diverse disciplines from a large university. Through this workshop, 24 village stakeholders and their specific concerns and expectations were identified. Results suggest that both concerns and expectations of these stakeholders are multidimensional and vary considerably, and the concerns and expectations of different stakeholders have complex relationships. Implications for a retirement village development are also proposed. The findings of the study serve as a valuable reference for developers' understanding of stakeholder concerns and expectations, and for taking corresponding actions in the final stages of the retirement village development.

Destinations, disasters and public relations: Stakeholder engagement in multi-phase disaster management

Research about disasters in tourism has emerged in earnest since the 1990s covering insights for preparedness and response. However, recently, authors have called for more systematic and holistic approaches to tourism disaster management research. To address this gap, this study adopted a public relations perspective to refocus attention to relationships and stakeholder expectations of destination communities across multiple phases of disaster management. The authors used a mixed method approach and developed a battery of disaster management attributes by conducting interviews and analyzing industry documents and the extant literature. These attributes formed part of a survey of tourism businesses. Exploratory factor analysis resulted in a two factor solution: - i) business disaster preparedness, and; - ii) destination disaster response and recovery. Findings also show that participants reported a gap between the importance and destination performance of these attributes. In particular, tourism businesses perceived destinations did not adequately engage in disaster preparedness activities, which had implications for disaster response and recovery.

Exchange relationships in building services maintenance activity : a test of transaction cost economics and the resource dependency view

The firm is faced with a decision concerning the nature of intra-organizational exchange relationships with internal human resources and the nature or inter-organizational exchange relationships with market firms. In both situations, the firm can develop an exchange that ranges from a discrete exchange to a relational exchange. Transaction Cost Economics (TCE) and the Resource Dependency View (RDV) represent alternative efficiency-based explanations fo the nature of the exchange relationship. The aim of the paper is to test these two theories in respect of air conditioning maintenance in retail centres. Multiple sources of information are genereated from case studies of Australian retail centres to test these theories in respoect of internalized operations management (concerning strategic aspects of air conditioning maintenance) and externalized planned routine air conditioning maintenance. The analysis of the data centres on pattern matching. It is concluded that the data supports TCE - on the basis of a development in TCE's contractual schema. Further research is suggested towards taking a pluralistic stance and developing a combined efficiency and power hypothesis - upon which Williamson has speculated. For practice, the conclusions also offer a timely cautionary note concerning the adoption of one approach in all exchange relationships.

Relationships between employees and their nomadic, non-territorial work environment

Recent and current socio-cultural trends are significant factors impacting on how business is conduced and correspondingly, on how work environments are designed. New communication technology is helping to break physical boundaries and change the way and speed of conducting business. One of the main characteristics of these new workplaces is non-permanency wherein the individual employee has no dedicated personally assigned office, work station, or desk. In this non-territorial, nomadic situation, employees undertake their work tasks in a wide variety of work settings inside and outside the office building. Such environments are understood to be must suitable where there is the need for high interaction with others as well as a high level of concentrated, independent work. This thesis reports on a project designed to develop a deeper understanding of the relationships between people (P) and their built environment (E) in the context of everyday work practice in a nomadic and non-territorial work environment. To achieve this, the study focuses on the experiences of employees as they understand them in relation to their work and the designed/ physical work environment. In this sense, the study is qualitative and grounded in nature. It does not assume any previously established theory nor test any presenting hypothesis. Instead it interviews the participants about their situations at work in their workplace, interprets natural interaction and creates a foundation for the development of theory informing workplace design, particularly theory that recognises the human nature of work and the need, as highlighted by several seminal researchers, for a greater understanding of how people manage and adapt in dynamic work environments.

Enriching relationships : community engagment toward sustainable coastal futures

Coastal communities face the social, cultural and environmental challenges of managing rapid urban and industrial development, expanding tourism, and sensitive ecological environments. Enriching relationships between communities and universities through a structured engagement process can deliver integrated options towards sustainable coastal futures. This process draws on the embedded knowledge and values of all participants in the relationship, and offers a wide and affordable range of options for the future. This paper reviews lessons learnt from two projects with coastal communities, and discusses their application in a third. Queensland University of Technology has formed collaborative partnerships with industry in Queensland's Wide Bay-Burnett region to undertake a series of planning and design projects with community engagement as a central process. Senior students worked with community and produced design and planning drawings and reports outlining future options for project areas. A reflective approach has been adopted by the authors to assess the engagement process and outcomes of each project to learn lessons to apply in the next. Methods include surveying community and student participants regarding the value they place on process and outcomes respectively in planning for a sustainable future. All project participants surveyed have placed high importance on the process of engagement, emphasising the value of developing relationships between all project partners. The quality of these relationships is central to planning for sustainable futures, and while the outcomes the students deliver are valued, it is as much for their catalytic role as for their contents. Design and planning projects through community engagement have been found to develop innovative responses to the challenges faced by coastal communities seeking direction toward sustainable futures. The enrichment of engagement relationships and processes has an important influence on the quality of these design and planning responses.