Defining mega project success in Australian defence : a relation-based framework for value co-creation with project stakeholders

Defining success in mega projects has been a challenging exercise for Australian Defence. The inherent conflict between nation capability building and cost efficiency raises questions about how to appropriately define mega project success. Contrary to the traditional output-focused project methodology, the value creation perspective argues for the importance of creating new knowledge, processes, and systems for suppliers and customers. Stakeholder involvement is important in this new perspective, as the balancing of competing needs of stakeholders in mega projects becomes a major challenge in managing the value co-creation process. In our earlier study reported interview data from three Australian defence mega projects and reported that those senior executives have a more complex understanding of project success than traditional iron triangle measures. In these mega defence projects, customers and other stakeholders actively engage in the value creation process, and over time both content and process value are created to increase defence and national capability. Value created and captured during and post projects are the key to true success. We aim to develop a comprehensive theoretical model the capture the value co-creation process as a way of re-conceptualising success in mega projects. We propose a new framework redefine project value as multi-dimensional, contextual and temporal construct that emerges from the interactions among multiple stake holders over the complete project life cycle. The framework distinguishes between exploitation and exploration types of projects, and takes into consideration the requisite governance structures.

The impact of the built environment on health across the life course : design of a cross-sectional data linkage study

Introduction: The built environment is increasingly recognised as being associated with health outcomes. Relationships between the built environment and health differ among age groups, especially between children and adults, but also between younger, mid-age and older adults. Yet few address differences across life stage groups within a single population study. Moreover, existing research mostly focuses on physical activity behaviours, with few studying objective clinical and mental health outcomes. The Life Course Built Environment and Health (LCBEH) project explores the impact of the built environment on self-reported and objectively measured health outcomes in a random sample of people across the life course. Methods and analysis: This cross-sectional data linkage study involves 15 954 children (0–15 years), young adults (16–24 years), adults (25–64 years) and older adults (65+years) from the Perth metropolitan region who completed the Health and Wellbeing Surveillance System survey administered by the Department of Health of Western Australia from 2003 to 2009. Survey data were linked to Western Australia's (WA) Hospital Morbidity Database System (hospital admission) and Mental Health Information System (mental health system outpatient) data. Participants’ residential address was geocoded and features of their ‘neighbourhood’ were measured using Geographic Information Systems software. Associations between the built environment and self-reported and clinical health outcomes will be explored across varying geographic scales and life stages. Ethics and dissemination: The University of Western Australia's Human Research Ethics Committee and the Department of Health of Western Australia approved the study protocol (#2010/1). Findings will be published in peer-reviewed journals and presented at local, national and international conferences, thus contributing to the evidence base informing the design of healthy neighbourhoods for all residents.

The re-introduction project

The Re-introduction Project began with an art-science research residency in 2012, funded through the Australian 'Synapse' art-science residency program. It was developed in partnership with the Australian Wildlife Conservancy, Australia's largest private conservation agency and their South-East regional scientist Matt Hayward and conducted through a series of seven high intensity field-trips to AWC’s remote properties in VIC, NSW and SA. These trips coincided with key times at which the AWC’s mobile scientific teams were undertaking intensive scientific activities. The program coincided with specific events that senior scientist collaborator Dr Matt Hayward led in 2012 at Mallee Regions (Yookamurra, Scotia and Buckaringa), Lake Eyre Basin (Kalamurina) and Sydney (North Head). The initial outcome of the project was the work Pitfall (An Opportunistic Survey) - a new media installation created in light, media, object, text and sound presented near the AWC headquarters at Mildura in far NW Victoria. Pitfall built upon ideas and cross disciplinary processes developed during this residency/collaboration with Australian Wildlife Conservancy inspired by working with their ecological scientists during pitfall-trap survey events used to survey small mammals and invertebrates. ‘Pitfall’ was designed in response to a playful survey that I asked the AWC scientists to engage with around ideas of avoiding ecological pitfalls into the future. This continually-evolving artwork was built from multiple screens, a tabletop landscape mapped with projections, fibre optics, 3D spatial sound and infrared night imagery.

Ethics in project management : some Aristotelian insights

Purpose My aim is to introduce, in the project management field, an Aristotelian ethics lens moving beyond the classical deontological and consequentialism approaches underlying the current ethical practices and codes of ethics and professional conducts. In doing so, I wish to pose the premises of a debate on the implications of a conscious ethical perspective for the structure and agency relationship within the project management field Design/methodology/approach Project management is a knowledge field on its own right. However the current perspectives applied to make sense and develop the field (modernism vs. postmodernism) leads to dichotomous thinking rather than recognizing the merits and contextual validity of both sides. I call for Aristotelian Ethics as a way of moving beyond this dichotomous thinking. I introduce briefly Aristotelian Ethics and its consequences in term of relation theory – practice, means and ends, facts and values, and finally politics (i.e. being part of a community of practitioners). Then I illustrate some consequences for the field taking PMI Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct and APM Code of Professional Conduct as supports for discussion Findings I suggest a need for revisiting and/or redesigning the codes of ethics and professional conducts for project management according to an Aristotelian perspective, in order to move beyond the normative limitations of classical deontological (conflict between competing duties, exemplified by PMI Code) or consequentialism (focusing on the "right" outcome to the detriment of duties, exemplified by APM Code) approaches (both, in fact, leading to a disconnection means and ends, and facts and values). This implicates shifting our view from the question "what is my duty?" to the questions "why should I undertake my duty?" and "how ought I act in this situation?" Practical implications Raising Professional Bodies, Industry and Education institutions awareness and consciousness and leading them to rethink about codes of ethics and the implications for the way they conceive practice and research, bodies of knowledge, credentialing, education... Originality/value To the best of my knowledge, this kind of discussion has not yet been conducted within the project management field, and considering the implication of project management in our life and for the well being of the society, an ethical debate may present some value(s)

Resistance or covert infection : baculovirus studies re-examined

Recently, Boots & Begon (1993) described the development of resistance to granulosis virus (GV) (Baculoviridae) infection in the moth Plodia interpunctella, following prolonged exposure to virus in laboratory cultures. Resistant insects exhibited reduced fitness in other respects, namely slower development and reduced egg viability, compared to control insects. These results were interpreted as pleiotropic effects of selection at the loci controlling resistance. Similar results have been described in a previous study: Fuxa & Richter (1989) used artificial selection to increase resistance to nuclear polyhedrasis virus (NPV) (Baculoviridae) infection in the moth Spodoptera frugiperda. The resulting gain in resistance they interpreted as the result of an increase in the frequency of alleles conferring resistance. Again, resistant insects exhibited maladaptive traits compared to controls, including a shorter adult life span, reduced number of eggs and reduced egg viability. In both studies the suggestion is made that selection against maladaptive traits will result in a decline in resistance, once selection for resistance is removed. Boots & Begon (1993) described a decrease in development time (towards that of control insects) within two generations of removing selection for resistance. Fuxa & Richter (1989) describe a decrease in resistance, so that within two generations of relaxing selection, previously resistant lines were not significantly more resistant than control insects. . .

Evaluation of Indigenous justice programs.: final report / Project D, Safe Aboriginal Youth Patrol Programs in New South Wales and Northbridge Policy and Juvenile Aid Group in Western Australia

The Australian Government has provided funding to evaluate the effectiveness of Indigenous law and justice programs across five subject areas to identify the best approaches to tackling crime and justice issues and better inform government funding decisions in the future. This report presents the findings of subject area "D", which examined two different approaches to delivering community and night patrol services for young people: the Safe Aboriginal Youth Patrol programs in New South Wales, and the Northbridge Policy project (the Young People in Northbridge project), in Western Australia. Night patrols can address crime either directly or indirectly, by prevention work or by addressing the social causes of crime through community development.

Strolls project and website

The Strolls project was originally devised for a colleague in Finland and a cross cultural event event called AU goes to FI – the core concept is both re-experience of and presentation of the ‘everyday’ experience of life rather than the usual cultural icons. The project grew and was presented as a mash-up site with google maps (truna aka j.turner & David Browning). The site is now cob-webbed but some of the participant made strolls are archived here. The emphasis on the walk and taking of image stills (as opposed to the straightforward video) is based on a notion of partaking of the environment with technology. The process involves a strange and distinct embodiment as the maker must stop and choose each subsequent shot in order to build up the final animated sequence. The viewer becomes subtly involved in the maker’s decisions.

Literacy and numeracy project: Final report 2009

Literacy and numeracy are critical for young people during and after their schooling. The subjects and courses that students undertake during their school years incorporate a range of academic literacy and numeracy practices which students must be able manage if they are to be successful. Pathways beyond schooling also require specific, and changing, understandings of, and proficiencies with, literacy and numeracy as new communication technologies increasingly impact on further study, work, and everyday life. Teaching and learning numeracy is a new emphasis in the SACE and as yet we have little understanding about the ways in which secondary schools handle this area. Students in Years 10 and 11 are at a crucial point in their educational and life pathways as they begin to refine their future aspirations. For those who have difficulty with academic literacies and numeracies – and often a long history of such problems – this period can be fraught unless teachers are able to provide specific support when it is needed, or students are able to access it from care-givers or community members. The School to Work Literacy and Numeracy Project involved teachers from nine schools across the three sectors and university researchers working together to design curriculum interventions for students with a history of low measurable achievement in literacy and/or numeracy. The project started from the premise that working with ‘rich tasks’, an approach to learning and assessment developed in the Productive Pedagogies work undertaken in Queensland (Hayes et al., 2006), would improve students’ motivation, engagement and learning and that this work could best be done by teachers working in school-based, cross-curriculum teams with a school leadership team member and a university researcher as mentor. A key idea in designing rich tasks is that students will have opportunities to demonstrate their learning in assessments which are aligned with the learning expectations (for example a film festival to publicly launch student-produced films, advertising to sell student-made cubby-houses, a household budget based on students’ likely incomes in future work). In other words the assessments should be designed to allow for authentic communication and displays of what the students have learned through serious engagement with the curriculum. The project was conducted from Term 1-4 2009, with follow-up checks with some project teachers in the early weeks of 2010.

Bricolage and storied selves: Young people's assemblages of narrative and identity in an Australian life storytelling project

Narrating is simultaneously self-interpretation and self-construction. People make sense of their lives and create their identities through an active process of assembling and applying meaning to memories, experiences, thoughts, actions and passions. Such a process can usefully be described as a bricolage: life narratives are created as an assemblage of scattered experiences and events. Through the particular way in which they are arranged, the storyteller constructs what Paul Ricoeur (1992) calls a “narrative identity”; that is, an identity which is organised through and specific to the story told. Applying this notion of narrative as bricolage to ‘Heywire’ – an Australian youth life storytelling project – this paper discusses the unique affordances that the process of storytelling offers in terms of identity and the way new, digital technologies and the internet augment the features of life narratives. It argues that narrative, in addition to new media, offers important tools through which young people who participate in the Heywire project make sense of personal experiences and craft their own identities in powerful and purposeful ways.

Can counseling add value to an exercise intervention for improving quality of life in breast cancer survivors? A feasibility study

Background: Improved survivorship has led to increased recognition of the need to manage the side effects of cancer and its treatment. Exercise and psychological interventions benefit survivors; however, it is unknown if additional benefits can be gained by combining these two modalities. Objective: Our purpose was to examine the feasibility of delivering an exercise and counseling intervention to 43 breast cancer survivors, to determine if counseling can add value to an exercise intervention for improving quality of life (QOL) in terms of physical and psychological function. Methods: We compared exercise only (Ex), counseling only (C), exercise and counseling (ExC), and usual care (UsC) over an 8 week intervention. Results: In all, 93% of participants completed the interventions, with no adverse effects documented. There were significant improvements in VO2max as well as upper body and lower body strength in the ExC and Ex groups compared to the C and UsC groups (P < .05). Significant improvements on the Beck Depression Inventory were observed in the ExC and Ex groups, compared with UsC (P < .04), with significant reduction in fatigue for the ExC group, compared with UsC, and no significant differences in QOL change between groups, although the ExC group had significant clinical improvement. Limitations: Limitations included small subject number and study of only breast cancer survivors. Conclusions: These preliminary results suggest that a combined exercise and psychological counseling program is both feasible and acceptable for breast cancer survivors and may improve QOL more than would a single-entity intervention.

Critical risk factors affecting the implementation of PPP waste-to-energy projects in China

Since 2003, Mainland China has been promoting the public–private partnership (PPP) procurement model in the waste-to-energy incineration sector to reduce the waste burying rate and improve environmental quality. Five critical risk factors (CRFs) that affect the construction and operation of waste-to-energy incineration projects have been identified from real-life risk events of 14 PPP waste-to-energy incineration plants through content analysis. These risk factors are insufficient waste supply, disposal of non-licensed waste, environmental risk, payment risk, and lack of supporting infrastructure. A recently completed PPP waste-to-energy incineration plant, the Shanghai Tianma project, was investigated to learn from the effective management of CRFs. First-hand data about the Shanghai Tianma project was collected, with a focus on project negotiation and concession agreement. Lessons learned about risk management were acquired. This paper presents a detailed study of the contractual structure, risk sharing scheme, risk response measures to CRFs, and project transfer of a PPP project. The study results will provide governments with management implications to prepare equitable concession agreements and benefit private investors by effectively mitigating and managing risks in future PPP waste-to-energy incineration projects.

A model for determining the optimal project life span and concession period of BOT projects

The concession agreement is the core feature of BOT projects, with the concession period being the most essential feature in determining the time span of the various rights, obligations and responsibilities of the government and concessionaire. Concession period design is therefore crucial for financial viability and determining the benefit/cost allocation between the host government and the concessionaire. However, while the concession period and project life span are essentially interdependent, most methods to date consider their determination as contiguous events that are determined exogenously. Moreover, these methods seldom consider the, often uncertain, social benefits and costs involved that are critical in defining, pricing and distributing benefits and costs between the various parties and evaluating potentially distributable cash flows. In this paper, we present the results of the first stage of a research project aimed at determining the optimal build-operate-transfer (BOT) project life span and concession period endogenously and interdependently by maximizing the combined benefits of stakeholders. Based on the estimation of the economic and social development involved, a negotiation space of the concession period interval is obtained, with its lower boundary creating the desired financial return for the private investors and its upper boundary ensuring the economic feasibility of the host government as well as the maximized welfare within the project life. The outcome of the new quantitative model is considered as a suitable basis for future field trials prior to implementation. The structure and details of the model are provided in the paper with Hong Kong tunnel project as a case study to demonstrate its detailed application. The basic contributions of the paper to the theory of construction procurement are that the project life span and concession period are determined jointly and the social benefits taken into account in the examination of project financial benefits. In practical terms, the model goes beyond the current practice of linear-process thinking and should enable engineering consultants to provide project information more rationally and accurately to BOT project bidders and increase the government's prospects of successfully entering into a contract with a concessionaire. This is expected to generate more negotiation space for the government and concessionaire in determining the major socioeconomic features of individual BOT contracts when negotiating the concession period. As a result, the use of the model should increase the total benefit to both parties.

"It's not the Jedi way!": Moral ambivalence and delivering the 'good' in Star Wars

This article examines the nature of good and evil through the prism of Star Wars, arguing that the ostensible dichotomy between the ‘good’ Jedi and the ‘evil’ Sith is false, and instead both the Jedi and the Sith engage in violence, which is evil. Anakin Skywalker then arrives as the Christ-figure who becomes evil and ‘dies’ to destroy the old rigid law of the letter adhered to by the Jedi, before resurrecting and sacrificing himself to defeat the Sith transgressors. As Milbank argues, the act of selfless love by Anakin as the Christ-figure therefore produces the good, the end of violent conflict which is ontological peace, and institutes the law of love which leads to life and peace.

The Sports Demonstration Project – An initiative of the Australian Sports Commission: An Evaluation

The Sport Development Project (SDP) was a comprehensive youth strategy for sport in the Northern Territory aimed at diversion from ‘at-risk’ behaviours, improvement of life choices and outcomes, and strengthening youth service infrastructure through engagement in positive (sport) activities. There were five Remote Service Delivery sites that were involved in the trial of this ‘best practice’ model for delivering sport-focused diversion activities. These include: Gapuwiyak, Wadeye, Yuendumu, Gunbalunya and Nguiu.