On treating the symptoms and not the cause: reflections on the Dangerous Dogs Act

The experience of saving a dog that later turned out to be a Pit Bull and therefore banned under the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991, made me investigate the Act and its implications. The Act is not built on evidence and by compiling results from different studies on dog bites and breed‐specific legislation in different countries the conclusion is that there is not much empirical support for breed bans either. ‘Dangerous breeds’ do not bite more frequently than German Shepherds and directing legislation towards certain breeds deemed as ‘dangerous’ cannot therefore be seen as justified. The strength of the label ‘dangerous dog’ seems to rule out policies that follow the facts and there is more treating of symptoms than causes. [From the Author]

Legal method and legal reflection: experiential learning in the law school

The two main themes of the conference centre around teaching experiences in legal education and theme and international and European perspectives in legal education.

Urgent review

Explains the rights of mortgagees to take possession of and sell property where mortgagors fall into arrears, considering the application of the provisions of the Administration of Justice Act 1970 allowing courts to adjourn or stay proceedings to allow borrowers to meet their obligations under the mortgage. Highlights the Chancery Division ruling in Horsham Properties Group Ltd v Clark, in which the property was sold without vacant possession and an action taken for possession of the property from the mortgagors as trespassers, which meant that the 1970 Act did not apply. Notes the concerns of the Council of Mortgage Lenders which may lead to a review of the law. [from Legal Journals Index]

Divorce deals and bankruptcy

Discusses the rights and responsibilities of trustees and beneficiaries of co-owned land under the Trusts of Land and Appointment of Trustees Act 1996, in particular s.14 which allows the court to make an order declaring the extent and nature of a person's interest in the property. Refers to the Court of Appeal decision in Avis v Turner on whether the existence of an earlier court order postponing the sale of matrimonial property following the owners' divorce meant that an application could not be brought by a trustee in bankruptcy under s.14. Considers the "exceptional circumstances" which could allow the court to postpone the sale. [From Legal Journals Index]

What's exceptional?

Outlines the factors which the court needs to consider when deciding whether to grant an application for the sale of a property where the owner becomes bankrupt. Considers the different priorities to be given to the claims of trustees in bankruptcy and to secure lenders, with reference to the Trusts of Land and Appointment of Trustees Act 1996 ss.14 and 15, the Insolvency Act 1986 s.355A, and the exceptional circumstances in which claims will not be granted. Explores case law, in particular the Court of Appeal ruling in Avis v Turner, and the implications of the Human Rights Act 1998. [From Legal Journals Index]

Law in the community: the University of Greenwich/Greenwich Association of Disabled People Centre for Independent Living (GAD) research project

The GAD Advocacy Service is funded by the London Borough of Greenwich Directorate of Neighbourhood Services; its remit to support disabled people experiencing Hate Crime, Domestic Violence and Harassment. Run by disabled personnel and giving advice to all disabled people it is unique in London. Since its inception in 2004, the Advocacy Service has been stretched to its limit - there is a need to extend the remit of the Advocacy Service to give specialist legal advice on other issues. In 2003, the CEDRM-UK project was set up in the University of Greenwich Law Department as part of the Disability Rights Promotion International Legal Education and Research Project; its objectives were firstly, to facilitate the collection of data on the effectiveness of legislation in promoting the rights of disabled persons; and secondly, to pilot new methods in teaching and training in Human Rights Law – students acquire an expertise in Human Rights Law through research into the practical application of legislation relating to civil and human rights in the daily life of the community. In July 2007, GAD and CEDRM-UK embarked on a joint project to report on the work of the Advocacy Service and to create a database to support its caseload. The 2008-9 Project team will report on their work and findings relating to facilitating equality in the workplace; the inclusion of cancer, HIV and multiple sclerosis within the legal definition of disability and the implications of the statutory duty to promote disability equality for the provision of extracurricular activities for schoolchildren. [From the Author]

What a performance! Developing nurse teachers lecturing persona and identity: a performing arts perspective

Delivering lectures to large groups of students can provoke high levels of anxiety, particularly for new lecturers (Exley and Dennick, 2009). Further, to provide an informative and engaging lecture requires a teacher who is confident, has a sound knowledge and well developed teaching skills (Bentley-Davies, 2010). Thus, new lecturers often need experience and supervision to develop the tacit knowledge and insight into their own style and persona when teaching in order to feel confident when delivering a lecture (Quinn and Hughes, 2007). Considering this model, therefore, may potentially contribute to a lecturers’ development and performance in the classroom. This paper will present the results of the second phase of a two-stage mixed method study that investigated the similarities between lecturing and acting. Twelve in-depth interviews where undertaken with lecturers within one School of Nursing in The United Kingdom. Findings, established a model of ‘persona adoption’ that represents a series of stages that lecturers may go through to both develop and take on a persona when lecturing. This persona is often different from the way they lecturers present themselves in other parts of their working life. The first stage of this model of persona adoption is when the lecturer is subjected to a range of ‘influencing factors’ that provide not only the basic information about a lecture, but also the perceptual stimuli about giving a lecture on a specific subject, to a particular number of students, at a certain academic level. These influencing factors then inter-play with the ‘facets of the individual’, which represent the lecturer’s self-concept, subject knowledge base and philosophy of teaching. This may result in a cognitive dissonance between these ‘facets’ and the ‘influencing factors’, so affecting the lecturers’ perceptions, thoughts and feelings about having to give that particular lecture. This results in the lecturer undertaking specific ‘back stage preparation’ during which they decide on the content and modes of delivery to prepare in light of that discourse. It may result in delivering the information via single or multiple methods, which during the lecture will require various levels of interaction and participation from the students. Just prior to the lecture, the lecturer builds or ‘puts on their persona’ and gets into role, making their initial impact with the group. They use the ‘elements of acting’ as proposed by Tauber and Mester’s (1994) e.g. animated voice and body, space, props humour and suspense and surprise to portray and maintain their persona. This leads the to lecturer demonstrating either positive or negative ‘persona characteristics’ in terms of appearing confident, knowledgeable, fluent in the technical skills of delivering the lecture, being interesting and engendering interaction with the students, or not. These characteristics, may or may not, potentially heighten student interest, attention and attitudes to learning as suggested by Tauber and Mester (1994). This depends on whether the lecturer has successfully used the persona and if the lecturer has been able to engage students in the lecture, in competition with other factors that may be taking the students’ attention. Although the model suggests a linear process, to a great extent, the elements might be more interdependent and interrelated. This might suggest that depending on the lecturer’s perception of their effectiveness during the lecture, that they may decide to continue or adapt their persona and methods to appear more confident. Furthermore, depending on how successful the lecturer perceived the session to be, both their reflections ‘in’ and ‘on’ practice could influence how they teach in the future (Zwozdiak, 2011). Therefore, these reflections become part of the facets of the individual, via the ‘reflective feedback loop’, in the model, which then in turn influences progression through the model in subsequent lectures. This study concluded that these lecturers went through a process whereby they compare the demands of the lecture with their own knowledge base and skill, this resulted in them undertaking specific preparation in terms of content and delivery style, then they adopted their persona immediately prior to entering the lecture, maintain it throughout the lecture via the use of the elements of acting to achieve an informative interactive lecture. The results of which then feedback into their self-concept as a lecturer and consequently may affect the persona they project in future lectures. If lecturers, therefore, can take a step back to consider how they deliver lectures and the way they can deliberately, yet apparently naturally, use their voices, bodies, space and humour in meaningfully, they engage their students in lecture, it will not just result in them being perceived as a good lecturer, but also be a genuine act of education.

Relational dimensions of corporate governance in translation: networked governance in China and India

The effectiveness of corporate governance mechanisms has been a subject of academic research for many decades. Although the large majority of corporate governance studies prior to mid 1990s were based on data from developed market economies such as the U.S., U.K. and Japan, in recent years researchers have begun examining corporate governance in transition economies. A comparison of China and India offers a unique environment for analyzing the effectiveness of corporate governance. First, both countries state-owned enterprise (SOE) reform strategies hinges on the Modern Enterprise System characterized by the separation of ownership and control. Ownership of an SOE’s assets is distributed among the government, institutional investors, managers, employees, and private investors. Effective control rights are assigned to management, which generally has a very small, or even nonexistent ownership stake. This distinctive shareholding structure creates conflict of interest not only between management (insiders) and outside investors but also between large shareholders and minority investors. Moreover, because both governments desire to retain some control—in part through partial retained ownership of commercialized SOEs, further conflicts arise between politicians and firms. Second, directors in publicly listed firms in both countries are predominantly drawn from institutions with significant non-market objectives: the government and other state enterprises, particularly in China, and extended families, particularly in India. As a result, the effectiveness of internal governance mechanisms, such as the number of independent directors on the board and the number of independent supervisors on the supervisory committee, are likely to be quiet limited, although this has yet to be fully evaluated. Third, because of the political nature of the privatization process itself, typical external governance mechanisms, such as debt (in conjunction with appropriate bankruptcy procedures), takeover threats, legal protection of investors, product market competition, etc., have not been effective. Bank loans have traditionally been viewed as grants from the state designed to bail out failing firms. State-owned banks retain monopoly or quasi-monopoly positions in the banking sector and profit is not their overriding objective. If political favor is deemed appropriate, subsidized loans, rescheduling of overdue debt or even outright transfer of funds can be arranged with SOEs (soft budget constraints). In addition, a market for private, non-bank debt is limited in India and has yet to be established China. There is no active merger or takeover activity in Chinese stock markets to discipline management. Information available in the capital markets is insufficient to keep at arm’s length of the corporate decisions. In light of the above peculiarities, China and India share many of the typical institutional characteristics as a transition economy, including poor legal protection of creditors and investors, the absence of an effective takeover market, an underdeveloped capital market, a relative inefficient banking system and significant interference of politicians in firm management. Su (2005) finds that the extent of political interference, managerial entrenchment and institutional control can help explain corporate dividend policies and post-IPO financing choices in this situation. Allen et al. (2005) demonstrate that standard corporate governance mechanisms are weak and ineffective for publicly listed firms while alternative governance mechanisms based on reputation and relationship have been remarkably effective in the private sector. Because the peculiarities are significant in this context, the differences in the political-economies of the two countries are likely to be evident in such relational terms. In this paper we explore the peculiarities of corporate governance in this transitional environment through a systematic examination of certain aspects of these reputational and relationship dimensions. Utilising the methods of social network analysis we identify the inter-organisational relationships at board level formed by equity holdings and by shared directors. Using data drawn from the Orbis database we map these relations among the 3700 largest firms in India and China respectively and identify the roles played in these relational networks by the particularly characteristic institutions in each case. We find greatly different social network structures in each case with some support in these relational dimensions for their distinctive features of governance. Further, the social network metrics allow us to considerably refine proxies for political interference, managerial entrenchment and institutional control used in earlier econometric analysis.

The illusions of competition in the water sector: a response to the OFWAT/Cave consultations on introducing competition in the water sector in England and Wales

The paper provides a critical review of the role of liberalisation and competition in the water sector, based on empirical evidence from the UK and internationally. The paper is submitted as evidence to the official reviews of competition in water sector in England and Wales.

Accelerating innovation in the social housing sector in UK

The UK government has been promoting innovation in the construction sector to improve the sustainability of the built environment. It has the potential and strength in developing construction research in design and engineering, but the impact of these processes seems to be slow in reaching the residential sector. While funding remains a major constraint research show that a number of detrimental issues including; organisation, risk, mind sets of the stakeholders, planning constraints,reluctance to accept change and the unexploited markets are major contributing factors. Most of these barriers can be overcome with research, development and information and knowledge transfer techniques. Educating all stakeholders can act as an accelerator for innovation. Given the large stock of existing dwellings, the situation is compounded, by issues related to climate change, to the point that this problem can no longer be ignored and requires an urgent response from all sectors involved. This paper attempts to highlight some of the key issues that are important in accelerating innovation in the housing sector. It briefly looks at the process of innovation in housing and presents lessons learnt from two research projects. The drivers and barriers and the role played by the government are examined in relation to the housing context.

A critical evaluation of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software sourcing and provision using theoretical constructs

Deliberating on Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software sourcing and provision, this paper contrasts the corporate environment with the small business environment. The paper is about Enterprise Resource Planning client (ERPc) expectations and Enterprise Resource Planning vendor (ERPv) value propositions as a mutually compatible process for achieving acceptable standards of ERP software performance. It is suggested that a less-than-equitable vendor–client relationship would not contribute to the implementation of the optimum solution. Adapting selected theoretical concepts and models, the researchers analyse ERPv to ERPc relationship. This analysis is designed to discover if the provision of the very large ERP vendors who market systems such as SAP, and the provision of the smaller ERP vendors (in this instance Eshbel Technologies Ltd who market an ERP software solution called Priority) when framed as a value proposition (Walters, D. (2002) Operations Strategy. Hampshire, UK: Palgrave), is at all comparable or distinctive.