Employer requirements of economics graduates and the implications for undergraduate economics programs

In recent years there has been considerable debate about the general decline in the number of students undertaking bachelor degrees and majors in economics. The discussion has stemmed mainly from a supply-side perspective of the economics education market. The goal of this paper is to add another dimension to the debate and report the results of a survey of employers of economics graduates. Drawing on the extensive customer services literature it is argued that a market oriented, or demand-side analysis is also an important component in redressing low student enrolments and retention. A first step in adopting a market oriented approach is to determine the skills required of the economics graduates entering the jobs market. With the support of The Economics Society of Au~tralia, twenty-nine public and private sector employers were surveyed in 2002. The aim of the survey was to establish the demand for economics graduates with bachelor and honours degrees, the skills and knowledge required of these graduates, and the performance of such graduates. The study found that economic knowledge and skill were important to employers. However, the skills rated most important by employers were the more general or 'generic' skills of clear writing, data analysis, interpersonal skills and a practical problem-solving orientation. While graduates generally performed satisfactorily in relation to the economic skills required by employers, this was not the case for generic skills. The result of the survey findings have some significant implications for the content and teaching of undergraduate economics programs. This paper outlines these implications and also discusses areas for future research It is argued that such research should aim to utilize both the demand and supplyside perspectives with the development of more precise definitions and measurement of the economic skills required by the various stakeholders in the economics education market.

Influence of stakeholder communication on consensus making in requirements negotiation

Consensus building is essential in aligning multiple stakeholder viewpoints which are commonly emerging during the process of requirements elicitation, analysis and validation [15]. In fact, agreement among diverse groups of stakeholders is deemed prerequisite to establishing project cooperation and collaboration. While individuals frequently rank the importance of their personal goals over the goals of an organisation, having an appropriate strategy for finding common ground among individuals is crucial to any project's success. This paper therefore explores factors that influence the consensus making process and develops a model that helps with understanding the role of consensus specifically during the elicitation phase of the Requirements Engineering process.

The first 50 years of the annual endowed accounting research lecture series at the University of Melbourne

Carnegie and Edwards (2001) suggest that the formation of an organisational body is just one of the 'signals of movement' within the dynamic process of professionalisation of an occupation and they list the sponsoring of professorial posts and research activities at universities as further examples. While the literature on this process in Australia does refer to the sponsorship of chairs of accounting (Carnegie & Williams, 2001), little has been written identifying the range of other areas of sponsorship by the organised accounting bodies. This paper presents details of the first fifty years presentations of the Annual Accounting Research Lectures held at The University of Melbourne, Australia. They have been presented continuously since 1940, when they were inaugurated with sponsorship from the Commonwealth Institute of Accountants. The paper presents the first complete listing of details relating to the presenter (including name, gender, residency and occupational area), title of the paper, date of presentation (where known) and details of publication (where appropriate). The initial and subsequent motivation for the presentation of the series and the influence of the lectures in promoting research and fostering relations between the professional bodies and the university, during a period of great significance in the development of accounting education and the professionalisation of accounting in Australia, is also discussed.

The slow wheels of requirements engineering research: responding to the challenge of societal change

Despite the significant Requirements Engineering (RE) research efforts over the past decade the research--industry gap still remains persistent.
Recent attempts by the RE research community to address this issue include cumulative knowledge studies to describe the current state of RE research and the establishment of a new conference dedicated to the comparative evaluation of RE.
This paper reports the state of RE research from 2001 to 2005. A taxonomy of RE literature is presented and a conceptual framework for
understanding the current state of RE is also described. The ensuing analysis shows that during the period 2001-2005 there was only an incremental development of RE research without any radical theoretical contributions to its body of knowledge. The paper also poses a challenge for the RE research community to respond to the dramatic changes in the
social and business world.

Students` performance and perception linked to the use of group and audience response systems (GARS) in large classes

This paper reports an investigation into the impact of Group and Audience Response Systems (GARS) on students’ learning outcomes, and perceptions of learning in large classes. Performance is compared between students who used the technology, and students who did not, based on progressive assignment and exam results. Perception is assessed based on an online survey questionnaire. The key findings of this study indicate that students who used the technology achieved, on average, 6.70% higher grades compared to those who did not. Further, use of the technology improved the overall achievement of students, on average, regardless of their perception of whether or not it would provide
an academic advantage. Key findings and future use of the technology are discussed.

The impact of enterprise resource planning systems on management accounting : an Australian study

Information technology is significantly changing the operating practices of an increasing number of companies globally. These developments have important implications for the accounting profession and in particular accounting practices in the twenty-first century. This study examines the development of enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems as a means of illustrating how changes in information technology allows all systems in a company to be linked to manage operations holistically.

The study investigates the change in accounting systems using a sample of Australian companies with emphasis on the adoption of ERP systems including the potential impact of ERP on capital budgeting processes. The results show that ERP systems are changing management accounting practices, although at this stage, the impact on capital budgeting techniques appears to be limited. The findings contribute to the emerging body of literature on the development of ERP systems and its impact on management accounting teaching and research.

The importance of IS stakeholder perspectives and perceptions to requirements negotiation

Project managers and developers need to acknowledge the influence of IS stakeholders’ perspectives and perceptions on the outcome of requirements negotiation - the essential component of requirements elicitation. This paper describes a conceptual study, which demonstrates such an influence and asserts that stakeholder perspectives, goals and issues are the key to negotiators’ perceptions of the system requirements. Analysis of two seminal IS case studies further supports this assertion and indicates that goals, perspectives and prior experience with negotiation techniques can guide stakeholders bargaining behaviour during requirements negotiation. Our findings also show that to achieve consensus on requirements, stakeholder perspectives must be aligned or accepted by negotiating parties. Achieving alignment of perspectives, however, is quite difficult because during requirements elicitation stakeholders’ goals continually alter due to their acquisition of technical and business knowledge, development of inter-personal relationships and creation of new perceptions of issues relevant to requirements negotiation.

Small firms as social formations : relationships as the unit of analysis for eBusiness adoption research

Existing research concerning the adoption of Electronic Business (eBusiness) by small firms has primarily investigated the factors influencing their adoption decisions, with firms being the unit of analysis. In addition, the research assumes that it is primarily small firm owners, employees, trading partners, eBusiness product/service providers, government and business networks which influence adoption. This paper argues that small firms can more accurately be characterised as social formations whereby family, friends and social networks most likely play a significant, often overlooked, role. On this basis the paper argues that future research should include relationships within and external to small firms as the unit of analysis, not just the firm. The paper concludes by examining whether the theories commonly used to explore small firm eBusiness adoption are suitable for relationship-based research.

Electronic negotiation and security of information exchanged in e-commerce

In settings such as electronic markets where trading partners have conflicting interests and a desire to cooperate, mobile agent mediated negotiation have become very popular. However, agent-based negotiation in electronic commerce involves the exchange of critical and sensitive data that must be highly safeguarded. Therefore, in order to give benefits of quick and safe trading to the trading partners, an approach that secures the information exchanged between the mobile agents during e-Commerce negotiations is needed. To this end, we discuss an approach that we refer to as Multi-Agent Security NEgotiation Protocol (MASNEP). To show that MASNEP protocol is free of attacks and thus the information exchanged throughout electronic negotiation is truly secured, we provide a formal proof on the correctness of the MASNEP.

Application of grounded theory to exploring multimedia design practices

This paper describes the application of Grounded Theory to an exploration of multimedia design practices. It discusses the opinions of multimedia developers, as elicited from interviews, on the selected design tasks and the processes employed in their completion. Our findings, which emerge from the analysis of the collected data, indicate that the currently available multimedia models do not address some of the important concerns of practitioners. We believe that closing the methodological gaps in these models would provide bettersupport for the multimedia development process.

Customer citizenship behaviours : towards the development of a typology

Eight types of customer citizenship behaviours were extracted from the existing marketing literature, and the more developed organisational citizenship behaviour literature. These included: positive word of mouth behaviour; suggestions for service improvements; participation in organisation events/activities; benevolent acts of service facilitation; policing of other customers; flexibility; voice and displays of relationship affiliation. Although citizenship behaviours such as positive word-ofmouth and voice have established empirical measures, the other types of customer citizenship behaviours do not. The objective of this study, therefore, was to source, adapt and derive measures for each of the eight identified citizenship behaviours. Using exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, these measures were validated across three service contexts.

Legacies of White Australia : race, culture and nation

The White Australia policy continues to haunt Australia. Here, leading Australian scholars provide an informed debate on the essential issues of race, identity and nation that will determine our attitudes to immigration, multiculturalism and Australian-Asian engagement in the twenty-first century.

Issues arising from the implementation of a comprehensive assessment approach in a large, multi-modal Bachelor of Commerce Unit

Recent literature in higher education argues university assessment has been too narrow and hasn’t adequately reflected the quality, breadth and depth of students’ learning. Research shows students often prioritise and learn what they need to know for formal, graded assessment and disregard other academic content seen as less relevant to those requirements. The predominance of essays and examinations has therefore tended to constrain learning. The case for a more comprehensive approach has been clearly articulated. So what happens when staff take up the unique challenge of designing fair and uniform assessment for a large, core, multi-modal, multi-campus unit offered nationally and internationally?
When developing an undergraduate Bachelor of Commerce unit at Deakin University, staff considered the most appropriate ways to assess a range of conceptual understandings and communication skills. This resulted in the mapping and adoption of a comprehensive approach incorporating teacher, peer, and self-assessment aspects, individual and group work, oral and written presentations, and the use of portfolios and journals. Particular practices were adopted to control workloads, ensure fairness in marking, and overcome some problems generally associated with group work. When implementing the approach, practical issues arose that demanded adjustments. This paper details the approach taken, outlines research activities, and discusses the practical implications of issues that arose.