The original bailout of US corporations : the public relations bailout

More than a trillion of taxpayer dollars are currently being used to bail out the US banking, mortgage and car industries. This invokes an interesting connection to public relations the last time drastic US government involvement with corporations was contemplated. This pre-First World War crisis of the free enterprise system involved a deficit not of money but of favourable public opinion. The requirement was for vast amounts of public opinion and public policy work by a reported at least 1200 – what were at that time called – press agents. This was the period when public relations emerged as a fundamental plank of US and ultimately of global culture. The thesis of this article is that many aspects of the world we live in cannot be properly understood without a better analysis of the first bailout of US corporations—the public relations bailout.

Comparative study of preferred coaching behaviours in Australian football, netball and basketball

Investigated the preferred coaching behaviours of 317 athletes from three distinct Australian sporting contexts (single-gender male, single-gender female, dual gender) and discussed the significance of the findings in relation to the Multidimensional Model of Leadership. The athletes preferred positive feedback, training and instruction and democratic behaviour.

Re-presenting women and leadership : a methodological journey

Research on women's leadership has tended to focus upon detailed micro studies of individual women's identity formation or, alternatively, to conduct macro studies of its broader discursive constructions within society. Both approaches, although providing helpful understandings of the issues surrounding constructions of women's leadership, are inadequate. They fail to deal with the ongoing dilemma raised in both Cultural Studies and studies of discourse and identity, in relation to the negotiation of subjectivity and representation, that is, how broader societal discourses and media representations of women's leadership both inform, and are informed by, the lived experiences of individual women. In this article, a range of methodological approaches are outlined that were drawn upon in a study of a small group of senior women academics from ethnically and socioeconomically diverse origins. The authors examine how the women negotiated the frequent mismatch that arose between, on the one hand, societal discourses and media representations which often reproduced narrow and highly stereotypical accounts of women's leadership, and on the other hand, the individual women's subjective experiences of leadership which challenged such representations. It is contended that it is necessary to draw on a number of methodological perspectives in ways which trouble and unsettle homogenized versions of women's leadership in order to fully explicate more nuanced and complex ways of understanding how women's leadership identity is formed.

3D leadership for national renewal

A perpetual immigrant, Professor Frederick relates his life course that brought him to New Zealand and describes what he found here. One of the country’s early advocates of the “knowledge economy” path to economic development, Frederick outlines his vision of leadership for the new millennium that will help restore New Zealand to the top half of the OECD and grow the cake for the prosperity of all. He relates what we expect from our leaders as well as his personal vision to leadership in New Zealand.

The transformation of development strategy in Korea : a 'risk society' perspective

After undergoing rapid socio-economic and political transformation, the Republic of Korea has arrived at the stage of development which Beck refers to as a risk society. Korea has experienced both sides of the risks which accompany modernity: the wealth associated with an advanced economy and also the hazards which are by-products of industrial society. However the Korean case is distinctive, this article argues, due to the state’s role in calibrating and managing risk. Whereas prior to the financial crisis of 1997–98 state elites privileged big business and exposed workers to higher levels of risk, calculations of the costs and benefits of risk have changed since the financial crisis. A notable outcome has been the straining of traditionally close ties between the state and the chaebŏl.

Pieces of me : celebrity confessional carnality

In this article I explore the carnal nature of the celebrity confession. I argue that when the celebrity confesses they do so in, through, and with their revelatory bodies. The carnal celebrity confessional is very clearly a self-reflexive performance, often stage-managed and manipulative, and therefore designed to raise, redeem, or resurrect a profile, or for damage limitation. But it can also be, depending on the performative context, an “authentic” doorway into the crisis of the celebrity's living phenomenological self. The carnal confessional, then, can be an explicit, compliant or forced will to reveal all through the celebrity body that had guaranteed them fame in the first place, but which now fails them in some way. Or, it can be an unconscious, unthought, pre-semiotic sense-based revelation - a sensational leak - about some “truth” or damage that has/is being done to them as icons of desire. This phenomenological leak has the ability to make intimate the relationship between the celebrity confessor and the fans who receive it. I will conclude that celebrity confessional carnality can be read as a productive form of bio-power.

In this article the carnality of the celebrity confession will be read in terms of its relationship to Christianity and corporeal religiosity; to therapy discourse; to docility and active agency; and to affective intimacy. Britney Spears will be my central case study. I begin the article, however, with an overview of the embodied nature of the confessional, and its centrality to mediated life and individual self-worth, using Catholicism and the television therapy talkshow as my conjoining illustrative entry point.

Liberating from literalness : making space for meaningful forms of abstraction

There is a need for some alternative approaches to the way that undergraduate teacher education programs have traditionally been delivered. Our warrant for this assertion is derived, in the first instance, from the work of Aronowitz and Giroux who have argued that there are many different signs of a crisis of cognition within all levels of education. Twenty years later the conditions that they described seem even more entrenched. This paper argues for a fresh inquiry into the deeper logics of learning and teaching, by drawing primarily on the work of James, Dewey, Kierkegaard, Britzman and Mackay. There is also a brief inclusion of anecdotes from some initial applications of these theories into our own practice.

Governing individualized risk biographies : new class intellectuals and the problem of youth at-risk

An apparent crisis of youth at-risk is a key marker in contemporary debates about young people among a range of intellectuals, social commentators and experts in various domains and centres of expertise. Drawing on aspects of the reflexive modernization, governmentality and feminist literatures, this paper explores how risk discourses emerge as a means for rendering reality knowable—a technique that facilitates the management of individual biographies in institutionally structured risk environments. In this context there is intellectual work to be done in the social sciences that takes as its object the possibilities and limits of institutionalized intellectual abstraction for problematizing youth via rationalities of risk—and the limits of these rationalities for providing resources for governing our thoughts, actions and dispositions—our freedom.

Improving leadership in higher education institutions : a distributed perspective

This paper reports on a qualitative study exploring how distributed patterns of leadership manifest themselves in project teams within a Higher Education institution. The emphasis is on both the ‘what’ and the ‘how’ of distributed leadership, thus providing an account of the nature of distributed leadership in higher education and the factors which were found to enhance and inhibit its occurrence and effectiveness. The findings are presented in a model of distributed leadership which seeks to provide an integrative account and a framework for further study. The conclusions focus on both the theoretical implications for the study of distributed leadership and the practical implications for HE institutions wishing to promote effective leadership.

Implementation of enterprise resource planning (ERP) software in a major construction contracting organization in Hong Kong

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to summarize the scope, methodology and main findings of a doctoral thesis about the implementation of enterprise resource planning (ERP) software in a major construction contracting organization in Hong Kong. This research is taken from a leadership and power and project management (PM) perspective.

Design/methodology/approach – The project adopted a case study approach in which the candidate was an employee/observer, who was embedded as a member of the business transformation team taking an action learning approach to study the ERP adoption. The research used the soft system methodology to identify gaps in the observed maturity level which exists in the organization. Data was gathered using public and private documentation, semi-structured interviews, observation and was validated through review of evidence with participants.

Findings – The results identified the importance of leadership and cultural issues in implementation of the business strategy. This research includes a contribution in two spheres: PM and construction procurement. The first implication for PM theory was to illustrate how knowledge has been efficiently managed within a construction organization by using information communication technology (ICT). It can be represented by the ladder of ICT>ERP>KM>PM. The second implication was to pave the way for the use of partnering strategies in PM practice. It can be represented by the ladder of National Culture>Organizational Culture>Leadership>Partnering Strategy>PM.

Practical implications – This model could be adapted to other large and complex organisational contexts. The research project also has implications as opening up a PM perspective on business transformation.

Originality/value – The contribution of this research is proving the success of adopting KM in a construction company by using an ERP system. The importance of culture in the traditionally collectivistic construction industry, and the issues senior management should take into account when formulating business strategies.

How did we ever arrive at the conclusion that teachers are the problem? A critical reading in the discourses of Australian schooling

A Quality Teacher debate is presented within historical and contemporary contexts, including a political history of Australian schooling over the last 20 or so years. It is argued that there is a crisis of confidence in schooling, which is currently being played out by positioning teachers as the 'problem' and not just the 'solution' to this crisis.

The 1947 bank nationalisation scheme : a prehistory of issues management?

Industry-wide crises emanating from legislative proposals are rare in Australia, and can be classed as once in a generation events, and so merit consideration and research. Currently, there is one such debate over the Mineral Resources Rent Tax, proposed by Prime Minister’s Julia Gillard’s government. Prior to this, the closest comparable event was the 1974 proposal for the establishment of a universal health insurance scheme. The 1947 proposal, by the Ben Chifley-led Labor Government, aimed to nationalise Australia’s banks, and it brought a crisis of massive proportions to Australia’s conservative financial service industry. Although the High Court of Australia finally found Chifley’s proposed legislation unconstitutional, the banks realised they must win in the court of public opinion, generate press coverage in favour of their position, and help defeat the Labor Government at the 1949 election. At the time, and for some decades to come, this was the most expensive and largest public relations campaign waged in Australia. After such a campaign there could be few Australians who could claim that they had not been exposed to the powers of public relations in a modern world. This paper looks at what can be learned from the banks’ collective response to the proposed nationalisation. It does so by applying contemporary issues management evaluation techniques.

A Ramsar wetland in crisis the Coorong, Lower Lakes and Murray Mouth, Australia

The state of global freshwater ecosystems is increasingly parlous with water resource development degrading high-conservation wetlands. Rehabilitation is challenging because necessary increases in environmental flows have concomitant social impacts, complicated because many rivers flow between jurisdictions or countries. Australia's MurrayDarling Basin is a large river basin with such problems encapsulated in the crisis of its Ramsar-listed terminal wetland, the Coorong, Lower Lakes and Murray Mouth. Prolonged drought and upstream diversion of water dropped water levels in the Lakes below sea level (20092010), exposing hazardous acid sulfate soils. Salinities increased dramatically (e.g. South Lagoon of Coorong>200gL-1, cf. modelled natural 80gL-1), reducing populations of waterbirds, fish, macroinvertebrates and littoral plants. Calcareous masses of estuarine tubeworms (Ficopomatus enigmaticus) killed freshwater turtles (Chelidae) and other fauna. Management primarily focussed on treating symptoms (e.g. acidification), rather than reduced flows, at considerable expense (≥AU$2 billion). We modelled a scenario that increased annual flows during low-flow periods from current levels up to one-third of what the natural flow would have been, potentially delivering substantial environmental benefits and avoiding future crises. Realisation of this outcome depends on increasing environmental flows and implementing sophisticated river management during dry periods, both highly contentious options.

Innovative approaches to land acquisition and conservation management : the case of Fish River Station, Northern Territory

There has been a dramatic increase in the area that is within the National Reserve System since 2000 – from around 60 million hectares to around 100 million in 2008. This dramatic increase can be attributed to Indigenous Protected Areas and the acquisition of private or leasehold land for either addition to the public protected area estate or management as private protected areas. This growth has also been strategic, increasingly the reservation status of the most underreserved bioregions. However, the reality is the land acquisition has slowed since the global financial crisis of the late 2000s and this has led to new models with different partners coming to the fore. This chapter highlights one of those new models – the acquisition of Fish River Station in the Northern Territory for conservation.

Thai hedging practices post-Asian financial crisis

This paper provides survey evidence captured from a sample of 113 respondents to a 2008 questionnaire sent to 344 companies in Thailand. The study examines Thai hedging practices following the Asian Financial Crisis of 1997. Thai companies, like their international counterparts, rely predominantly on matching and forward contracts to hedge transaction exposure. Thai companies, however, appear to be less rigorous when it comes to internal control and supervision of derivative activity. It is recommended that Thai companies improve their risk management practices by putting into place a documented hedging policy, which includes a requirement that senior staff be actively engaged in the risk management activities of the firm.