The monologic, power and mental illness

 This thesis considers the issue of the ‘Monologic, Power and Mental Illness’. Bakhtin’s concept of ‘Heteroglossia’, Foucault’s concept of ‘Subjectivation’, and the work of other writers in relation to mental illness are covered both in the Exegesis and throughout the creative component comprising excerpts from Kemp’s novella entitled, Haven.

Power conversion technology in the smart grid and EV

The chapter presents a dynamical model and power conversion technology of electric vehicles (EVs) used in smart grids. The efficient power conversion of EVs in smart grids depends on the operation of bi-directional converters as these EVs need to be either charged or discharged. In this chapter, the mathematical model of a bi-directional converter used in EVs is developed and a nonlinear controller is designed to facilitate the power conversion in the smart grid environments. Since the power conversion of EVs in smart grids requires the communication, a nonlinear partial feedback linearising distributed controller based on the communication with different EVs is proposed to ensure high power quality and system stability.

Technology and marginalization: a case study of the limited adoption of the intranet at a state-owned organisation in rural Australia

Taking a critical theory approach and the pluralist view of technology, this paper examines the problems in organizational communication that arose due to the implementation of a limited intranet electronic mail system as the main channel of communication between a rural stateowned organization and its city-based Head Office, installed at the sole discretion of the latter.
The intranet was provided only to the administration division and managers of some units due to financial constraints. This required others to receive information carried via the intranet through a gatekeeper who due to information and work overload, failed to disseminate the information effectively and efficiently. Using a combination of qualitative data collection methods, this study found that the intranet had marginalized those without access to it and reinforced the privileged position of those already with higher status within the organization, contrary to the utopian predictions
of new technologies as leading to social equality.

A model of superiors and subordinates' aggressive communication in the workplace

In the workplace, superiors and subordinates may engage in a spiral of aggressive communication and emotional reaction that can lead to negative attitudes and unproductive organisational outcomes and higher staff turnover. In the manuscript, we develop and propose a model of superiors' and subordinates' aggressive communication and emotional reactions. In our model we suggest that organisational context (culture) and individual personal characteristics (personality, trust, self-esteem) influence superiors' and subordinates' aggressive communication. We also suggest that individual emotional characteristics (positive/negative affect, emotional intelligence) influence the protagonists' emotional reactions. Finally, we propose that subordinates' emotional reactions and organisational culture influence their attitudes (organisational identity, perception of a masculine vs. feminine organisation) and their considered behaviours (performance, turnover). We conclude with a discussion of potential limitations, and implications for theory, research, and practice.

The potential for improving intra-organizational communication in the process of mergers and acquisitions via accounting systems

As the number of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) continues to increase on a global basis, more managers are called upon to develop their M&A transition skills. While, undoubtedly, organizations realise the importance of good communications for successful implementation of change programs throughout the entire M&A process, they often find it hard to make this communication both constant and lucid. The article argues that accounting systems display the potential for improving intra-organizational communication by infusing managers and 'non-accountants' with a common financial vocabulary for communication and 'reading' the state of the business.

Perceptions of power and dependence between retail buyers and fresh produce suppliers within the Australian fresh produce industry

The research aims to gain a deeper understanding of direct buyer-supplier relationships within the Australian fresh produce industry. Specifically, dependence and power within the buyer-supplier relationship are considered in terms of their antecedents and their relationships their-in. In-depth interviews with buyers and suppliers provided the means by which to expose perceptions with regard to the relative importance of dependence and power within the relationship. The research reveals that relationship antecedents (trading offer: price and quality) impact power and dependence and are, in tum, impacted by them.

Power demand and energy usage of container crane - comparison between AC and DC drives

The electrical data of two quay cranes, one has a DC drive system and the other has an AC drive system, in actual working conditions at a container terminal are measured and presented in this paper. Peak demand, energy usage, power factor and power quality are examined and compared.

Power analysis and simulation of a vehicle under combined loads

This paper presents an analytical model of fuel consumption (AMFC) to coordinate the driving power and manage the overall fuel consumption for an internal combustion engine vehicle. The model calculates the different loads applied on the vehicle including road-slope, road-friction, wind-drag, accessories, and mechanical losses. Also, it solves the combustion equation of the engine under different working conditions including various fuel compositions, excess airs and air inlet temperatures. Then it determines the contribution of each load to signify the energy distribution and power flows of the vehicle. Unlike the conventional models in which the vehicle speed needs to be given as an input, the developed model can predict the vehicle speed and acceleration under different working conditions by allowing the speed to vary within a predefined range only. Furthermore, the model indicates the ways to minimises the vehicles' fuel consumption under various driving conditions. The results show that the model has the potential to assist in the vehicle energy management.

Understanding cross-cultural negotiation : A model integrating affective events theory and communication accommodation theory

Business interactions are increasingly crossing boundaries. Boundary crossing is a process of joining or parting people. Negotiation is the media of this process. This paper is an attempt to bridge the boundaries of strategic business negotiation, communication and emotion in a cross-cultural context. In particular, we argue that miscommunications are ‘boundary crossing mishaps’. Such mishaps are affected by negotiators’ understanding of the respective cultures of the parties, negotiation skill, affective cultural background of the parties, cultural differences, emotional awareness and regulation, negative affect and discrepancy in convergence divergence between the interactants. When too many of these hassles or mishaps occur, negotiation breaks down. In this way, it is the accumulation of many little things, many little misunderstandings, that break negotiation.

Clinical supervision and symmetrical communication : towards a critical practice of supervision

The central argument of the thesis is that the dominant modes of the supervision of teaching are in need of critique and reconstruction. From a critical perspective, supervision is viewed as a political and ideological process enacted through asymmetrical relations and structures of communication. It is underpinned by a discourse of technocratic rationality and control Clinical supervision, a currently popular model of teacher supervision, has (despite its emancipatory origins) been accommodated by the dominant ideology and is employed as a hegemonic mechanism of evaluation, control and even dismissal of teachers. However, historical analysis reveals that teachers have contested and resisted authoritarianism and centralized control in favour of developing more democratic and participatory forms of professional development. In these moves can be found a rationale for a reconstruction of the theory and practice of clinical supervision around the concepts of symmetrical communication and critical pedagogy. The researcher engaged in a self-reflective study with a group of supervisors and teachers in N.S.W. schools to explore the possibilities and limitations of a critical and counter-hegemonic practice of supervision. The outcomes, in the form of three case studies, are analysed in terms of a dialectic of reconstruction and maintenance of the status quo. The evidence reveals that some of the research participants sought to reconstruct their supervisory relationships in ways which challenged the bureaucratic structures of their workplace. Others, however, rejected the emancipatory possibilities and resolved to maintain their traditional hierarchical relationship.

Power and politics in a system implementation

The central concern of this study is to identify the role of power and politics in systems implementation. The current literature on systems implementation is typically divided into two areas, process modelling and factor based studies. Process modelling classifies the implementation into a linear process, whereas factor based studies have argued that in order to ‘successfully’ implement a system, particular critical factors are required. This literature misses the complexities involved in systems implementation through the human factors and political nature of systems implementation and is simplistic in its nature and essentially de-contextualises the implementation process. Literature has investigated some aspects of human factors in systems implementation. However, it is believed that these studies have taken a simplistic view of power and politics. It is argued in this thesis that human factors in systems implementation are constantly changing and essentially operating in a dynamic relationship affecting the implementation process. The concept of power relations, as proposed by Foucault (1976, 1977, 1978, 1980, 1982), have been utilised in order to identify the dynamic nature of power and politics. Foucault (1978) argued that power is a dynamic set of relationships constantly changing from one point in time to the next. It is this recognition that is lacking from information systems. Furthermore, these power relations are created through the use of discourse. Discourse represents meaning and social relationships, forming both subjectivity and power relations. Discourses are also the practices of talk, text and argument that continuously form that which actors speak. A post-structuralist view of power as both an obvious and hidden concept has provided the researcher a lens through which the selection and implementation of an enterprise-wide learning management system can be observed. The framework aimed to identify the obvious process of system selection implementation, and then deconstruct that process to expose the hegemonic nature of policy, the reproduction of organisational culture, the emancipation within discourse, and the nature of resistance and power relations. A critical case study of the selection and implementation of an enterprise-wide learning management system at the University of Australia was presented providing an in-depth investigation of the implementation of an enterprise-wide learning management system, spanning five years. This critical case study was analysed using social dramas to distinguish between the front stage issues of power and the hidden discourses underpinning the front stage dramas. The enterprise-wide learning management system implemented in the University of Australia in 2003 is a system which enables academic staff to manage learners, the students, by keeping track of their progress and performance across all types of training activities. Through telling the story of the selection and implementation of an enterprise-wide learning management system at the University of Australia discourses emerged. The key findings from this study have indicated that the system selection and implementation works at two levels. The low level is the selection and implementation process, which operates for the period of the project. The high level is the arena of power and politics, which runs simultaneously to the selection and implementation process. Challenges for power are acted out in the front stage, or public forums between various actors. The social dramas, as they have been described here, are superfluous to the discourse underpinning the front stage. It is the discourse that remains the same throughout the system selection and implementation process, but it is through various social dramas that reflect those discourses. Furthermore, the enactment of policy legitimises power and establishes the discourse, limiting resistance. Additionally, this research has identified the role of the ‘State’ and its influence at the organisational level, which had been previously suggested in education literature (Ball, 1990).

Technology adoption : voices of teaching academics, educational designers and students

This folio presents three studies (a dissertation and two electives) which use qualitative case study methodologies to investigate technology adoption from three perspectives. Central to all three studies is the study context of Monash University. The Dissertation explores adoption of web-based learning and teaching approaches from the perspective of teaching academics as they incorporate these to facilitate their students’ learning. The study investigates teaching academics’ reasons for adopting these new technologies, the factors that influenced their adoption decisions, and the challenges they were confronted with, including the contributing factors that impacted on their adoption decisions. The study shows that while contextual factors such as power and politics of the school, department, faculty and the institution impact on adoption, supportive organisational infrastructures and policy frameworks are necessary to encourage adoption, including wider adoption. In turn, on going staff development, adoption of new work practices and being adaptive to changing work environments are key demands made on teaching academics as a result of adopting web-based teaching approaches. Elective 1, a smaller study, leads on from the dissertation and examines the impact of technology adoption on the evolving role of educational designers. The study identifies the educational designers’ role change in assisting teaching academics to move from more conventional forms of teaching to more technology based learner-centred collaborative models. An important aspect of the study is the managers’ perspectives of this role in a university that has adopted a strong flexible learning and technology policy. The findings show that educational designers now work as project managers in larger teams consisting of a wider range of professionals, their expanded role in introducing technology into learning designs, providing staff development in the area, and giving technical help including advice on copyright and intellectual property issues. Elective 2 explores student readiness to adopt these technologies for learning. The study is designed to achieve an understanding of three broad categories of learners from a first year design unit: (1) South East Asian and East Asian students, (2) all other international students, and (3) local Australian students are studied to examine their readiness for modes of learning that are flexible; their approaches to study in a creative discipline area; and their openness to using technology. Findings of the study are discussed under the key themes – dependence on the teacher and classroom environment, flexible learning and working alone, structure, communication and work patterns. The study concludes by discussing the possible cultural attributes that have an impact on the learning. The three studies found that the institution, its people, structures and processes must all adapt, evolve and grow in order to provide effective, engaging, student-centred web-based learning environments. Students in turn must be enabled to manage their study, make use of the technologies and maximise their learning experience. The findings revealed the stage of technology use reached at Monash University at the time of the study through the voices of the teaching academics, educational designers and students.

Matilda's last dance: death, gender, sexuality and Australian adolescent literature

This thesis examines representations of death in a selection of contemporary texts for Australian adolescent audiences. It demonstrates that, although death is a complex subject, a characteristically Australian 'way of death' is identifiable in these fictions and it is invariably associated with issues of sexuality, gender and power.

Cross talk : collaborative indigenous life writing in Australia and Canada

This thesis argues that the critical reading of Indigenous life writing needs to move beyond its concern for power relations operating between the narrators and editors of collaboratively produced texts. It discusses the role of Indigenous families and communities in both the production and the reading of Indigenous texts.

The communication skills used by deaf children and their hearing peers in a question-and-answer game context

Communication is frequently characterized by a sequence of questions and answers. Little is known about how well students who are deaf or hard of hearing (deaf/HH) understand their hearing classmates in the context of an inclusive setting. This study explored the communication skills used by deaf/HH children when asking and answering questions in a “trivia” game with their hearing peers. Thirty-four children with normal hearing and 34 children with a hearing loss ranging from mild to profound (>90 dB HL) participated in this study. Each of the 34 dyads included 1 child with normal hearing and 1 child with hearing loss, matched by gender and grade level at school. Dyads were videotaped and analyzed. Pairs were compared in terms of their capacity to repeat the question, strategies used to seek information, and accuracy of responses. Results showed that the group of hearing children was able to repeat more questions verbatim compared to the deaf/HH children. The deaf/HH group required a significantly greater number of repetitions, sought a greater number of general clarifications, and correctly answered more questions compared with the group of hearing children. The implications of these findings are discussed in terms of peer communication and pragmatic skill development.