The meaning of work : employees as stakeholders in organizational experience

Researchers and commentators have highlighted changes to individuals' understanding of the meaning of work over time, and particularly the increasing centrality of work in many people's lives today. This highlights the stakeholder role of employees not only in ensuring the organization's long-term viability, but for the organizational culture and overall workplace experience. The concepts of workplace spirituality and authentic leadership have both received attention as tools to aid in employees' connectedness wit the organization and in providing an environment where employees can bring their 'whole self' into the workplace. This paper discusses how these concepts assist in providing understanding of individuals' meaning of work, and highlights questions for future research consideration.

The value of work in younger and older adults' lives: an Australian perspective

In the present study we examined the perceived role of work in the lives of younger and older adults in three different occupations: teaching, nursing, and small business. On the basis of lifespan developmental theory of changes in work-related values across the lifespan we expected that (1) older adults would rate their job satisfaction and organisational commitment more highly than younger adults, and (2) younger adults would rate the importance of work more highly than older workers. Based on utility theory we expected that nurses and teachers would view early retirement more positively than small business employees because of early retirement incentives in these two careers. One-hundred-sixty-two participants completed a 118-item survey. Overall few age differences were found between older and younger workers. On average, all participants rated work as moderately important and their job satisfaction as moderately high. Nonetheless, older participants rated their job satisfaction higher than younger participants. On average, all groups believed they would retire before 65 years of age. The latter finding is important for workability theory and raises issues about how to change attitudes, perceptions and values about working past traditional retirement ages.

The impact of work settings on organisational performance measures in built facilities

A current facilities management discourse seeks to discover how the built environment promotes or retards organisational change. However, whether or not significant change arises at all is yet to be definitively established. Hence, a contribution to the school of thought in this direction is considered important. This research investigated organisational performance relative to innovative work settings. The aim of the study was to determine whether organisational performance and, hence, change are indeed brought about by innovative work settings. A sample of 102 work settings was studied, and several null hypotheses on innovative work settings and organisational performance were tested using the Kruskal-Wallis H test. Although subtle shifts were observed in the aspects of organisational performance that seem predicated on innovative work settings, to some extent the proposition that the physical properties and design of the workplace can influence organisational performance was validated.

Student experiences of work placement in school-based vocational programs

Using a sample of 446 secondary students who had participated in a vocational education and training in school (VETiS) program, compares the experiences and perceptions of students who had undertaken a work placement with those who had not. Shows that students who had participated in work placement enjoyed the VETiS experience more than those who had not, and that the work placement had assisted them in their decision whether to stay at school or not. A factor analysis of results showed a factor associated with self-confidence about employability, and a factor associated with assistance in achieving specific post-school employment. Students who had completed a work placement were significantly higher on both these factors than students who had not. Results are consistent with other research in the field, and it is argued that the work placement experience plays a considerable part in developing student agency in the decisions and the journey that they make in their transition from school to work.

Analysis of work hardening and recrystallization during the hot working of steel using a statistically based internal variable model

A mathematical model has been developed which describes the hot deformation and recrystallization behavior of austenite using a single internal variable: dislocation density. The dislocation density is incorporated into equations describing the rate of recovery and recrystallization. In each case no distinction is made between static and dynamic events, and the model is able to simulate multideformation processes. The model is statistically based and tracks individual populations of the dislocation density during the work-hardening and softening phases. After tuning using available data the model gave an accurate prediction of the stress–strain behavior and the static recrystallization kinetics for C–Mn steels. The model correctly predicted the sensitivity of the post deformation recrystallization behavior to process variables such as strain, strain rate and temperature, even though data for this were not explicitly incorporated in the tuning data set. In particular, the post dynamic recrystallization (generally termed metadynamic recrystallization) was shown to be largely independent of strain and temperature, but a strong function of strain rate, as observed in published experimental work.

A platform for dynamic organization of agents in agent-based systems

In most agent-based systems, different middle agents are employed to increase their flexibility. However, there are still three issues remain unsolved. In centralized architecture with single middle agent, the middle agent itself is a bottleneck and suffers from single point failure; middle agents in distributed architecture lack capability of dynamic organization of agents; The reliability is not strong because of the single point failure and lack of effective architecture. We introduce a platform with ring architectural model to solve all above problems. In the platform, multiple middle agents are dynamically supported for solving the first problem. For solving the second problem, middle agents dynamically manage the registration and cancellation of service provider agents and application teams, each of which includes a set of closely interacting requester agents to complete an independent task. Redundancy middle agent technique is proposed for solving the third problem. All middle agents are of the feature of proliferation and self-cancellation according to the sensory inputs from their environment. For organizing the middle agents effectively, a ring architectural model is proposed. We demonstrate the applicability of the platform by its application and present experimental evidence that the platform is flexible and robust.

Changing universities, changing work : a consideration of diversity, change and the (re)organisation of work in higher education

This paper considers some of the issues relating to diversity for those working in Australian universities as teachers, managers and support staff. It considers the impacts of social, economic and technological change on the organisation of universities as sites of teaching, learning, supervision and research. The consequences of these changes on the ways universities are traditionally organised and operate is considered, and some of the major tensions which occur as a result are discussed. Examples in the areas of professional doctorates, new technology and libraries are explored briefly. Some suggestions are offered for reconceptualising the work of academic and general staff, as are the relationship between these changes in universities and those occurring in TAFE and VET.