Effect of labour market reform on women in the Australian banking industry

[No Abstract]

The cinema of Kathryn Bigelow : Hollywood transgressor

Kathryn Bigelow has undoubtedly been one of Hollywood's most significant female players, well known in popular terms for films such as Point Breakand Blue Steel, yet relatively unexplored in academia. Soundbites about women and guns and speculation about the role of ex-husband James Cameron ( Aliens, Titanic) in her career have often helped obscure rather than elucidate an understanding of her work. This collection explores how Bigelow can be seen to provide a point of intersection to a whole range of issues at the forefront of contemporary film studies and of the transformation of Hollywood into a post-classical cinema machine, with a particular emphasis on her most ambitious and controversial picture, Strange Days. Her place within new Hollywood is as a filmmaker that blurs genre conventions, reinscribes gender identites, and produces a breathless cinema of attractions.

Mothering in the freelance film industry: case studies in the postproduction film industry in Melbourne, Australia

This paper examines the dynamic relationship between work and life through the experiences of three mothers seeking to realise careers in the freelance film industry in Melbourne, Australia. The women were part of a larger sample of postproduction workers who were surveyed on their responses to technological change in the postproduction freeelance film industry but were out of the industry having children during the first wave of technological change. The paper examines qualitative data from these women and later longitudinal data in order to understand the limits of equal opportunity in an uneven playing field.

Offering fragile X syndrome carrier screening: a prospective mixed-methods observational study comparing carrier screening of pregnant and non-pregnant women in the general population

Article focus
▪ This article is a protocol of a study that involves offering fragile X syndrome carrier screening to pregnant and non-pregnant women in the general population. We are undertaking a programme evaluation approach using mixed methods to collect data about informed decisionmaking and predictors of test uptake, with a focus on psychosocial measures. We are also undertaking an economic appraisal.

Incentive or deterrent: which encourages greater focus on health and safety in the Victorian construction industry?

The Australian Government commissioned a Royal Commission into the building industry in Australia that reported to Parliament in August 2002. Volume 6 of this report, released in February 2003, discussed certain aspects in occupational health and safety in Australia and leaned toward deterrents as a means of achieving reform. This research defines both incentives and deterrents used to increase awareness of, and improve safety on, building sites in Victoria, a state of Australia. A pilot survey questionnaire was developed following a literature review and industry employer representatives were invited to participate. Industry awareness of Government incentive programmes was found to be low, with less than a quarter stating they read Government strategies. One fund that provides actual research monies into health and safety was known to very few of the respondents. Of the employers surveyed, the majority agreed that financial fines do act as a valid deterrent. Increases in worker compensation premiums were seen as the greatest deterrent due to the effect on company overheads and thus competitive tendering bids. Deterrent programmes were more readily acknowledged by employers as they had an element of self promotion with employers attempting to avoid their application.

Prediction intention to quit in the call centre industry: does the retail model fit?

Purpose – Models of workplace turnover are rarely assessed in contexts other than that in which they were developed. This reduces their generalizability and their usefulness in providing managers with guidance as to what they might do to reduce workers intentions to quit. The purpose of this study is to test a model derived from a study of shop floor retail salespeople in the call centre environment.

Design/methodology/approach – A questionnaire measuring the variables in the model was completed by 126 call centre representatives recruited from 11 call centres in Melbourne, Australia.

Findings – Although the model was supported, the interactions among the variables differed. In particular, stressors played a bigger, albeit indirect, role in the intention to quit.

Practical implications – Call centre managers need to consider carefully the aspects of the work environment that may be stressful. If appropriately addressed, turnover may be reduced, and productivity increased.

Originality/value – This paper demonstrates that the model of turnover derived from shop floor salespeople is generally robust in the call centre setting. It provides management of call centres with some guidance as to the factors associated with turnover and areas that can be addressed to reduce it.

A framework for material management in the building demolition industry

Conventional mechanical building demolition produces numerous solid wastes, most of which are sent to landfill directly and severely degrade the living environment. Just-in-time building demolition has been developed recently with a management strategy to facilitate waste reuse. Procurement management plays a significant role in just-in-time building demolition. In particular, the demolition tendering selection needs to consider contractors' environmental performance in addition to project costs. Moreover, the flow of building materials in a demolition project may be regarded as a supply chain involving the building owner, demolition contractor and material demanders. This paper develops a framework for salvaged materials management in the emerging demolition industry. The research is to promote the recycling and reuse of building demolition materials in order to achieve better environmental and financial performance for building demolition projects.

Portable sick leave in the Victorian building industry : managing cumulative employee benefits in the absence of employment security

The trend away from full-time permanent employment raises questions about the relevance of traditional approaches to managing and compensating employees. Employment in the Australian building industry is characterised by short-term, project-based employment. Employers and unions in the industry have adopted alternative compensation models to accommodate the short-term nature of employment, most notably through portable benefit schemes. In 1997, the Victorian building industry extended the range of portable benefits to include sick leave. Empirical evidence suggests a relationship between employee absence behaviour and accrual entitlement models. Research reported here supports this link, and suggests that both employers and employees can benefit from an alternative, portable, approach to accrued entitlements. Employers can benefit because employees may be less likely to take an instrumental approach to their entitlements. Employees benefit because they are able to accrue entitlements for the period they remain in the building industry, irrespective of the extent to which they change jobs.

Recent global trends in the Chinese construction industry and its market

The rapidly increasing construction demand in China, particularly spurred by the coming 2008 Beijing Olympic Games and the 2010 Shanghai Expo, provides challenging opportunities for overseas construction enterprises. Therefore understanding the structure and dynamics of construction industry in China is crucial, particularly the potential changes of the market after the China's entry into the World Trade Organization. This paper analyses the development of construction economics and institutional regulations in the construction market, and provides a comprehensive image on the Chinese construction sector in the global environment.

An investigation of industry-wide emarketplaces in the Australian automotive industry

Covisint, a global, industry-wide eMarketplace in the automotive industry, has received considerable literature attention since its inception some four years ago. Despite predictions that it would transform the industry, it has made little impact on automotive markets in countries where its progress has been documented. A lack of literature concerning Covisint use in Australia makes understanding the Australian situation quite difficult.
This study addresses this deficiency by investigating several Australian automotive organizations and their application of Covisint in conducting supply chain trading with their business partners. The research found that the application of Covisint is significantly less than its potential.

Local content policy in the Australian television industry

This paper examines the impact and effectiveness of the local content scheme currently operating in the Australian Television industry. The television industry is a service industry with public good aspects. Public interest arguments have traditionally been used to support the retention (and indeed expansion) of the local content scheme since it was first introduced in 1961. These objectives have included the promotion of Australian culture, the desire to ensure a diversity of views may be heard and that diverse interests may be catered for when preferences cannot be directly gauged.

The problems associated with defining what constitutes "Australian" content are examined along with the costs and effectiveness of the local content scheme in meeting public interest concerns. The paper finds that the local content scheme has become part of a package of protection in the broadcasting industry that has resulted in valuable television licences and powerful and entrenched interests. It also shows that the local content scheme is not particularly effective in meeting it's objectives, and will become increasingly irrelevant in the light of rapidly changing technology. Other methods of meeting public objectives are suggested.

Incorporating environmental impacts into productivity analysis: the case for nitrogen leaching in the Australian dairy industry

This paper examines how the adoption of a system's perspective to the use of both marketed and public resources can be incorporated into an analysis of productivity measurement.  A biophysical model is used to measure the environmental inputs which are combined with conventional marketed inputs to develop a Malmquist Productivity Index to determine social productivity growth over the perios under study.  The analysis is applied to data collected from selected farms in south west Victoria and includes a measure of leaching and run-off as a proxy measure of the impact the application of fertilizers has on ground and surface water.  Although the sample is small, the results show measured productivity growth differs when environmental factors are considered.