The power of malicious gossip

This paper focuses on malicious workplace gossip from the perspective of those targeted by this dark form of organisational communication. Findings from a large exemplarian action research project are reported that suggest malicious gossip can be an influential form of power that strongly contributes to counterproductive organisational behaviour. The discussion draws upon the emergent themes from the research to highlight the negative consequences of malicious gossip for those targeted and their organisations, and in so doing, elaborates on the phenomenon of workplace mobbing. This research highlights the importance of recognising gossip as an effective, though dark, form of power and the value of rational discourse for improving organisational communication.

Harnessing the power of hope : happier law students to grow a healthier profession

With the recognition of the high incidence of depression and psychological distress in the legal profession, positive programs and education are being introduced at several levels, including law schools.

Power of engineering : changing the perceptions of year 9 and 10 female school students towards an engineering career

BACKGROUND The engineering profession in Australia has failed to attract young women for the last decade or so despite all the effort that have gone into promoting engineering as a preferred career choice for girls. It is a missed opportunity for the profession to flourish as a heterogeneous team. Many traditional initiatives and programs have failed to make much impact or at best incremental improvement into attracting and retaining more women in the profession. The reasons why girls and young women in most parts of the world show little interest in engineering haven't changed, despite all the efforts to address them, the issue proposed here in this paper is with the perceptions of engineering in the community and the confidence to pursue it. This gender imbalance is detrimental for the engineering profession, and hence an action-based intervention strategy was devised by the Women in Engineering Qld Chapter of Engineers Australia in 2012 to change the perceptions of school girls by redesigning the engagement strategy and key messages. As a result, the “Power of Engineering Inc” (PoE) was established as a not-for-profit organisation, and is a collaborative effort between government, schools, universities, and industry. This paper examines a case study in changing the perceptions of year 9 and 10 school girls towards an engineering career. PURPOSE To evaluate and determine the effectiveness of an intervention in changing the perceptions of year 9 and 10 school girls about engineering career options, but specifically, “What were their perceptions of engineering before today and have those perceptions changed?” DESIGN/METHOD The inaugural Power of Engineering (PoE) event was held on International Women’s Day, Thursday 8 March 2012 and was attended by 131 high school female students (year 9 and 10) and their teachers. The key message of the day was “engineering gives you the power to change the world”. A questionnaire was conducted with the participating high school female students, collecting both quantitative and qualitative data. The survey instrument has not been validated. RESULTS The key to the success of the event was as a result of collaboration between all participants involved and the connection created between government, schools, universities and industry. Of the returned surveys (109 of 131), 91% of girls would now consider a career in engineering and 57% who had not considered engineering before the day would now consider a career in engineering. Data collected found significant numbers of negative and varying perceptions about engineering careers prior to the intervention. CONCLUSIONS The evidence in this research suggests that the intervention assisted in changing the perceptions of year 9 and 10 female school students towards engineering as a career option. Whether this intervention translates into actual career selection and study enrolment is to be determined. In saying this, the evidence suggests that there is a critical and urgent need for earlier interventions prior to students selecting their subjects for year 11 and 12. This intervention could also play its part in increasing the overall pool of students engaged in STEM education.

Power of QTL detection using association tests with family controls

The power of testing for a population-wide association between a biallelic quantitative trait locus and a linked biallelic marker locus is predicted both empirically and deterministically for several tests. The tests were based on the analysis of variance (ANOVA) and on a number of transmission disequilibrium tests (TDT). Deterministic power predictions made use of family information, and were functions of population parameters including linkage disequilibrium, allele frequencies, and recombination rate. Deterministic power predictions were very close to the empirical power from simulations in all scenarios considered in this study. The different TDTs had very similar power, intermediate between one-way and nested ANOVAs. One-way ANOVA was the only test that was not robust against spurious disequilibrium. Our general framework for predicting power deterministically can be used to predict power in other association tests. Deterministic power calculations are a powerful tool for researchers to plan and evaluate experiments and obviate the need for elaborate simulation studies.

Exploring the validity and predictive power of an extended volunteer functions inventory within the context of episodic skilled volunteering by retirees

The current study examined the structure of the volunteer functions inventory within a sample of older individuals (N = 187). The career items were replaced with items examining the concept of continuity of work, a potentially more useful and relevant concept for this population. Factor analysis supported a four factor solution, with values, social and continuity emerging as single factors and enhancement and protective items loading together on a single factor. Understanding items did not load highly on any factor. The values and continuity functions were the only dimensions to emerge as predictors of intention to volunteer. This research has important implications for understanding the motivation of older adults to engage in contemporary volunteering settings.

The power of art, the power of entertainment

The question of the relationship between culture and power continues to exercise researchers. In this paper I argue that it is useful to consider the differences between ‘art’ and ‘entertainment’ as systems of culture, each involving a distinct set of power relationships between producers and audiences. Art wants to change audiences; entertainment wants to be changed by audiences. From these different starting points a series of differences unfold in the power possessed by producers and audiences. Artists pride themselves in not involving the audience in the process of making art. By contrast, entertainment wants audiences to contribute to the making of texts. As to the question of who controls the range of what forms of culture are available, it seems that entertainment consumers – unlike art consumers – are ill-disciplined. Historical evidence demonstrates that if legal corporate providers do not offer the kinds of entertainment they want, they will turn to illegal sources. The different ways in which ‘art’ and ‘entertainment’ function as cultural systems suggest that we must rethink our positions on ‘media power’.

Securities market regulators’ use of the ‘please explain’ queries sanction and its power of compliance

The aim of this study is to investigate the compliance impact of price queries issued by a securities market operator to its participating firms. Market operators in Australia and New Zealand, such as the Australian Securities Exchange and the New Zealand Securities Exchange, have the regulatory power in their rules to issue queries to its market participants to explain unusual fluctuations in trading price or volume in the market. The operator will issue a price query where it believes that the market has not been fully informed as to price relevant information. Responsive regulation has informed much of the regulatory debate in securities laws in our region. We posit that price queries are one strategy that a market operator can use in communicating its enforcement expectations to its stakeholder. However, whilst responsive regulation informs regulatory choices, an alternate view seeks to explain why participants respond to these regulatory strategies, and we use disclosure behaviour after price queries to test compliance behaviour

Leveraging power of learning capability upon manufacturing operations

Learning capability (LC) is a special dynamic capability that a firm purposefully builds to develop a cognitive focus, so as to enable the configuration and improvement of other capabilities (both dynamic and operational) to create and respond to market changes. Empirical evidence regarding the essential role of LC in leveraging operational manufacturing capabilities is, however, limited in the literature. This study takes a routine-based approach to understand capability, and focuses on demonstrating leveraging power of LC upon two essential operational capabilities within the manufacturing context, i.e., operational new product development capability (ONPDC), and operational supplier integration capability (OSIC). A mixed-methods research framework was used, which combines sources of evidence derived from a survey study and a multiple case study. This study identified high-level routines of LC that can be designed and controlled by managers and practitioners, to reconfigure underlying routines of ONPDC and OSIC to achieve superior performance in a turbulent environment. Hence, the study advances the notion of knowledge-based dynamic capabilities, such as LC, as routine bundles. It also provides an impetus for managing manufacturing operations from a capability-based perspective in the fast changing knowledge era.

"SporTV" : the legacies and power of television

This chapter begins from the premise that, to date, television remains the dominant communications technology in the digital media sport environment. It argues that sports-related programming is often overlooked in favour of event coverage in the study of sports television. Analysis focuses on three areas - platform interaction, technological innovation, and content ecologies - and describes technological innovations arising from television coverage of sports, with a particular focus on online video, audience measurement, and 3D production and viewing.

Construct Redundancy in Process Modeling Grammars: Improving the Explanatory Power of Ontological Analysis

Conceptual modelling supports developers and users of information systems in areas of documentation, analysis or system redesign. The ongoing interest in the modelling of business processes has led to a variety of different grammars, raising the question of the quality of these grammars for modelling. An established way of evaluating the quality of a modelling grammar is by means of an ontological analysis, which can determine the extent to which grammars contain construct deficit, overload, excess or redundancy. While several studies have shown the relevance of most of these criteria, predictions about construct redundancy have yielded inconsistent results in the past, with some studies suggesting that redundancy may even be beneficial for modelling in practice. In this paper we seek to contribute to clarifying the concept of construct redundancy by introducing a revision to the ontological analysis method. Based on the concept of inheritance we propose an approach that distinguishes between specialized and distinct construct redundancy. We demonstrate the potential explanatory power of the revised method by reviewing and clarifying previous results found in the literature.

Harnessing the power of real and virtual social networks during disasters

The mass media and emergency services organisations routinely gather information and disseminate it to the public. During disaster situations both the media and emergency services require acute situational awareness. New social media technologies offer opportunities to enhance situational awareness by crowd-sourcing information using real and virtual social networks. This paper documents how real and virtual social networks were used by a reporter and by members of the public to gather and disseminate emergency information during the flash flood disaster in Toowoomba and the Lockyer Valley in January 2011 and in the days and weeks after the disaster.

Assisted suicide where the "assistor" is a beneficiary under the deceased's will and/or attorney under a power of attorney granted by the deceased : what are the potential consequences?

The recent criminal conviction 1 of Queensland teacher, Merin Nielsen, for aiding the suicide of an elderly acquaintance, Frank Ward, raises some timely issues, particularly for succession lawyers. This is the second time in recent years that there has been a conviction of a person who participated in a scheme

The power of hands-on exercises in SCADA cyber security education

For decades Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) and Industrial Control Systems (ICS) have used computers to monitor and control physical processes in many critical industries, including electricity generation, gas pipelines, water distribution, waste treatment, communications and transportation. Increasingly these systems are interconnected with corporate networks via the Internet, making them vulnerable and exposed to the same risks as those experiencing cyber-attacks on a conventional network. Very often SCADA networks services are viewed as a specialty subject, more relevant to engineers than standard IT personnel. Educators from two Australian universities have recognised these cultural issues and highlighted the gap between specialists with SCADA systems engineering skills and the specialists in network security with IT background. This paper describes a learning approach designed to help students to bridge this gap, gain theoretical knowledge of SCADA systems' vulnerabilities to cyber-attacks via experiential learning and acquire practical skills through actively participating in hands-on exercises.

The power of percent

Which statistic would you use if you were writing the newspaper headline for the following media release: "Tassie’s death rate of deaths arising from transport-related injuries was 13 per 100,000 people, or 50% higher than the national average”? (Martain, 2007). The rate “13 per 100,000” sounds very small whereas “50% higher” sounds quite large. Most people are aware of the tendency to choose between reporting data as actual numbers or using percents in order to gain attention. Looking at examples like this one can help students develop a critical quantitative literacy viewpoint when dealing with “authentic contexts” (Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority [ACARA], 2013a, p. 37, 67). The importance of the distinction between reporting information in raw numbers or percents is not explicitly mentioned in the Australian Curriculum: Mathematics (ACARA, 2013b, p. 42). Although the document specifically mentions making “connections between equivalent fractions, decimals and percentages” [ACMNA131] in Year 6, there is no mention of the fundamental relationship between percent and the raw numbers represented in a part-whole fashion. Such understanding, however, is fundamental to the problem solving that is the focus of the curriculum in Years 6 to 9. The purpose of this article is to raise awareness of the opportunities to distinguish between the use of raw numbers and percents when comparisons are being made in contexts other than the media. It begins with the authors’ experiences in the classroom, which motivated a search in the literature, followed by a suggestion for a follow-up activity.

The power of naming : the multifaceted value of learning students’ names

The modern day Australian law school is expected to educate and engage law students. Ideally law school will instil a sense of passion (or at least appreciation) for the law, promote a positive professional identity, foster a sense of community, and provide general support to law students. Collectively, the Australian legal academy is struggling with these goals. Significant numbers of students feel isolated, disconnected and unengaged throughout their tertiary legal education. Teaching students from increasingly diverse backgrounds, who spend less time on campus and less face-to-face time in class, many law academics feel ill-equipped to respond to the challenge of engaging law students in time and cost efficient ways. Intentionally learning and using student names has potential to humanise the law school experience, build community, and positively impact upon the wellbeing of students and staff.