The challenges for quality managers in Britain and Australia

Purpose – This paper aims to compare and contrast the career experiences and development needs of British and Australian quality managers.

Design/methodology/approach – The results of a postal survey of the careers of British quality managers are compared with Australian quality managers based on two surveys.

Findings – The study finds that quality managers in both countries brought wide functional experience to their roles. Their current jobs are major sources of intrinsic job satisfaction for both groups of managers but they utilise a very limited range of quality tools. Also British and Australian managers show little awareness in terms of their development needs for a broader background in quality.

Practical implications – The findings suggest a worrying lack of innovatory zeal amongst quality managers who appear to be more concerned with the maintenance of standards rather than taking a more dynamic approach. Thus it is argued that while quality managers bring wide functional experience to their current roles, there are many who do not appear to be at the cutting edge of knowledge in their field. Neither do the British quality managers in particular appear to be sufficiently aware of the need to address such shortfalls through professional development opportunities.

Originality/value – The roles of those charged with carrying the flag of quality in the two countries have only previously received limited research coverage. This paper, based upon empirical research in Britain and Australia, identifies issues which require the attention of senior management to ensure future competitiveness for their organisations.

Predictive mapping of powerful owl (Ninox strenua) breeding sites using Geographical Information Systems (GIS) in urban Melbourne, Australia

Urban expansion is a principal process threatening biodiversity globally. It is predicted that over half of the world's population will reside in urban centres by 2010. If we are to conserve biodiversity, a shift in perspective from traditional ecological studies based in natural environments, to studies based in less natural environments is paramount. To effectively conserve species which occur in urban environments, comprehensive analysis is necessary to determine the processes that are driving this urban usage. Geographical Information Systems (GIS) technology provides a valuable tool for efficient spatial analysis and predictive mapping of species distributions.

This study used GIS to analyze current breeding sites for the powerful owl, a vulnerable top order predator in urban Melbourne, Australia. GIS analysis suggests that a number of ecological attributes were influencing powerful owl usage of urban environments. Using these ecological attributes, predictive mapping was undertaken, which identified a number of potential breeding sites for powerful owls within urbanized Melbourne.

Urban environments are traditionally perceived as “the wastelands” of natural environments, however, this study demonstrates that they have the potential to support apex predators, an important finding for the management of rare and threatened species.

The employee share ownership plan : data and implications for Australian businesses

The Australian government is currently committed to the goal of increasing organisational participation in employee share ownership plans (ESOP) from 4% of all companies to 11% by 2009. The Nelson Report into ESOPs commissioned by the Honourable Brendan Nelson highlighted the lack of comprehensive information on the nature and extent of ESO plans in Australia. This paper places the program in context by reviewing overseas experiences and considers the viewpoints of both employers and employees. The preliminary investigation concludes by highlighting the need for further thorough research before success for all types of businesses can be confidently predicted.

Work choices : Increasing productivity, job creation and work-family balance? Not likely!

The introduction of the Workplace Relations (Work Choices) Amendment Act 2005 (Cth) has resulted in one of the most contentious changes to federal labour law in Australia’s history. There is considerable debate as to whether it has fulfilled the government’s expectations of giving ‘flexibility’ and ‘choice’ to both employees and employers or if there has been an overall deterioration in working conditions. In order to identify the impact of this legislation in the workplace, Deakin University surveyed 11,000 AHRI members throughout Australia. Preliminary results are reported in the paper but, even at this early stage, there is sufficient material to critically comment upon the changes to Australia’s industrial relations system. It appears that the vast majority of AHRI members felt that there had been no change in productivity, job creation or work-family balance and that only a few expected an improvement over the next 3 years.

The influence of cultural attributes on intergenerational succession in the Chinese-Australian family business

Research on succession in family business has been traditionally concentrated on planning and strategies in terms of management, ownership and governance. There is an increasing concern on the family influence on the process of succession. This paper discusses the role that the family culture plays in sustaining a family's commitment to its business. In particular, the family business is a prominent form of organisation among the ethnic Chinese expatriate business families. Since the I 980s, under the business migration programme, the increase of Chinese migrants has contributed significantly to the cultural landscape of Australian. This paper chooses Chinese-Australian family businesses to explore their cultural characteristics as a strong family influence on the practices of pas sing on the business to the next generation.

Engagement and learning through social software in finance : the trading room experience

The introduction of a social software blog space called “The Trading Room” in an undergraduate Finance unit for an assessment task generated a great deal of activity to support student learning. A subsequent evaluation of this pilot demonstrated that students perceived high value in the opportunity it provided for them to reaffirm theories, obtain individualized feedback and benchmark their work against others. Whilst assessment is generally seen as both the carrot and the stick of learning, and certification; students in the study reported that they would still participate in reading and posting to the “Trading Room” blog even if there was no assessment requirement! Additionally they did not see any value in the environment as a purely social space, reporting that they saw it primarily as a professional educational community. It would appear that just as there are different communities in the real world social space, there are also different types of communities in the online space. Context, structure and activity design, perhaps are the most important facets of online interaction for learning.

Cracking it open

Cracking it Open puts the spotlight on improvisation with live performances by some of Melbourne's leading improvisation artists. Each artist presents a short performance, and then opens the floor for discussion with audience members.

Cooperative inquiry in a business school : scope, process and dimensions

The presentation will describe a cooperative inquiry project being undertaken within the School of Management and Marketing, Faculty of Business and Law. This project involves both HRM and Management academics and was commenced in February 2008 with the broad aim of developing an ongoing teaching and learning dialogue within these discipline areas to enhance teaching and learning.
The project is also aimed at enabling individuals and unit teams to develop and pursue their own priorities in teaching and learning and align these with the goals and objectives of the Faculty and University.
In the presentation we will describe the scope, nature and methods of the inquiry and the outcomes of the project to date. One major outcome to date has been a comprehensive review of all the units within the HRM and Management majors. This review has, in turn, lead to the initiation of four further projects.
These include an activity to benchmark the School’s HRM and Management units against universities in Australia and overseas; a literature review entitled ‘Linking practice, research and the scholarship of teaching’; a project that seeks to integrate individual and institutional needs; and an action research project to capture the process of change within the Management and HRM team. These four projects will be described briefly in the presentation.

Turning the pages : adolescents, schools and reading

This study focuses on adolescents and reading. My premise is that adolescents develop a reading identity which is influenced by an existent reading culture to which they are exposed. This existent reading culture can be influenced in particular by schooling, family and the opinions of peers. One major influence is the classroom. Within the English curriculum, what criteria do English teachers use for selection of set texts and are there differences in criteria in all-boy/all girl and co-educational schools? I reflected on the prevailing perceptions that relate to gender, masculinity and popular culture which can affect what it means to be a boy, literate, and a reader of fictional texts. My first folio piece examines adolescents’ reading within five secondary schools, including an all-boy school, to ascertain whether boys in single-sex schools read more fictional texts and whether they enjoy reading more than their counterparts in co-educational schools. Authors are frequently invited to visit schools and work with students. My second folio piece investigates author visits in five secondary schools, from the perspectives of English teachers, teacher librarians and cohorts of middle school students. I wanted to find out why schools ask authors to visit and what are the expected outcomes of these visits, particularly in regard to adolescent reading identities. The third folio piece examines authors’ narratives concerning school visits. Authors have certain expectations when working with students and talking about their writing. I wanted to discover how authors think they can provide maximum impact on students through their visits, by asking a cohort of authors to recount their ‘dream school’ visits and ‘nightmare school’ visits. Interpretations of the research about boys and reading, and author visits from the schools’ perspectives are analysed using a form of content analysis. The third research project concerning authors’ narratives is interpreted using lexical networks. Prominent elements of my study explore adolescent reader identities through the influences of schooling and through author visits. In the conclusion of this study, these elements are drawn together and broad recommendations are outlined that pertain to the encouragement of positive adolescent reading identities.

Spatial thinking processes employed by primary school students engaged in mathematical problem solving

This thesis describes changes in the spatial thinking of Year 2 and Year 4 students who participated in a six-week long spatio-mathematical program. The main investigation, which contained quantitative and qualitative components, was designed to answer questions which were identified in a comprehensive review of pertinent literatures dealing with (a) young children's development of spatial concepts and skills, (b) how students solve problems and learn in different types of classrooms, and (c) the special roles of visual imagery, equipment, and classroom discourse in spatial problem solving. The quantitative investigation into the effects of a two-dimensional spatial program used a matched-group experimental design. Parallel forms of a specially developed spatio-mathematical group test were administered on three occasions—before, immediately after, and six to eight weeks after the spatial program. The test contained items requiring spatial thinking about two-dimensional space and other items requiring transfer to thinking about three-dimensional space. The results of the experimental group were compared with those of a ‘control’ group who were involved in number problem-solving activities. The investigation took into account gender and year at school. In addition, the effects of different classroom organisations on spatial thinking were investigated~one group worked mainly individually and the other group in small cooperative groups. The study found that improvements in scores on the delayed posttest of two-dimensional spatial thinking by students who were engaged in the spatial learning experiences were statistically significantly greater than those of the control group when pretest scores were used as covariates. Gender was the only variable to show an effect on the three-dimensional delayed posttest. The study also attempted to explain how improvements in, spatial thinking occurred. The qualitative component of the study involved students in different contexts. Students were video-taped as they worked, and much observational and interview data were obtained and analysed to develop categories which were described and inter-related in a model of children's responsiveness to spatial problem-solving experiences. The model and the details of children's thinking were related to literatures on visual imagery, selective attention, representation, and concept construction.

Cutting choreography : redefining dance on screen

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