Standards-based accountability : reification, responsibility and the ethical subject

Over the last two decades, teachers in Australia have witnessed multiple incarnations of the idea of ‘educational accountability’ and its enactment. Research into this phenomenon of educational policy and practice has revealed various layers of the concept, particularly its professional, bureaucratic, political and cultural dimensions that are central to the restructuring of educational governance and the reorganization of teachers’ work. Today, accountability constitutes a core concept of neoliberal policy-making in education, both fashioning and normalizing what counts as teacher professionalism in the ‘audit society.’ This article focuses specifically on the recent introduction by the Australian Federal Government of standardised literacy testing in all states across Australia, and raises questions about the impact of this reform on the work practices of English literacy teachers in primary and secondary schools. We draw on data collected as part of a major research project funded by the Australian Research Council, involving interviews with teachers about their experiences of implementing standardised testing. The article traces the ways in which teachers’ work is increasingly being mediated by standardised literacy testing to show how these teachers grapple with the tensions between state-wide mandates and a sense of their professional responsibility for their students.

Organisational change and the care of the self : stress management as ethical self-problematisation

In diverse arenas there is much discussion about the dangerousness of contemporary lifestyles, including the stressful nature of work. These stresses associated with contemporary lifestyles and work are dangerous in so far as they are conceived as placing at-risk the emotional, physical and psychic health and wellbeing of large populations. In this paper I engage with debates about the stressful nature of teachers’ work, and the ways in which teacher health and wellbeing is constructed as being central to the task of delivering more effective schools. I am not so much concerned with the nature of teacher stress as an indication of individual physical, emotional or psychic health and wellbeing. Rather I am more concerned with understanding how it is that at this particular historical juncture the self can be so widely conceived in terms of stress. Moreover, what processes make it possible at this moment to link the success or otherwise of a massive institutional process of state regulated schooling to the health and wellbeing of teachers and the management of this health and wellbeing by school managers?

Unconscionable conduct : an evolving moral judgement

Statutory unconscionable conduct has been a controversial component of Australia's consumer laws since well before the first provision was introduced in 1986. Nevertheless, it has survived numerous reviews and has expanded beyond its early focus on consumers to provide small business - and, more recently, any business other than a listed company - statutory protection against unconscionable conduct occurring in trade or commerce.

Older women crafting ethical subjectivities in rural places

Over the last two years my colleagues and I conducted research conversations with older women living in rural Victoria about the meaning of craft in their lives. These conversations are the basis for our speculations on how women constitute ethical subjectivities through specific craft activities and through their engagement with Country Women Association (CWA) craft groups. The CWA is recognised as a ‘community of practice’ with local, regional, state, national and global networks, aiming to improve the lives of rural people. The focus of this paper, however, is on how ethical subjectivities by rural women are fashioned through specific involvements in craft activities and craft groups. I aim to elaborate on how Foucault’s later work on the ‘Care of the Self’ may open possibilities, even if limited, for understanding the complex ways women take up subject positions in interaction with historical, political, economic and social arrangements, and through engagement with specific institutions. For Foucault, ‘care of the self’ is an inherently social practice. Currently, modern power relations incite us to relate to our selves through self confessional and self-disciplining technologies. Could a differently constituted mode of self-care be drawn from the Ancient Greeks to offer us ideas for enacting personal and social transformations today?

Ethical discriminations? Representing the reprehensible

This paper reflects upon the ‘goodness’ or ‘ethics’ of Critical Management/ Critical Organisation Studies (COS) research practices. I argue that academic representations of others entail an ethical responsibility to the researched, a responsibility that COS is, as yet, insufficiently exploring. Reflecting upon my own research with those who have colluded in discrimination and Stanley and Wise’s (1979) research on obscene telephone callers, I explore the nature and limits of responsibility when researching those who have acted reprehensibly. I end by arguing that COS “owe(s) some responsibility to ‘the researched’ of all kinds, whether we morally approve of them or not” (Stanley and Wise 1993:177).

Ethical martini: the home of media ethics and martinis

This is a blog about media ethics and journalism / journalists, with the aim of being a tool for students, media consumers and journalists or other newsworkers.

Balancing the benefits and risks of public–private partnerships to address the global double burden of malnutrition

Objective: Transnational food, beverage and restaurant companies, and their corporate foundations, may be potential collaborators to help address complex public health nutrition challenges. While UN system guidelines are available for private-sector engagement, non-governmental organizations (NGO) have limited guidelines to navigate diverse opportunities and challenges presented by partnering with these companies through public–private partnerships (PPP) to address the global double burden of malnutrition.

Design: We conducted a search of electronic databases, UN system websites and grey literature to identify resources about partnerships used to address the global double burden of malnutrition. A narrative summary provides a synthesis of the interdisciplinary literature identified.

Results: We describe partnership opportunities, benefits and challenges; and tools and approaches to help NGO engage with the private sector to address global public health nutrition challenges. PPP benefits include: raising the visibility of nutrition and health on policy agendas; mobilizing funds and advocating for research; strengthening food-system processes and delivery systems; facilitating technology transfer; and expanding access to medications, vaccines, healthy food and beverage products, and nutrition assistance during humanitarian crises. PPP challenges include: balancing private commercial interests with public health interests; managing conflicts of interest; ensuring that co-branded activities support healthy products and healthy eating environments; complying with ethical codes of conduct; assessing partnership compatibility; and evaluating partnership outcomes.

Conclusions: NGO should adopt a systematic and transparent approach using available tools and processes to maximize benefits and minimize risks of partnering with transnational food, beverage and restaurant companies to effectively target the global double burden of malnutrition.

Ethical considerations and guidelines in web analytics and digital marketing : a retail case study

Within the information economy customers utilise the media that interests them, view the news that affects them and read about the people that inspire them. Web analytics enables an organisation to collect customers' data as they interact with an organisation. Then with analysis of the captured data, organisations can offer a unique online experience, tailored to the customer's individual preferences and create direct marketing campaigns that target individual consumers. This paper discusses the ethical considerations of collecting customer data and highlights how ethical guidelines can better inform organisational behaviour.

Consideration of selflessness and self-interest in outsourcing decisions

Purpose – The paper aims to discuss the need to balance selflessness and self-interest issues in outsourcing decisions. This discussion is timely given the tensions that currently exist between those who want off-shore outsourcing to continue as a means for increasing international trade, and those who only want to conduct business on-shore.

Design/methodology/approach – A conceptual approach has been taken in this paper in order to highlight key considerations for ethical decision-making with respect to off-shore outsourcing.

Findings – Considerations of selflessness and self-interest are embedded in outsourcing decisions. It is recommended that a balance between making profits and fulfilling social responsibilities is required, ideally, at each stage of decision-making. Hence, managers should think critically about the reasons behind off-shore outsourcing decisions, the process of arriving at decisions, and the impact of their decisions on stakeholders.

Research limitations/implications – This is a conceptual paper and further empirical data to validate the stages of decision-making framework are required.

Practical implications – Failure to take into account the selflessness and self-interest outcomes of off-shore outsourcing could potentially off-set strategic gains by leading to negative media publicity for a company.

Social implications – Ethical considerations as part of outsourcing decisions should result in a transparent, fair and more humane working environment for both the host and the home country representatives involved in the process.

Originality/value – This paper presents an original framework of selflessness and self-interest considerations when making off-shore outsourcing decisions. Both Eastern and Western business perspectives have been incorporated as part of the decision-making framework.

Cloud computing services : theoretical foundations of ethical and entrepreneurial adoption behaviour

Clouicomputing is an emerging service technology that has ethical and entrepreneurial implications. Due to technological innovations increasing the attention placed on cloud computing services, more people are focusing on the security and privacy issues determined by ethical guidelines and how the technology is evolving as an entrepreneurial service innov.ation. This paper presents a theoretical perspective on how a person adopts cloud computing. The literature on technology innovation and adoption behaviour is examined with a focus on social cognitive theory. A theoretical framework is then presented, which indicates a number of propositions to describe the intention of a person to adopt cloud computing services. The role of technology marketing capability, sustained learning and outcome expectancy are included in helping to understand the role of cloud computing applications. Suggestions for future research and practical implications are stated.