Survey and Mapping Infrastructure Regulation 2004- Comments Relating to a 10-Year Review

Democratic governments raise taxes and charges and spend revenue on delivering peace, order and good government. The delivery process begins with a legislature as that can provide a framework of legally enforceable rules enacted according to the government’s constitution. These rules confer rights and obligations that allow particular people to carry on particular functions at particular places and times. Metadata standards as applied to public records contain information about the functioning of government as distinct from the non-government sector of society. Metadata standards apply to database construction. Data entry, storage, maintenance, interrogation and retrieval depend on a controlled vocabulary needed to enable accurate retrieval of suitably catalogued records in a global information environment. Queensland’s socioeconomic progress now depends in part on technical efficiency in database construction to address queries about who does what, where and when; under what legally enforceable authority; and how the evidence of those facts is recorded. The Survey and Mapping Infrastructure Act 2003 (Qld) addresses technical aspects of where questions – typically the officially recognised name of a place and a description of its boundaries. The current 10-year review of the Survey and Mapping Regulation 2004 provides a valuable opportunity to consider whether the Regulation makes sense in the context of a number of later laws concerned with management of Public Sector Information (PSI) as well as policies for ICT hardware and software procurement. Removing ambiguities about how official place names are to be regarded on a whole-of-government basis can achieve some short term goals. Longer-term goals depend on a more holistic approach to information management – and current aspirations for more open government and community engagement are unlikely to occur without such a longer-term vision.

The impact of organizational boundaries on (re)building capabilities

The literature concerning firm boundaries has focussed extensively on the rationale for different boundary choices and the economic efficiencies that such choices can make. There is also an acknowledged position that a firm’s boundary choices may impact the ability of a firm to maintain and even build new capabilities, though such choices may not be optimal from an economic efficiency perspective. It is in this context that we seek to investigate how firms make this potential trade-off in respect of their boundary choices and how these choices are implemented across a wide range of activities. Using qualitative data from three public sector construction oriented organizations, we observe that neither pure make nor buy decisions assisted significantly in capability building. Dual modes – where firms make and buy the same product or service simultaneously – provided firms with some opportunities to manage this paradox, but the most successful decisions seemed to occur in respect of using intermediate governance modes such as alliances. We also observed that the boundary choice was just one dimension of the capability building process and firms pursuing the same boundary choice decisions often had quite divergent outcomes on the basis of their boundary management and the ability of knowledge to move across firm boundaries.

Crisis Communication in Natural Disasters : The Queensland Floods and Christchurch Earthquakes

Over the past decade, social media have gone through a process of legitimation and official adoption, and they are now becoming embedded as part of the official communications apparatus of many commercial and public-sector organisations— in turn, providing platforms like Twitter with their own sources of legitimacy. Arguably, the demonstrated utility of social media platforms and tools in times of crisis—from civil unrest and violent crime through to natural disasters like bushfires, earthquakes, and floods—has been a crucial driver of this newfound legitimacy. In the mid-2000s, user-created content and ‘Web 2.0’ platforms were known to play a role in crisis communication; back then, the involvement of extra-institutional actors in providing and sharing information around such events involved distributed, ad hoc, or niche platforms (like Flickr), and was more likely to be framed as ‘citizen journalism’ or ‘crowdsourcing’ (see, for example, Liu, Palen, Sutton, Hughes, & Vieweg, 2008, on the then-emerging role of photo-sharing in disasters). Since then, the dramatically increased take-up of mainstream social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter means that the pool of potential participants in online crisis communication has broadened to include a much larger proportion of the general population, as well as traditional media and official emergency response organisations.

Learning routines used by firms during construction of infrastructure projects using the alliance procurement method

Collaborative contracting has emerged over the past 15 years as an innovative project delivery framework that is particularly suited to infrastructure projects. Australia leads the world in the development of project and program alliance approaches to collaborative delivery. These approaches are considered to promise superior project results. However, very little is known about the learning routines that are most widely used in support of collaborative projects in general and alliance projects in particular. The literature on absorptive capacity and dynamic capabilities indicates that such learning enhances project performance. The learning routines employed at corporate level during the operation of collaborative infrastructure projects in Australia were examined through a large survey conducted in 2013. This paper presents a descriptive summary of the preliminary findings. The survey captured the experiences of 320 practitioners of collaborative construction projects, including public and private sector clients, contractors, consultants and suppliers (three per cent of projects were located in New Zealand, but for brevity’s sake the sample is referred to as Australian). The majority of projects identified used alliances (78.6%); whilst 9% used Early Contractor Involvement (ECI) contracts and 2.7% used Early Tender Involvement contracts, which are ‘slimmer’ types of collaborative contract. The remaining 9.7% of respondents used traditional contracts that employed some collaborative elements. The majority of projects were delivered for public sector clients (86.3%), and/or clients experienced with asset procurement (89.6%). All of the projects delivered infrastructure assets; one third in the road sector, one third in the water sector, one fifth in the rail sector, and the rest spread across energy, building and mining. Learning routines were explored within three interconnected phases: knowledge exploration, transformation and exploitation. The results show that explorative and exploitative learning routines were applied to a similar extent. Transformative routines were applied to a relatively low extent. It was also found that the most highly applied routine is ‘regularly applying new knowledge to collaborative projects’; and the least popular routine was ‘staff incentives to encourage information sharing about collaborative projects’. Future research planned by the authors will examine the impact of these routines on project performance.

Trust in merged ERP and open data schemes in the “Cloud”

Enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems are rapidly being combined with “big data” analytics processes and publicly available “open data sets”, which are usually outside the arena of the enterprise, to expand activity through better service to current clients as well as identifying new opportunities. Moreover, these activities are now largely based around relevant software systems hosted in a “cloud computing” environment. However, the over 50- year old phrase related to mistrust in computer systems, namely “garbage in, garbage out” or “GIGO”, is used to describe problems of unqualified and unquestioning dependency on information systems. However, a more relevant GIGO interpretation arose sometime later, namely “garbage in, gospel out” signifying that with large scale information systems based around ERP and open datasets as well as “big data” analytics, particularly in a cloud environment, the ability to verify the authenticity and integrity of the data sets used may be almost impossible. In turn, this may easily result in decision making based upon questionable results which are unverifiable. Illicit “impersonation” of and modifications to legitimate data sets may become a reality while at the same time the ability to audit any derived results of analysis may be an important requirement, particularly in the public sector. The pressing need for enhancement of identity, reliability, authenticity and audit services, including naming and addressing services, in this emerging environment is discussed in this paper. Some current and appropriate technologies currently being offered are also examined. However, severe limitations in addressing the problems identified are found and the paper proposes further necessary research work for the area. (Note: This paper is based on an earlier unpublished paper/presentation “Identity, Addressing, Authenticity and Audit Requirements for Trust in ERP, Analytics and Big/Open Data in a ‘Cloud’ Computing Environment: A Review and Proposal” presented to the Department of Accounting and IT, College of Management, National Chung Chen University, 20 November 2013.)

The Service Portfolio of a BPM Center of Excellence

A key concept for the centralized provision of Business Process Management (BPM) is the Center of Excellence (CoE). Organizations establish a CoE (aka BPM Support Office) as their BPM maturity increases in order to ensure a consistent and cost-effective way of offering BPM services. The definition of the offerings of such a center and the allocation of roles and responsibilities play an important role within BPM Governance. In order to plan the role of such a BPM CoE, this chapter proposes the productization of BPM leading to a set of fifteen distinct BPM services. A portfolio management approach is suggested to position these services. The approach allows identifying specific normative strategies for each BPM service, such as further training or BPM communication and marketing. A public sector case study provides further insights into how this approach has been used in practice. Empirical evidence from a survey with 15 organizations confirms the coverage of this set of BPM services and shows typical profiles for such BPM Centers of Excellence.

Purchasing social good(s): A definition and typology of social procurement

Social procurement has gained attention in modern public management; however, considerable differences exist in understanding what social procurement actually is. Divergent definitions of social procurement inhibit effective policy implementation, and can result in imprecision in empirical research. This paper develops a typology of social procurement implementation, and advances a coherent single definition of social procurement. Clarifying the intent and approaches to social procurement will assist policy implementation and empirical evaluation.

Managing Ethical Dilemmas

This chapter reviews almost a decade of research and writing undertaken by the authors into ethical dilemmas faced by leaders in a number of different operational contexts, including schools, universities and the public sector. The importance of this body of work is emphasised by one of our research participants who argued that ethical dilemmas were the 'bread and butter' of what leaders do. The chapter comprises four main sections. The first section overviews key theoretical aspects as background to the chapter, including relevant discussions about ethics and ethical decision-making. The second section synthesises the research findings from our work in the three contexts noted above, drawing out a set of learnings that contribute to better understandings of the nature, complexities and challenges of ethical dilemmas. This section is followed by a discussion of an explanatory conceptual model of ethical dilemmas that was developed initially from the literature and confirmed by our research. The model reminds us of some of the critical issues at play in ethical dilemmas, and some of the consequences and implications for organisational culture building they can generate. By way of a short scenario, the final section provides a theory-to-practice illustration of an ethical dilemma in action. A set of recommendations, drawn from the ideas of school leaders who have worked with this and similar dilemmas, is offered as a way forward to better understanding and resolution of such dilemmas so prevalent in our schools today.

One-stop shopping : some notes on the concept and some Australian initiatives

This paper aims to review the notion of the one-stop shop, particularly as it has developed in Australia. It has three main components. The first focuses on a significant initiative taken by the Coombs Royal Commission on Australian Government Administration as a form of action research in the mid-1970s. The second highlights the associated work on access theory by the late Bernard Schaffer and his associates and explains why this work was of fundamental importance for the development of the idea of the one-stop shop. The third deals with subsequent Australian understandings and a pp lications of the idea.

Resistances, facilitators and influences on professionals' knowledge sharing behaviour : a case study

The centrality of knowledge sharing to organisations' sustainability has been established. This case study illustrates the influences on individual knowledge sharing decision-making and behaviour among professionals and paraprofessionals - specifically civil engineers and design drafters - in a large public sector organisation that provides transportation infrastructure. The case examines the ways in which overlapping sets of values and behavioural drivers affect knowledge sharing orientation and practices in a collective of experts and novices working in an environment that is largely project-based. The alignment among sector, profession and organisation values provides a supportive environment for knowledge sharing, however individual behaviour is found to be most strongly influenced by the presence and quality of relational capital.

Citizen’s right to the digital city: Urban interfaces, activism, and placemaking

Edited by thought leaders of the fields of urban informatics and urban interaction design, this book brings together case studies and examples from around the world to discuss the role that urban Interfaces, citizen action, and city making play in the quest to create and maintain not only secure and resilient, but productive, sustainable, and liveable urban environments. The book debates the impact of these trends on theory, policy, and practice. The chapters in this book are sourced from blind peer reviewed contributions by leading researchers working at the intersection of the social / cultural, technical / digital, and physical / spatial domains of urbanism scholarship. The book appeals not only to research colleagues and students, but also to a vast number of practitioners in the private and public sector interested in accessible accounts that clearly and rigorously analyse the affordances and possibilities of urban interfaces, mobile technology, and location-based services to engage people towards open, smart and participatory urban environments.

Beyond the hospital door : a retrospective, cohort study of associations between birthing in the public or private sector and women’s postpartum care

Background In Australia, maternity care is available through universal coverage and a parallel, competitive private health insurance system. Differences between sectors in antenatal and intrapartum care and associated outcomes are well documented but few studies have investigated differences in postpartum care following hospital discharge and their impact on maternal satisfaction and confidence. Methods Women who birthed in Queensland, Australia from February to May 2010 were mailed a self-report survey 4 months postpartum. Regression analysis was used to determine associations between sector of birth and postpartum care, and whether postpartum care experiences explained sector differences in postpartum well-being (satisfaction, parenting confidence and feeling depressed). Results Women who birthed in the public sector had higher odds of health professional contact in the first 10 days post-discharge and satisfaction with the amount of postpartum care. After adjusting for demographic and postpartum contact variables, sector of birth no longer had an impact on satisfaction (AOR 0.95, 99% CI 0.78-1.31), but any form of health professional contact did. Women who had a care provider’s 24 hour contact details had higher odds of being satisfied (AOR 3.64, 95% CI 3.00-4.42) and confident (AOR 1.34, 95% CI 1.08- 1.65). Conclusion Women who birthed in the public sector appeared more satisfied because they had higher odds of receiving contact from a health professional within 10 days post-discharge. All women should have an opportunity to speak to and/or see a doctor, midwife or nurse in the first 10 days at home, and the details of a person they can contact 24 hours a day.

Are Australia’s universities in deficit? A tale of generic managers, audit culture, and casualisation

Managerial changes to Australian universities have had considerable impact on employees. In this paper we consider some of these changes and apply a theory known as the democratic deficit to them. This theory was developed from the democratic critique of managerialism, as it has been applied in the public sector in countries with Westminster-type political systems. This deficit covers the weakening of accountability through politicisation, the denial of public values through the use of private sector performance practices, and the hollowing out of the state through the contracting out and privatisation of public goods and services, and the redefinition of citizens as customers and clients. We suggest that the increased power of managers, expansion of the audit culture, and the extensive use of contract employment seem to be weakening the democratic culture and role of universities in part by replacing accountability as responsibility with accountability as responsiveness.

Choosing appropriate contract methods for design-build projects

For design-build (DB) projects, owners normally use lump sum and Guaranteed Maximum Price (GMP) as the major contract payment provisions. However, there was a lack of empirical studies to compare the project performance within different contract types and investigate how different project characteristics affect the owners’ selection of contract arrangement. Project information from Design-build Institute of America (DBIA) database was collected to reveal the statistical relationship between different project characteristics and contract types and to compare project performance between lump sum and GMP contract. The results show that lump sum is still the most frequently used contract method for DB projects, especially in the public sector. However, projects using GMP contract are more likely to have less schedule delay and cost overrun as compared to those with lump sum contract. The chi-square tests of cross tabulations reveal that project type, owner type, and procurement method affect the selection of contract types significantly. Civil infrastructure rather than industrial engineering project tends to use lump sum more frequently; and qualification-oriented contractor selection process resorts to GMP more often compared with cost-oriented process. The findings of this research contribute to the current body of knowledge concerning the effect of associated project characteristics on contract type selection. Overall, the results of this study provide empirical evidence from real DB projects that can be used by owners to select appropriate contract types and eventually improve future project performance.

Linking client and employee perceptions of the organization: A study of client satisfaction with health care services

Client satisfaction with health care services has usually been researched in terms of socio-demographic and predispositional characteristics associated with the client. The present study included organizational characteristics as predictors of client satisfaction with health care services. Participants in the research were clients and employees of an Australian public-sector health care organization who responded to separate client and employee questionnaires. Hierarchical regression analyses indicated that, after controlling for a number of client characteristics, organizational characteristics, as perceived by employees, accounted for a significant proportion of additional variance in client satisfaction with health care services. Results of the present study provided some support for the proposition that employee perceptions of the working environment should be considered in a more comprehensive understanding of client satisfaction with health care services. Limitations of the study highlight practical difficulties in the assessment of client outcomes and methodological complexities in linking individual and organizational processes.