A study of the environmental management system (EMS) adoption process within Australasian organisations-2. Role of stakeholders

The importance of an Environmental Management System (EMS) for organisations is becoming widely known across all industrial sectors. EMS has brought both challenges and benefits for the organisations and these many-a-times are determined by the role played by the organisational stakeholders. Stakeholder is a broad term and can encompass a number of individual(s) or group(s) directly or indirectly impacted by organisational activities. This paper, second part in the series, focuses on the role of the stakeholders, primarily employees and suppliers during the EMS planning and implementation stages. It is based on the findings of the quantitative part of a large research project exploring the role of employees and suppliers, as organisational stakeholders, during the EMS adoption stages. A response rate of almost 50% was achieved from a questionnaire survey of ISO 14001 certified organisations in Australia and New Zealand. The key relationships existing between the organisations and stakeholder involvement and the benefits and impediments associated with the process have also been presented.

Adoption and maintenance of environmental management systems: critical success factors

The implementation of various management systems and standards has become an important activity for organisations irrespective of their size, sector or nature of the business. Even with a history of implementing change across the organisation, managers continue to experience resistance and challenges when implementing and maintaining the systems/standards, whether they be in quality, occupational health and safety, environmental or any other area. Based on a major research project recently completed, this paper presents the critical success factors for successful implementation of an environmental management system. The project involved three phases of fieldwork: preliminary interviews, a questionnaire survey and in-depth interviews. A brief summary of the findings from each of these phases of research is presented. Based on the findings, the paper discusses the critical success factors for the successful implementation and maintenance of EMS.

Securing institutional legitimacy or organizational effectiveness?

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to consider the impact of a major initiative (the National Competition Policy) and pieces of legislation (the Local Government Act and the Local Government Finance Standards) on the internal practices of a large Australian local authority.

Design/methodology/approach: A theoretical framework is developed using new public management (NPM) and neo-institutional theory literatures to explain the findings. A case study approach was applied to collect the data for the research.

Findings: The findings reveal that the National Competition Policy 1993, the Local Government Act 1993 and the Local Government Finance Standards 1994 mainly have brought about significant changes to the organisation's internal management control processes, such as financial reporting, budgeting and performance appraisal. The changes brought in appeared to be coincidentally similar to NPM ideals. Furthermore, senior managers (such as the chief executive and divisional heads) played a major role in implementing new accounting technologies (activity-based costing and the balanced scorecard type performance measurement system).

Research limitations/implications: Future research on public sector financial management from the outset of organisational contexts could considerably further the stock of knowledge in this area, especially given the rapid changes occurring within the public sector throughout the world. Future research may wish to extend this study by assessing how external legitimating functions become internal reality, the perceptions of reality of the organisational members, and how these perceptions change over time.

Practical implications: The findings reported provide evidence to further our understanding of how the introduction of private sector styles of organisational practices into large areas of the public sector brought about significant changes in the demand for “new” financial management practices.

Originality/value: The findings reported on in this paper will open a new path of research that may increase our understanding about the factors that play a role in the design of management and accounting systems in a public sector context. Further, they will help policy makers and public sector managers in their day-to-day decision-making.

Analysis of the potential and problems of new institutional economics for third world development

Purpose – The aim of this paper is to provide a critical evaluation of the potential of new institutional economics (NIE) in third world development.

Design/methodology/approach – The paper reviews various theories under NIE from both conceptual and empirical perspectives. It then reviews the various definitions of institutions and show that institutions are essential to overcome problems of information and uncertainty.

Findings – The review finds that weak institutions can undermine development and hence governments in developing countries should strengthen their institutions to provide greater scope for efficient functioning of markets. Where the market does not work owing to high transactions costs, traditional institutions of collective action and group decision making can work and hence need to be recognised.

Research limitations/implications – The major implications of the paper is that in developing countries, a clear understanding of various institutions such as user groups, inter-linked credit markets, rotational irrigation etc. is needed before they are replaced or modified by other institutions. The main limitations of NIE are that there can be capture by elites of various institutional innovations in rural areas, and that it does not explicitly consider income distribution and uncertainty which are glossed over and hence remain areas for future research.

Originality/value – This paper critically reviews the various institutional environments that developing countries face in addressing development issues.

A framework for environmental management system adoption and maintenance : an Australian perspective

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present a framework for environmental management system (EMS) adoption which can be used by managers to enable them to achieve a faster, smoother, effective and sustainable EMS implementation. This is termed by the authors as “successful” EMS implementation.
Design/methodology/approach – The framework presented is based on an extensive field study conducted in Australia that included a questionnaire survey and in-depth interviews conducted with practitioners, the results of which have been reported in this and other journals.
Findings – The framework presented covers three distinct phases, namely development, certification and maintenance and continuous improvement. Preliminary assessment of this framework by a group of Australian experts that included four senior managers, one academic and one consultant suggests that this framework is a useful tool for implementing an effective EMS.
Practical implications – Each of the three phases of the framework provides a step-by-step approach and a sequential map towards a successful EMS implementation.
Originality/value – The framework has been developed from extensive fieldwork and has been validated by a group of “experts” which comprised of four industry practitioners, one management academic, and one EMS consultant. The framework provides a detailed understanding of the steps involved in the implementation, certification, and maintenance of EMS.

Methodological considerations in the measurement of institutional and structural forms of HIV discrimination

The systematic measurement of HIV/AIDS-related discrimination is imperative within the current rhetoric that holds discrimination as one of the two ‘biggest' barriers to HIV/AIDS pandemic intervention. This paper provides a methodological critique of the UNAIDS (2000b) Protocol for the Identification of Discrimination against People Living with HIV (the Protocol) . Specifically, the paper focuses on the Protocol's capacity to accurately identify and measure institutional levels of HIV-related discrimination that allows data that are reliable and comparable across time and contexts. Conceptual issues including the Protocol's objective as an indicator versus a direct measure of discrimination and the role of the Protocol as a tool of research versus a tool of advocacy are explored. Design issues such as the operationalization of discrimination, appropriateness of indicator content, sampling and data collection strategies and issues of scoring are also evaluated. It is hoped that the matters outlined will provide readers with ways of critically reflecting and evaluating the findings of the research papers presented in this Special Issue, as well as pointing to ways of improving research design.

Piloting the feasibility and effectiveness of print- and telephone-mediated interventions for promoting the adoption of physical activity in Australian adults

This study examined the feasibility and effectiveness for increasing physical activity of a print-based intervention, and a print- plus telephone-mediated intervention among mid-life and older Australian adults. A randomised controlled trial study design was used. In mid-2002, 66 adults (18 men, 48 women) aged 45–78 years, who identified themselves as underactive, were recruited through advertisements and word-of-mouth at two sites (Melbourne and Brisbane), and randomised to either the print or print-plus-telephone mediated intervention group. Participants in both groups attended an initial briefing session, and over the 12-week intervention period received an instructional newsletter and use of a pedometer (both groups), and individualised telephone calls (print-plus-telephone group only). Self-reported physical activity data were collected at baseline, 12 and 16 weeks. Measures of self-reported global physical activity, moderate-vigorous intensity activity and walking all showed increases between baseline and 12 weeks for both intervention groups. These increases were generally maintained by 16 weeks, although participants in the print-plus-telephone group maintained slightly higher levels of global reported activity and walking (by approximately 30 mins/wk) than those in the print group. These interventions show potential for promoting initial increases in physical activity among mid-life and older Australian adults, and should be evaluated across more extended time periods.

New institutional economics: it's nature, potential and the future

It is generally accepted that institutional problems have severely constrained development in many countries regardless of significant achievements in technology and other reforms. Both the Old and New Institutional Economics have relevance in understanding the lack of progress in many countries in Asia and Africa. Institutions generally refer to the "framework within which human interactions take place. Two major strands of NIE are the transaction costs and the collective action approach. The NIE implies that traditional rural institutions such as user groups, rotating credit and irrigation associations, interlinked credit etc. are institutions that have emerged in place of the market due to lower transactions costs. The successful management of common property resources such as water, forests, wetlands etc using local arrangements imply that institutions need to be interpreted in broader terms and the simple dichotomy of market or the government is too limited to understand the development process. New thinking is required in developing institutions that are structurally suited for management at the local level. Such an approach will have better chance to succeed compared to a process based upon the market.

Understanding consumer adoption of internet banking : an interpretive study in the Australian banking context

This paper reports key findings from an interpretive study of Australian banking consumer experiences with the adoption of internet banking. The paper provides an understanding of how and why specific factors affect the consumer decision whether or not to bank on the internet, in the Australian context. A theoretical framework is provided that conceptualizes and links consumer-oriented issues influencing adoption of internet banking. The paper also provides a set of recommendations for Australian banks. Specifically, the findings suggest that convenience is the main motivator for consumers to bank on the internet, while there is a range of other influential factors that may be modulated by banks. The findings also highlight increasing risk acceptance by consumers in regard to internet-based services and the growing importance of offering deep levels of consumer support for such services. Gender differences are also highlighted. Finally, the paper suggests that banks will be better able to manage consumer experiences with moving to internet banking if they understand that such experiences involve a process of adjustment and learning over time, and not merely the adoption of a new technology.

Stakeholder involvement in the EMS adoption process

This paper summarises the findings of the qualitative part of a large study aimed at exploring the extent of involvement of organisational stakeholders (employees and suppliers) during the environmental management system (EMS) adoption process. Interviews with nine senior/middle managers from Australian manufacturing and service organisations revealed the growing awareness of the impact of their products and processes on the ecological and social environments. Moreover, implementation of an EMS or waste management system (WMS) is accepted as a learning curve by both the organisation and its stakeholders, including its employees. Organisations at the same time are also contemplating the need for certifying their existing EMS against international standards such as ISO 14001 based on the cost-benefits resulting from the certification.

Adoption of the world wide web by traditional Australian media organisations

The aim of this paper is it to identify whether Australian media companies moved online with a clear business model in mind or in an ad-hoc manner. In-depth interviews were conducted with four Internet media managers from two large Australian media organisations. All four had been involved in Web publishing from its early stages and had extensive knowledge of the development of Web publishing in the industry. The interviews focused on the period around the mid 1990’s when the early development of the organisations’ websites took place. We also review an analytical approach of examining narratives from research interviews developed by Davidson (Davidson 1997) and Mishler (Mishler1986a, 1986b).

Using the juster scale to predict adoption of an innovative product

The Juster scale - a simple, self-reported measure of purchase probability, has been shown to be effective in predicting consumers' future purchasing behaviours. Purchase probability scales have often been shown to be better predictors of future behaviour than purchase intentions measures, the more widely used method. The vast majority of studies though have used the scale to predict the purchase of products or services the consumer is already familiar with. This research looks at how accurately the Juster scale can predict early adoption of an innovative new product prior to its’ launch. In a longitudinal study of market behaviour, these predictions are compared to actual adoption rates. The results show that there is only a moderate level of correlation between purchase probability scores and actual adoption behaviour, in both the short and long term, but they are better than intention measures. The main difficulty in predicting adoption behaviour seems to stem from consumers inability to foresee intervening situational factors, rather than inaccuracies in the probability scale itself.

Towards institution-wide online teaching and learning systems: trends, drivers and issues

Universities worldwide are consolidating and enhancing their commitments to various models of e-learning. These activities are leading to the adoption of corporate-wide e-learning systems, and accompanying changes in structures, processes and infrastructure requirements. The professed ideal is to identify narrowly defined corporate IT solutions which can deliver the full range of educational, administrative and student support features to meet the organisational need to expand e-learning activities globally. The trend seems to be away from locally driven and controlled IT development and adoption towards investments in Instructional Management Systems (IMS). In reality, however, universities generally are developing and using a broader array of solutions to meet their needs than may be deemed desirable under a more centralised, corporatised IT approach. This paper examines these trends by analysing the drivers shaping corporate approaches to IT implementation, and reflects critically on some of the educational, economic and organisational tensions and issues evident in institutional approaches to establishing such systems. The paper highlights the ongoing need for innovative, dynamic organisational solutions to progress the e-learning agenda, and the thoughtful reconciliation of centralised and decentralised approaches to achieving desired ends.