Managing climate change ‘by the numbers’ in a UK energy company

This paper examines how ideas and practices of accounting come together in turning the abstract concept of climate change into a new non-financial performance measure in a large energy company in the UK. It develops the notion of ‘governmental management’ to explain how the firm’s carbon dioxide emissions were transformed into a new organisational object that could be made quantifiable, measureable and ultimately manageable because of the modern power of accounting in tying disciplinary subjectivities and objectivities together whilst operating simultaneously at the level of individual and the organisation. Examining these interrelations highlights the constitutive nature of accounting in creating not just new categories for accounting’s attention, but in turn new organisational knowledge and knowledge experts in the making up accounting for climate change. Significantly, it appears these new knowledge experts are no longer accountants: which may help explain accounting’s evolution into evermore spheres of influence as we increasingly choose to manage our world ‘by the numbers’.

LeaD-In : a cultural change model for peer review of teaching in higher education

Peer review of teaching is recognized increasingly as one strategy for academic development even though historically peer review of teaching is often unsupported by policy, action and culture in many Australian universities. Higher education leaders report that academics generally do not engage with peer review of teaching in a systematic or constructive manner, and this paper advances and analyses a conceptual model to highlight conditions and strategies necessary for the implementation of sustainable peer review in higher education institutions. The model highlights leadership, development and implementation, which are critical to the success and formation of a culture of peer review of teaching. The work arises from collaborative research funded by the Office for Learning and Teaching to foster and advance a culture of peer review of teaching across several universities in Australia.

Great Expectations : stability and change in English teaching : the teacher as chameleon

Curriculum is always in a state of flux and so often the moves to ‘reform’ it are political rather than pedagogical. So often in these days of accountability we focus on the learner. I want to focus on the teacher in this presentation. As English educators we have to ‘fit’ whatever new policy model comes our way. The Australian curriculum seems to have tried to please every stakeholder in its process and as such has been formed without a single, unifying coherent theoretical basis. How do we challenge this paper tiger? We have to find the pedagogical models within the current framework and see what still works in practice. At the chalk-face there are still teaching, learning and assessment practices in English surviving from the last few decades of pedagogical change; and there is also room for accommodating new practices. Embracing and adapting the old and the new may be the key to staying creative and passionately engaged with our subject area.

Management accounting change in a subsidiary organisation

Parent–subsidiary relationships are commonplace nowadays, yet surprisingly there is a paucity of research analysing their dynamics over time. This paper presents a (longitudinal) case study, illuminating the dynamics implicated when a UK chemicals company imposed its systems and rules on a new subsidiary. Drawing on observations from a longitudinal case study (from 1993 to 2001), the study considers: (1) the extent to which a parent imposes its (management accounting) systems,rules and procedures on a subsidiary; (2) the role which (local) political, cultural and institutional factors in a subsidiary play in shaping the dynamics of such change implementation; (3) how new systems and practices become accepted and take root as values and beliefs and how they supplement earlier norms? The study provides insight for the questions above, and draws on institutional theories and a power mobilisation framework to assist in the interpretation of observations. We find that the operations of the subsidiary company are influenced by inter-related forces, both inside and outside the organisation encompassing issues of power, politics and culture. As such, existing institutions in a subsidiary organisation are influenced, sustained, and changed by the socio-economic context in which the subsidiary is located. Organisational practices designed to secure external legitimacy are not however always symbolic and decoupled from internal operations

Language change in socially structured populations

Language contact is a significant external social factor that impacts on the change in natural languages over time. In some circumstances this corresponds to language competition, in which individuals in a population choose one language over another based on their social interactions. We investigated the dynamics of language change in two initially separate populations of agents that were then mixed with levels of influence determined by the social classes of the two populations, with 16 different combinations tested. As expected, the study found that how the communities interact with each other impacts on the communal language developed. However, it was also found that the acquisition of new words was substantial even with limited interaction between populations and low levels of influence, and that comprehension could be well established across language groups even when production of words from the other language group was low.

Corporate governance in 2010 : what will change?

2010 is expected to see the publication of a new UK Code on Corporate Governance, replacing the Combined Code. Why is a new code being issued? What significant changes are proposed? WIll it change the corporate governance world?

Caribbean schooling and the social divide – what will it take to change neo-colonial education systems?

When Professor N’Dri Assie-Lumumba asked me to reflect on what ‘ubuntu’ might mean in the context of education in the Caribbean, the first thing that came to mind was an image of pit latrines in impoverished primary schools in poor countries. In this essay, I argue that the continuing problem of pit latrines in these schools symbolizes the failure to solve the problem of poverty, neglect and inadequate provision of education services for people at the bottom rungs of Caribbean and other decolonising societies. I ask what implications the ‘ubuntu’ concept chosen for the 2015 CIES conference would have for reforming education in a direction that combines global reform, ethics and good sense. Educators rarely consider toilets when they are thinking about what is needed to reform the system. But talking about toilets draws attention to the entrenched inequity that persists in education systems across the globe – an inequity that forces many schools and young people to remain at the base of the social pyramid, and that perpetuates a dysfunctional model of education holding back many societies. Starting from the twin images of social pyramids and toilets, we can ask some pointed questions about education reform.

Change in walking for transport : a longitudinal study of the influence of neighbourhood disadvantage and individual-level socioeconomic position in mid-aged adults

Background Unlike leisure time physical activity, knowledge of the socioeconomic determinants of active transport is limited, research on this topic has produced mixed and inconsistent findings, and it remains unknown if peoples’ engagement in active transport declines as they age. This longitudinal study examined relationships between neighbourhood disadvantage, individual-level socioeconomic position and walking for transport (WfT) during mid- and early old-age (40 – 70 years). Three questions were addressed: (i) which socioeconomic groups walk for transport, (ii) does the amount of walking change over time as people age, and (iii) is the change socioeconomically patterned? Methods The data come from the HABITAT study of physical activity, a bi-annual multilevel longitudinal survey of 11,036 residents of 200 neighbourhoods in Brisbane, Australia. At each wave (2007, 2009 and 2011) respondents estimated the duration (minutes) of WfT in the previous 7 days. Neighbourhood disadvantage was measured using a census-derived index comprising 17 different socioeconomic components, and individual-level socioeconomic position was measured using education, occupation, and household income. The data were analysed using multilevel mixed-effects logistic and linear regression. Results The odds of being defined as a ‘never walker’ were significantly lower for residents of disadvantaged neighbourhoods, but significantly higher for the less educated, blue collar employees, and members of lower income households. WfT declined significantly over time as people aged and the declines were more precipitous for older persons. Average minutes of WfT declined for all neighbourhoods and most socioeconomic groups; however, the declines were steeper for the retired and members of low income households. Conclusions Designing age-friendly neighbourhoods might slow or delay age-related declines in WfT and should be a priority. Steeper declines in WfT among residents of low income households may reflect their poorer health status and the impact of adverse socioeconomic exposures over the life course. Each of these declines represents a significant challenge to public health advocates, urban designers, and planners in their attempts to keep people active and healthy in their later years of life.

Social network resilience following organisational change

This paper presents two key findings from a longitudinal study examining the dynamics of social networks during organisational change. One, the degree to which users seek new sources of information while adapting to the change. Two, the degree to which social networks display structural resilience when undergoing significant structural and technological change. Users reported an increase in advice ties post-implementation, however a proportionally higher increase in ties within their work group compared to the wider network was identified. The results also supported the supposition that while IT driven change may initially disrupt social networks some networks possess a high degree of resilience, with key players reasserting their original positions of influence following the initial phase of change related disruption.

Hydrological consequences of land-cover change: Quantifying the influence of plants on soil moisture with time-lapse electrical resistivity

Electrical resistivity of soils and sediments is strongly influenced by the presence of interstitial water. Taking advantage of this dependency, electrical-resistivity imaging (ERI) can be effectively utilized to estimate subsurface soil-moisture distributions. The ability to obtain spatially extensive data combined with time-lapse measurements provides further opportunities to understand links between land use and climate processes. In natural settings, spatial and temporal changes in temperature and porewater salinity influence the relationship between soil moisture and electrical resistivity. Apart from environmental factors, technical, theoretical, and methodological ambiguities may also interfere with accurate estimation of soil moisture from ERI data. We have examined several of these complicating factors using data from a two-year study at a forest-grassland ecotone, a boundary between neighboring but different plant communities.At this site, temperature variability accounts for approximately 20-45 of resistivity changes from cold winter to warm summer months. Temporal changes in groundwater conductivity (mean=650 S/cm =57.7) and a roughly 100-S/cm spatial difference between the forest and grassland had only a minor influence on the moisture estimates. Significant seasonal fluctuations in temperature and precipitation had negligible influence on the basic measurement errors in data sets. Extracting accurate temporal changes from ERI can be hindered by nonuniqueness of the inversion process and uncertainties related to time-lapse inversion schemes. The accuracy of soil moisture obtained from ERI depends on all of these factors, in addition to empirical parameters that define the petrophysical soil-moisture/resistivity relationship. Many of the complicating factors and modifying variables to accurately quantify soil moisture changes with ERI can be accounted for using field and theoretical principles.

Burden of decompensated cirrhosis and ascites on hospital services in a tertiary care facility: time for change?

Background Ascites, the most frequent complication of cirrhosis, is associated with poor prognosis and reduced quality of life. Recurrent hospital admissions are common and often unplanned, resulting in increased use of hospital services. Aims To examine use of hospital services by patients with cirrhosis and ascites requiring paracentesis, and to investigate factors associated with early unplanned readmission. Methods A retrospective review of the medical chart and clinical databases was performed for patients who underwent paracentesis between October 2011 and October 2012. Clinical parameters at index admission were compared between patients with and without early unplanned hospital readmissions. Results The 41 patients requiring paracentesis had 127 hospital admissions, 1164 occupied bed days and 733 medical imaging services. Most admissions (80.3%) were for management of ascites, of which 41.2% were unplanned. Of those eligible, 69.7% were readmitted and 42.4% had an early unplanned readmission. Twelve patients died and nine developed spontaneous bacterial peritonitis. Of those eligible for readmission, more patients died (P = 0.008) and/or developed spontaneous bacterial peritonitis (P = 0.027) if they had an early unplanned readmission during the study period. Markers of liver disease, as well as haemoglobin (P = 0.029), haematocrit (P = 0.024) and previous heavy alcohol use (P = 0.021) at index admission, were associated with early unplanned readmission. Conclusion Patients with cirrhosis and ascites comprise a small population who account for substantial use of hospital services. Markers of disease severity may identify patients at increased risk of early readmission. Alternative models of care should be considered to reduce unplanned hospital admissions, healthcare costs and pressure on emergency services.