Regulating roles of the use of the balanced scorecard in shaping corporate identities

The literature on corporate identity management suggests that managing corporate identity is a strategically complex task embracing the shaping of a range of dimensions of organisational life. The performance measurement literature and its applications likewise now also emphasise organisational ability to incorporate various dimensions considering both financial and non-financial performance measures when assessing success. The inclusion of these soft non-financial measures challenges organisations to quantify intangible aspects of performance such as corporate identity, transforming unmeasurables into measurables. This paper explores the regulatory roles of the use of the balanced scorecard in shaping key dimensions of corporate identities in a public sector shared service provider in Australia. This case study employs qualitative interviews of senior managers and employees, secondary data and participant observation. The findings suggest that the use of the balanced scorecard has potential to support identity construction, as an organisational symbol, a communication tool of vision, and as strategy, through creating conversations that self-regulate behaviour. The development of an integrated performance measurement system, the balanced scorecard, becomes an expression of a desired corporate identity, and the performance measures and continuous process provide the resource for interpreting actual corporate identities. Through this process of understanding and mobilising the interaction, it may be possible to create a less obtrusive and more subtle way to control “what an organisation is”. This case study also suggests that the theoretical and practical fusion of the disciplinary knowledge around corporate identities and performance measurement systems could make a contribution to understanding and shaping corporate identities.

Experiential knowledge representation and the design of product usability

The topic of designers’ knowledge and how they conduct design process has been widely investigated in design research. Understanding theoretical and experiential knowledge in design has involved recognition of the importance of designers’ experience of experiencing, seeing, and absorbing ideas from the world as points of reference (or precedents) that are consulted whenever a design problem arises (Lawson, 2004). Hence, various types of design knowledge have been categorized (Lawson, 2004), and the nature of design knowledge continues to be studied (Cross, 2006); nevertheless, the study of the experiential aspects embedded in design knowledge is a topic not fully addressed. In particular there has been little emphasis on the investigation of the ways in which designers’ individual experience influences different types of design tasks. This research focuses on the investigation of the ways in which designers inform a usability design process. It aims to understand how designers design product usability, what informs their process, and the role their individual experience (and episodic knowledge) plays within the design process. This paper introduces initial outcomes from an empirical study involving observation of a design task that emphasized usability issues. It discusses the experiential knowledge observed in the visual representations (sketches) produced by designers as part of the design tasks. Through the use of visuals as means to represent experiential knowledge, this paper presents initial research outcomes to demonstrate how designers’ individual experience is integrated into design tasks and communicated within the design process. Initial outcomes demonstrate the influence of designers’ experience in the design of product usability. It is expected that outcomes will help identify the causal relationships between experience, context of use, and product usability, which will contribute to enhance our understanding about the design of user-product interactions.

Application of the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) in multi-criteria analysis of the selection of intelligent building systems

The availability of innumerable intelligent building (IB) products, and the current dearth of inclusive building component selection methods suggest that decision makers might be confronted with the quandary of forming a particular combination of components to suit the needs of a specific IB project. Despite this problem, few empirical studies have so far been undertaken to analyse the selection of the IB systems, and to identify key selection criteria for major IB systems. This study is designed to fill these research gaps. Two surveys: a general survey and the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) survey are proposed to achieve these objectives. The first general survey aims to collect general views from IB experts and practitioners to identify the perceived critical selection criteria, while the AHP survey was conducted to prioritize and assign the important weightings for the perceived criteria in the general survey. Results generally suggest that each IB system was determined by a disparate set of selection criteria with different weightings. ‘Work efficiency’ is perceived to be most important core selection criterion for various IB systems, while ‘user comfort’, ‘safety’ and ‘cost effectiveness’ are also considered to be significant. Two sub-criteria, ‘reliability’ and ‘operating and maintenance costs’, are regarded as prime factors to be considered in selecting IB systems. The current study contributes to the industry and IB research in at least two aspects. First, it widens the understanding of the selection criteria, as well as their degree of importance, of the IB systems. It also adopts a multi-criteria AHP approach which is a new method to analyse and select the building systems in IB. Further research would investigate the inter-relationship amongst the selection criteria.

In the mouth of the imagination : positioning children as co-researchers and co-artists to create a professional children's theatre production

In recent decades a number of Australian artists and teacher/artists have given serious attention to the creation of performance forms and performance engagement models that respect children’s intelligence, engage with themes of relevance, avoid the cliche´s of children’s theatre whilst connecting both sincerely and playfully with current understandings of the way in which young children develop and engage with the world. Historically a majority of performing arts companies touring Australian schools or companies seeking schools to view a performance in a dedicated performance venue engage with their audiences in what can be called a ‘drop-in drop-out’ model. A six-month practice-led research project (The Tashi Project) which challenged the tenets of the ‘drop-in drop-out’ model has been recently undertaken by Sandra Gattenhof and Mark Radvan in conjunction with early childhood students from three Brisbane primary school classrooms who were positioned as co-researchers and co-artists. The children, researchers and performers worked in a complimentary relationship in both the artistic process and the development of product.

Improvements to the design of Litesteel Beams undergoing lateral distortional buckling

An Australian manufacturer has recently developed an innovative group of cold-formed steel hollow flange sections, one of them is LiteSteel Beams (LSBs). The LSB sections are produced from thin and high strength steels by a patented manufacturing process involving simultaneous cold-forming and dual electric resistance welding. They have a unique geometry consisting of rectangular hollow flanges and a relatively slender web. The LSB flexural members are subjected to lateral distortional buckling effects and hence their capacities are reduced for intermediate spans. The current design rules for lateral distortional buckling were developed based on the lower bound of numerical and experimental results. The effect of LSB section geometry was not considered although it could influence the lateral distortional buckling performance. Therefore an accurate finite element model of LSB flexural members was developed and validated using experimental and finite strip analysis results. It was then used to investigate the effect of LSB geometry. The extensive moment capacity data thus developed was used to develop improved design rules for LSBs with one of them considering the LSB geometry effects through a modified slenderness parameter. The use of the new design rules gave higher lateral distortional buckling capacities for LSB sections with intermediate slenderness. The new design rule is also able to accurately predict the lateral distortional buckling moment capacities of other hollow flange beams (HFBs).

At breaking point? Challenges for Australian film policy through the lens of genre (horror) films

Cultural policy settings attempting to foster the growth and development of the Australian feature film industry in era of globalisation are coming under increasing pressure. Global forces and emerging production and distribution models are challenging the “narrowness” of cultural policy – mandating a particular film culture, circumscribing certain notions of value and limiting the variety of films produced through cultural policy driven subvention models. Australian horror film production is an important case study. Horror films are a production strategy well suited to the financial limitations of the Australian film industry with competitive advantages for producers against international competitors. However, emerging within a “national” cinema driven by public subsidy and social/cultural objectives, horror films – internationally oriented with a low-culture status – have been severely marginalised within public funding environments. This paper introduces Australian horror film production, and examines the limitations of cultural policy, and the impacts of these questions for the Producer Offset.

Discovering, applying and integrating: The process of learning in coaching

Professional coaching is a rapidly expanding field with interdisciplinary roots and broad application. However, despite abundant prescriptive literature, research into the process of coaching is minimal. Similarly, although learning is inherently recognised in the process of coaching, the process of learning in coaching is little understood and learning theory makes up only a small part of the evidence-based coaching literature. In this grounded theory study of coaches and their clients, the process of learning in coaching across a range of coaching models is examined and discussed. The findings demonstrate how learning in coaching emerged as a process of discovering, applying and integrating new knowledge, which culminated in a process of developing. This process occurred through eight key coaching processes shared between coaches and clients and combined a multitude of learning theories.

Fashion as consumer entrepreneurship : emergent risk culture, social network markets, and the launch of 'Vogue' in China

China has a reputation as an economy based on utility: the large-scale manufacture of low-priced goods. But useful values like functionality, fitness for purpose and efficiency are only part of the story. More important are what Veblen called ‘honorific’ values, arguably the driving force of development, change and value in any economy. To understand the Chinese economy therefore, it is not sufficient to point to its utilitarian aspect. Honorific status-competition is a more fundamental driver than utilitarian cost-competition. We argue that ‘social network markets’ are the expression of these honorific values, relationships and connections that structure and coordinate individual choices. This paper explores how such markets are developing in China in the area of fashion and fashion media. These, we argue, are an expression of ‘risk culture’ for high-end entrepreneurial consumers and producers alike, providing a stimulus to dynamic innovation in the arena of personal taste and comportment, as part of an international cultural system based on constant change. We examine the launch of Vogue China in 2005, and China’s reception as a fashion player among the international editions of Vogue, as an expression of a ‘decisive moment’ in the integration of China into an international social network market based on honorific values.

The influences of conceptions of learning and learner self-concept on high school students' approaches to learning

This study investigated the mediating effect of learner selfconcept between conceptions of learning and students' approaches to learning using structural equation modelling. Data were collected using a modified version of Biggs' Learning Process Questionnaire, together with the recently developed 'What is Learning Survey' and 'Learner Self-Concept Scale'. A sample of 355 high school students participated in the study. Results indicate that learner self-concept does mediate between conceptions of meaning and approaches to learning. Students who adopted a deep approach liked learning new things and indirectly viewed learning as experiential, involving social interaction and directly viewed learning as personal development. Implications for teachers are discussed, with consideration given to appropriate classroom practice.

Social justice and high-quality human services : visioning the place of a contemporary professional association

The current world situation is plagued by “wicked problems” and a widespread sense of “things are going to get worse”. We confront the almost imponderable consequences of global habitat destruction and climate change, as well as the meltdown of the financial markets with their largely yet to be seen damage to the “real economy”. These things will have considerable negative impacts on the social system and people's lives, particularly the disadvantaged and socially excluded, and require innovative policy and program responses delivered by caring, intelligent, and committed practitioners. These gargantuan issues put into perspective the difficulties that confront social, welfare, and community work today. Yet, in times of trouble, social work and human services tend to do well. For example, although Australian Social Workers and Welfare and Community Workers have experienced phenomenal job growth over the past 5 years, they also have good prospects for future growth and above average salaries in the seventh and sixth deciles, respectively (Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations, 2008). I aim to examine the host of reasons why the pursuit of social justice and high-quality human services is difficult to attain in today's world and then consider how the broadly defined profession of social welfare practitioners may collectively take action to (a) respond in ways that reassert our role in compassionately assisting the downtrodden and (b) reclaim the capacity to be a significant body of professional expertise driving social policy and programs. For too long social work has responded to the wider factors it confronts through a combination of ignoring them, critiquing from a distance, and concentrating on the job at hand and our day-to-day responsibilities. Unfortunately, “holding the line” has proved futile and, little by little, the broad social mandate and role of social welfare has altered until, currently, most social programs entail significant social surveillance of troublesome or dangerous groups, rather than assistance. At times it almost seems like the word “help” has been lost in the political and managerial lexicon, replaced by “manage” and “control”. Our values, beliefs, and ethics are under real threat as guiding principles for social programs.

Retrospectivity and the rule of law

This book analyses and refines the arguments for and against retrospective rule making, concluding that there is one really strong argument against it: the expectation that, if an individual's actions are considered by a future court, the legal consequences of that action will be determined by the law that was discoverable at the time the action was performed. This argument, which goes to the heart of the rule of law, is generally determinative. However, in some cases the argument does not run and this book suggests that, in some areas of law, reliance should be actively discouraged by prospective warnings that the law is subject to change.

Improving the management of building life cycle : a data mining approach

The construction industry has adapted information technology in its processes in terms of computer aided design and drafting, construction documentation and maintenance. The data generated within the construction industry has become increasingly overwhelming. Data mining is a sophisticated data search capability that uses classification algorithms to discover patterns and correlations within a large volume of data. This paper presents the selection and application of data mining techniques on maintenance data of buildings. The results of applying such techniques and potential benefits of utilising their results to identify useful patterns of knowledge and correlations to support decision making of improving the management of building life cycle are presented and discussed.