At the limits : postcolonial and hyperreal translations of Australian poetry

This dissertation employs the methodologies of postcolonial theory and hyperreal theory (following Baudrillard), in order to investigate articulations of identity, nation and representation in contemporary Australian poetry. Informed by a comparative analysis of contemporary Latin American poetry and cultural theory (in translation), as a means of re-examining the Australian context, this dissertation develops a new transnational model of Australian poetics. The central thesis of this dissertation is that contemporary Australian poetry engages with the postcolonial at its limits. That is, at those sites of postcoloniality that are already mapped by theory, but also at those that occur beyond postcolonial theory. The hyperreal is understood as one such limit, traceable within the poetry but silenced in conventional postcolonial theory. As another limit to the postcolonial, this dissertation reads Latin American poetry and theory, in whose texts postcolonial theory is actively resisted, but where postcolonial and hyperreal poetics nevertheless intersect. The original critical context constructed by this dissertation enables a new set of readings of Australian identity through its poetry. Within this new interpretative context, the readings of contemporary Australian poetry articulate a psycho-social postcoloniality; offer a template for future transactions between national poetry and global politics; and develop a model of the postcolonial hyperreal.

Born of fire, possessed by darkness : mysticism and Australian poetry

This dissertation is structured around five Australian mystical poets: Ada Cambridge, John Shaw Neilson, Francis Webb, Judith Wright and Kevin Hart. It examines the varieties of Western Christian mysticism upon which these poets draw, or with which they exhibit affinities. A short prelude section to each chapter considers the thematic parallels of their contemporaries, while the final chapter critically investigates constructions of Indigeneity in Australian mystical poetry and the renegotiated mystical poetics of Indigenous poets and theologians. The central argument of this dissertation is that an understanding of Western Christian mysticism is essential to the study of Australian poetry. There are three sub-arguments: firstly, that Australian literary criticism regarding the mystical largely avoids the concept of mysticism as a shifting notion both historically and in the present; secondly, that what passes for mysticism is recurringly subject to poorly defined constructions of mysticism as well as individual poets’ use of the mystical for personal, creative or ideological purposes; thirdly, that in avoiding the concept of a shifting notion critics have ignored the increasing contribution of Australian poets to national and international discourses of mysticism.

Using competencies in human resource management : case studies in Australian companies

This study investigated the use of competencies for human resource management in seven Australian companies. Despite advocacy for the use of competencies by Government Committees and Task Forces (For example Carmichael (1992), Mayer, (1992) and Karpin, 1995), and the existence of competency standards for eighty per cent of the Australian workforce, the competency approach has not been widely adopted. A review of the literature indicated that the term competency had several meanings with different implications for its use depending on the meaning. The study looked at how individuals have defined the term and applied the approach to human resource management practices. Interviews were conducted with Human Resource and Training managers, and operative staff in companies using competencies. How they defined the term, described the rationale for using competencies, and applied competencies to selection, training, performance appraisal and remuneration were determined. Case studies were written for each company to describe their particular application of competencies. Competencies were found to be defined in several ways by those interviewed. Some advantages of using competencies in human resource management applications were found. The amount of work involved in introducing the competency approach was described as a reason why competencies have not been more widely adopted.

Codes of ethics in large private sector Australian businesses

This thesis deals with codes of ethics in the top 500 companies operating in the private sector in Australia. We seek to answer two questions. First, can businesses adopt codes of ethics in a meaningful way, or are business ethics a contradiction in terms for profit seeking organisations in competitive markets? Second, to what extent do Australia’s top 500 private sector firms show commitment to codes of ethics? A number of ancillary questions are explored to form a picture of the current Australian situation and to compare it to the rest of the world, especially the US and Canada. Chapter 1 discusses these questions and the origins of the author’s interest in business ethics. This chapter develops a focus upon codes of ethics and their role in assisting to establish and maintain an ethical culture. The chapter looks at previous research on codes of ethics and demonstrates a lack of understanding in Australia on the subject and the need for research into it. Also included in Chapter 1 is the plan for the thesis. Chapters 2 to 4 review the literature upon which the thesis is based. In Chapter 2, the meaning of the terms ethics and business ethics are considered. Deontological and teleological approaches are distinguished and a (largely) teleological model of business ethics is developed. This chapter also asks whether business ethics are possible. The contention that ethics may be good for a business’s profit is explored in-depth and the conclusion is reached that ethics should be pursued for its inherent worth regardless of the economic benefit that can be attributed to it. A number of models of ethical decision making are discussed in Chapter 3 starting with Kohlberg and Kramer (1969). This discussion leads to the conclusion that organisations must create an ethical culture for staff if they require them to embrace ethical practices. If this is a correct conclusion, then the role of senior managers becomes critical in the process. Chapter 4 looks further at the role of senior managers, organisational culture and ethical/unethical behaviour in organisations. The conclusion is that senior managers do play an integral part in shaping the culture of an organisation. Their actions, either overtly or covertly, impact upon their staff and highlight behaviour that the organisation is or is not willing to tolerate. Sims (1991) proposed ten ways to foster an ethical culture and these ideas are set out and further explored through the work of other writers on management ethics. Finally, the link between ethics and strategic planning is examined. In Chapter 5 the methods used for empirical data gathering are described and justified. A number of factors that can lead us to consider a company’s ‘commitment’ to ethics are outlined. A survey of Australian companies was the primary means of data collection. Each question in the survey instrument is listed and explained. Also the survey response rate is reported, as are major demographic characteristics of respondents. Chapter 6 provides the research findings from the survey of the top 500 companies operating in the private sector in Australia. The research examines: i) the current Australian usage and implementation of codes of ethics; ii) the measures put in place in organisations in order to support a code; From this analysis conclusions are drawn about the ‘commitment’ of companies operating in Australia to codes of ethics. Australian companies are becoming aware of the potential of code usage. Companies operating in Australia that have codes appear to be good at implementing codes and examining staff performance in relation to codes. However, they lack the procedures that incorporate education and training and the implementation of the support mechanisms necessary to enhance employee understanding of the code. In Chapter 7, Australian codes are compared to American and Canadian codes for similarity and disparity. The assessment found that in all three countries codes are primarily concerned with company continuance. Australian codes do tend to be more socially oriented than in the other two countries and also less legalistic. Chapter 8 looks at 4 companies from the first survey that were asked for more in-depth information in a quest to determine current best practice in Australia. These organisations were chosen because they appeared, from the first survey instrument, to have put in place mechanisms to assist employees to better understand the code. The implication is that companies must make a conscious, positive effort to ensure that employees are considered in the process of ethical development. They should have input into the process, rather than just being directed to follow another management initiative. The final chapter summarises the research findings and looks at answers to the two major questions and the seven subordinate empirical questions posed at the start of the thesis. The conclusion reached is that companies operating in Australia appear to be moving towards establishing codes of ethics. Those who already have codes display a real commitment to them. The movement appears to be gathering momentum as more organisations see the value of incorporating ethical business practices into the every day workings of their individual companies. Generally, most Australian companies lag behind the rest of the world, but the pace-setting companies are defining their own best practice and achieving positive outcomes for themselves, their employees and other stakeholders.

Assessing the strain experienced by managers and professional Australian footballers using an augmented job strain model

Generic models of job stress, such as the Job Strain Model (JSM), have recently been criticised for focusing on a small number of general work characteristics while ignoring those that are occupation-specific (Sparks & Cooper, 1999). However this criticism is based on limited research that has not examined the relative influence of all three dimensions of the JSM - job demand, job control and social support - and job-specific stressors. The JSM is the most commonly used model underpinning large-scale occupational stress research (Fox, Dwyer, & Ganster, 1993) and is regarded as the most influential model in the research on the psycho-social work environment, stress and disease in recent times (Kristensen, 1995). This thesis addresses the lack of information on the relative influence of the JSM and job-specific stressors by assessing the capacity of an augmented JSM to predict the strain experienced by managers and professional Australian footballers. The augmented JSM consisted of job-specific stressors in addition to the generic components of the model. Managers and professional Australian footballers represent two very different occupational groups. While the day-today roles of a manager include planning, organising, monitoring and controlling (Carroll & Gillen, 1987), the working life of a professional Australian footballer revolves around preparing for and playing football (Shanahan, 1998). It was expected that the large differences in the work undertaken by managers and professional Australian footballers would maximise the opportunities for identifying job-specific stressors and measuring the extent that these vary from one group to the next. The large disparity between managers and professional footballers was also used to assess the cross-occupational versatility of the JSM when it had been augmented by job-specific stressors. This thesis consisted of three major studies. Study One involved a survey of Australian managers, while studies Two and Three focused on professional Australian footballers. The latter group was under-represented in the literature, and as a result of the lack of information on the stressors commonly experienced by this group, an in-depth qualitative study was undertaken in Study Two. The results from Study Two then informed the survey of professional footballers that was conducted in Study Three. Contrary to previous research examining the relative influence of generic and job-specific stressors, the results only provided moderate support for augmenting the JSM with job-specific stressors. Instead of supporting the versatility of the augmented JSM, the overall findings reinforced the broad relevance of the original JSM. Of the four health outcomes measured in Studies One and Three, there was only one - the psychological health of professional Australian footballers - where the proportion of total variance explained by job-specific stressors exceeded 13%. Despite the generally strong performance of the JSM across the two occupational groups, the importance of demand, control and support diminished when examining the less conventional occupation of professional football. The generic model was too narrow to capture the highly specific work characteristics that are important for this occupational group and, as a result, the job-specific stressors explained significantly more of the strain over and above that already provided by the generic model. These findings indicate that when investigating the stressors experienced by conventional occupational groups such as managers, the large amount resources required to identify job-specific stressors are unlikely to be cost-effective. In contrast, the influence of the more situation specific stressors is significantly greater in unconventional occupations and thus the benefits of identifying these non-generic stressors are more likely to outweigh the costs. Studies One and Three identified strong connections between job-specific stressors and important characteristics of the occupation being studied. These connections were consistent with previous research and suggest that before attempting to identify job-specific stressors, researchers need to first become familiar with the nature and context of the occupation. The final issue addressed in this thesis was the role of work and non-work support. The findings indicate that the support provided by supervisors and colleagues was a significant predictor of wellbeing for both managers and professional footballers. In contrast, the level of explained strain accounted for by non-work support was not significant. These results indicate that when developing strategies to protect and enhance employee well-being, particular attention should be given to monitoring and, where necessary, boosting the effectiveness of work-based support. The findings from this thesis have been fed back to the management and sporting communities via conference presentations and peer-reviewed journals (refer pp 220-221). All three studies have been presented at national and international conferences and, overall, were well received by participants. Similarly, the methods, results and major findings arising from Studies One and Two have been critiqued by anonymous reviewers from two international journals. These papers have been accepted for publication in 2001 and 2002 and feedback from the reviewers indicates that the findings represent a significant and unique contribution to the literature. The results of Study Three are currently under review by a sports psychology journal.

Evaluation of Australian undergraduate engineering management education for flexible delivery

This thesis examines issues in Australian undergraduate engineering management studies in the context of flexible learning delivery. It is proposed that, within an Australian context: a) the management skills and competencies required by graduate engineers can be determined and classified on a rational basis, permitting an educational focus on those elements most appropriate for graduates; and b) on-line and other computer-based technologies are a practical and effective method for the support of undergraduate engineering management studies. The doctoral project incorporates: • an examination of the nature of engineering management; • a review of the relevant literature establishing the importance of management studies in undergraduate engineering courses; • a review of historical and recent developments in Australian undergraduate engineering management studies; • an investigation of the management skills and competencies required by graduate engineers - based on original research; • an examination of flexible delivery of engineering education - based on professional practice experience; and • an evaluation of case studies of flexible delivery of engineering management education - based on original research and professional practice experience. A framework of ranked classified management skills is developed. Broadly, the ranking framework is generic professional skills, followed by general management skills and technical discipline specific management skills, followed by other professional discipline skills and theoretical skills. This framework provides a rational basis for design of undergraduate engineering management studies. This is supplemented by consideration of the management skills required for the future of engineering practice. It is concluded that undergraduate engineering management education is well suited to delivery and support by on-line and computer-based technology. Recent developments in improved access to the Internet, software systems for on-line collaboration and changes in copyright legislation to create a broad-based right to communication via on-line media have contributed to the facilitation of on-line delivery of teaching and learning. It is noted that though many on-line infrastructure issues have been satisfactorily resolved, higher level issues will emerge as being crucial, including the academic staff development and reward for operating in an online teaching environment and the financial sustainability of on-line development and delivery of courses.

The construction of the racially different indigenous offender

The over‐representation and increased growth of Indigenous offenders in all Western criminal justice systems is longstanding and undeniable. In 2006 Victoria’s Koori offenders were 12 times more likely to be sentenced to a custodial or community sanction than non‐Koori people. Similarly, in New Zealand, Maori men account for 50 percent of the prison population but only 12.5 percent of the general population. Yet, it was not until the 1990s that the issues of Indigenous over‐representation or expanding Indigenous offender populations began to be presented as a problem within the correctional literature. This paper will explore the parameters of these ‘problems’, and present the following three arguments: (1) the issues of over‐representation was constructed within the correctional literature as a symptom of the different nature of Indigenous offending; (2) the different nature of Indigenous offending was in turn constructed as a problem of race; and (3) this construction of Indigenous offending is consistent with the contemporary constitution of mainstream offending behaviour. In concluding, this paper will discuss the implications of the emergence and sustained production of this figure of the Indigenous offender in relation to the capacity of criminologists to reconceptualise Indigenous offending.

Staff perceptions of the implementation of enterprise resource planning systems in three Australian universities

This chapter reports a study that examined the staff perceptions of the implementation of an Enterprise Resource Planning system (ERPs) in three Australian universities. The literature on issues impacting on effective Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) implementations identified a number of issues that translate from the corporate sector to the higher education sector and included a number that require particular focus in this sector. Case study methodology is used to examine the staff perceptions of the management of ERP implementations in three Australian universities in the process of implementing ERP systems. The study was conducted in two phases. The first phase of the study obtained data through a series of focus groups at one university and, combined with an analysis of the relevant literature served as a framework for the development of the research process in the second phase of the study. This phase involved in depth interviews with staff that enabled the researcher to undertake a more detailed exploration of the staff perceptions of influences affecting ERP system implementations at three Australian universities. This chapter reports that staff perceptions of the process of ERP implementations are central to their efficacious implementations in Australian universities. Staff perceptions demonstrate that particular consideration of organisational influences related to their context and the perceptions of the users of the systems must be factored into the planning for ERP implementations in Universities.

New product development process in the Australian grocery market

Examines current literature on new product development, addresses key issues in the Australian grocery market, evaluates existing processes, identifies success factors and provides the Australian grocery organisations with the optimum new product development model.

Babylonia : reconfiguring the Australian political novel in the 'postfeminist', 'postmodern', 'postcolonial' era

The thesis comprises the comic novel "Babylonia", set in the Northern Territory, the Middle East and the United States in August 1990 after the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, and the accompanying exegesis that links "Babylonia" to selected Australian fiction and to political and cultural concerns of the current era.

(Queer) Deleuzean readings of desire in Australian young adult fiction

This thesis analyses the representation of adolescent girls' friendships in Australian young adult fiction. Through Deleuzean philosophy, the relationships between girls are read as spaces of empowering and unbounded passions which defy binarised distinctions and categorisations. The analysis of these fictional relationships disentangles desire from psychoanalytic lack and uncovers its productivity.