Culture change in elite sport performance teams: Examining and advancing effectiveness in the new era

Reflecting the importance of optimizing culture for elite teams, Fletcher and Arnold (2011) recently suggested the need for expertise in culture change. Acknowledging the dearth of literature on the specific process, however, the potential effectiveness of practitioners in this area is unknown. The present paper examines the activity's precise demands and the validity of understanding in sport psychology and organizational research to support its delivery. Recognizing that sport psychologists are being increasingly utilized by elite team management, initial evidence-based guidelines are presented. Finally, to stimulate the development of ecologically valid, practically meaningful knowledge, the paper identifies a number of future research directions

Amalgamating Critical Thinking and Online Communication

Critical thinking as a product of student work involves analysis, interpretation, and problem solving to create new thought. There are gradations of critical thinking that score higher than others, though we consider all of them to be important towards development. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship among reading, writing, discourse, and reflection, and its impact on critical thinking. The researcher analyzed processes where students participated in activities that allowed for the development and demonstration of critical thinking skills. This mixed methods study was conducted in a Mid-western school district with eighth grade students for the duration of one school year. It examined how students engaged in critical thinking through online written discourse. Students shared their ideas about a topic in synchronous formats. Data sources included typed online student conversations, surveys, rubric scores, and interviews with students. Based upon the data collected from the study, this research recommends providing students with opportunities to research, analyze, interpret, and share their understandings of what they study. Furthermore, student participation --as a part of the design process within learning opportunities-- is essential for developing critical thought

The Stock Market, the Market for Corporate Control and the Theory of the Firm: Legal and Economic Perspectives and Implications for Public Policy

It is argued here that - contrary to current conventional wisdom - an active market for corporate control is not an essential ingredient of either company law reform or financial and economic development. The absence of such a market in coordinated market systems during their modern economic development was not an evolutionary deficit, but an effective and positive institutional arrangement. The economic and social costs associated with restructuring driven by hostile takeover bids, which are increasingly seen as prohibitive in the liberal market economies, would most likely harm the prospects for growth in developing and transition systems.takeovers, market for corporate control, varieties of capitalism

What is Meant by Freedom?

In 1955, in a neglected article in the Harvard Law Review entitled Freedom—A Suggested Analysis, Lon L. Fuller provided a framework for the basic definition of freedom. More importantly, he tendered a question about the conditions of a free society: “How can the freedom of human beings be affected or advanced by social arrangements, that is, by laws, customs, institutions, or other forms of social order that can be changed or preserved by purposive human actions?” This is the critical question this Article addresses through constructing a comprehensive definition by first, considering etymology and then establishing the various modalities in which freedom operates. These modalities include the space defined by the rule of law and various antithetical non-rule-of-law states, the role of democracy and representative government in disparate levels of society, the importance of rights as trumps on power, and the challenges posed by social justice. Finally, Fuller’s question raises the issue of “laws, customs, institutions [and] other forms of social order,” all of which luminaries such as John Stuart Mill saw as unfortunate, but necessary, evils when considering freedom. Rather than necessary evils, this article will consider the productive role ascribed to law and institutions by Scott Shapiro, who views law as a form of social planning that effectuates choices, thus enhancing freedom

Contemporary employer interest representation in the United Kingdom

Focussing on employers’ organisations in the United Kingdom, this article contributes to the literature on employer interest representation by advancing three interrelated arguments, which reflect how the methods, structure and interests of employer representation have evolved. First, the primary method of collective interest representation has shifted from collective bargaining, nowadays only pursued by a minority of employers’ organisations, to political representation, now the most frequent form of collective interest representation. Second, the structure of employer interest representation has evolved and is fragmented between a small number of large, general employers’ organisations, a large majority of sectoral employers’ organisations, regional interest representation in the devolved nations, which has become more important, and a new type of employer body, the employer forum, which focusses on corporate social responsibility. Third, the shift in collective interest representation is complemented by a broadening of individual interest representation, with employers’ organisations having developed a wide range of services

Amalgamating tribunals: a recipe for optimal reform

The last decade has seen numerous proposals to reform existing tribunal systems in jurisdictions throughout the common law world. Across the board, there have been proposals to adopt generalist tribunal models in preference to smaller, specialist tribunal systems, and to achieve these changes through the process of amalgamation. The most significant recent developments to occur in Australia have taken place in Victoria and NSW during the past five years. Legislators in these States have chosen to amalgamate a number of smaller, specialist tribunals into larger, generalist bodies. In 1997 the NSW Parliament passed legislation amalgamating a number of specialist tribunals to create the Administrative Decisions Tribunal (ADT); comparable legislation was passed in Victoria in 1998 to create the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT). There were concurrent attempts to implement similar reforms at federal level. In 1998 the Commonwealth government announced its intention to amalgamate four Commonwealth merits review tribunals to form one �super Tribunal� � the Administrative Review Tribunal (ART). The Bills containing these proposals were ultimately defeated in the Senate, however the Australian Government remains convinced of the benefits of amalgamation at federal level. Similar reforms have been proposed in Western Australia, Tasmania and the United Kingdom. This thesis argues that these reforms are taking place in the absence of data about their likely implications, and without a thorough understanding of the objectives that generalist versus specialist tribunal systems can realistically achieve. This ill-considered or �over-hasty� trend towards amalgamation raises a number of questions which have not previously been addressed in academic or policy-making circles. An obvious question is whether or not an amalgamated tribunal model is more effective than a series of smaller, specialised tribunals in delivering administrative justice, in other words, whether there is any net gain to be had from a government�s decision to amalgamate. The less explored, but equally important, question addressed in this thesis is how the process of amalgamation should be approached in order to realise the maximum potential benefits that an amalgamated tribunal can bring. That is, to ask what are the ingredients of an optimal amalgamation. This is not a question about whether government decisions to pursue amalgamation are intrinsically worthwhile or beneficial for stakeholders. Rather, it is about how government decisions to amalgamate should best be implemented. This thesis proposes a way of differentiating between good and bad amalgamations, that is grounded in theory and informed by experience to date. The proposed approach is to assess the effectiveness of amalgamation processes using relevant measures drawn from an analysis of organisational theory literature: � Legislation � the legislation establishing an amalgamated tribunal needs to ensure the tribunal will have appropriate independence, powers, processes, membership and structure. � Political commitment � those responsible for proposing and planning an amalgamation need to provide appropriate funding and support for the process and for the establishment of an autonomous, self-directed tribunal. � Organisational structure � the structures put in place need to be appropriate, integrated and flexible, and should promote cohesion and interaction. � Process and procedure � the processes and procedures adopted in an amalgamated tribunal need to capitalise upon the opportunities provided by amalgamation, as well as being appropriate, efficient and able to balance the needs of a range of stakeholders. � Organisational culture � an organisational culture which counters natural tendencies towards disjunction will assist members and staff to identify with a newly amalgamated tribunal and to implement initiatives that will improve its performance. � Leadership � effective leadership plays an important role in ensuring a smooth transition from specialist to amalgamated tribunal, and engendering commitment from members and staff. Broadly speaking, these factors fall into the four categories of law, context, organisation and people. It is argued that attention must be paid to all four of these ingredients in order to achieve optimal tribunal reform. The thesis tests this proposition by examining the three most advanced tribunal amalgamations so far, namely, the Commonwealth ART, the NSW ADT and VCAT in Victoria. It is argued that the fate of the Commonwealth ART proposal proves the importance of a solid, generally endorsed legislative foundation in creating a viable amalgamated tribunal. The importance of context, organisation and people is borne out by qualitative research into the amalgamation experiences in NSW and Victoria. The fact that the NSW and Victorian governments decided to pursue policies of amalgamation at the same time provided a unique opportunity to compare the success or otherwise of two concurrent attempts at amalgamation in different jurisdictions. This thesis finds that the unfavourable political context in NSW prevented the ADT from realising its potential. In contrast, the VCAT experience highlights the benefits of paying careful attention to the wide range of factors that can contribute to a successful amalgamation. Of most relevance are the initial scale of an amalgamation, the political �will� behind its implementation, the appointment of a core of full-time members, and the creation of an open institutional culture which facilitates the sharing of information. In short, the thesis concludes that the successful construction and consolidation of a tribunal post-amalgamation requires that the necessary ingredients of optimal tribunal reform � legislation, context, organisation and people � are thoughtfully addressed

Integrating Income Tax and National Insurance: an interim report

Income Tax and National Insurance are now sufficiently similar that merging them appears to be a plausible option, yet still sufficiently different that integration raises significant difficulties. This paper surveys the potential benefits of integration - increased transparency and reduced administrative and compliance costs - and the potential obstacles, assessing the extent to which each of the differences between Income Tax and NICs - in particular the contributory principle, the levying of an employer charge and the differences in tax base - constitute serious barriers to integration. The paper concludes that few of the difficulties look individually prohibitive, but that trying too hard to avoid significant reform of the current policy framework could produce a merged tax so complicated as to nullify much or all of the benefits of integration.Taxation, social insurance, administration

Exploring the sail training voyage as a cultural community

Ed. D ThesisStudies have demonstrated that participation on a sail training voyage, as a structured educational activity that is more than mere adventure (McCulloch et al., 2010: 661), enhances self-constructs, and inter- and intra-personal skills. Many studies have followed an outcome-based approach to measure various self-constructs at pre-, on- and/or post-voyage intervals, however, there has been limited investigation as to how these outcomes may be generated; or how they may be ‘laminated’ in participants’ personal and social development, and thereby influence skills for life and work, such as social and emotional skills and supporting educational attainment (Feinstein, 2015). The origins of modern day sail training voyages are to be found in the traditions and practices of the age of sail, representing a rich socio-cultural and historical setting for participants to explore the voyage experience. This study takes an ethnographic approach to explore a six-day sail training voyage as a ‘cultural community’, and how this concept may generate beneficial outcomes through apprenticeship and guided participation (after Rogoff, 1990; Rogoff and Angelillo, 2002). Few studies on this topic have extended their scope of interest beyond the young crew participants; this study engages with all of those who sailed on the voyage, comprising twelve 12- and 13-year old girls, two teachers, and the full-time and volunteer sea-staff (and the researcher as a participant observer). This voyage-based case study uses a range of methods, including visual methods, as pre-, on- and post-voyage research activities, complemented with a post-voyage photo elicitation activity and semi-structured interviews to construct a rich, detailed account of the study voyage

Resource management, plan quality and governance: A report to Government

This Report contains the main findings from FRST-funded research into planning under the Resource Management Act. It includes five sets of interrelated recommendations. These recommendations identify many actions that are essential if Government is serious about achieving its goal of environmental sustainability. Implementation of the recommendations will require a significant increase in expenditure at all levels of the planning hierarchy, but especially central government