Towards 2000: A Tougher Future for Australian Business?

The paper reports on the future business environment expected by top level Australian executives. It forecasts environmental changes to the year 2000 and updates projections reported in an earlier study. Specifically, top managers from 171 of Australia\u27s largest 500 corporations provide their views concerning world ecology, the economy, technology and political-social developments. Their perceptions are then linked to specific competitive strategies that are evoked by the long-range forecast which they expect

Execution: the Critical “What’s Next?” in Strategic Human Resource Management

The Human Resource Planning Society’s 1999 State of the Art/Practice (SOTA/P) study was conducted by a virtual team of researchers who interviewed and surveyed 232 human resource and line executives, consultants, and academics worldwide. Looking three to five years ahead, the study probed four basic topics: (1) major emerging trends in external environments, (2) essential organizational capabilities, (3) critical people issues, and (4) the evolving role of the human resource function. This article briefly reports some of the study’s major findings, along with an implied action agenda – the “gotta do’s for the leading edge. Cutting through the complexity, the general tone is one of urgency emanating from the intersection of several underlying themes: the increasing fierceness of competition, the rapid and unrelenting pace of change, the imperatives of marketplace and thus organizational agility, and the corresponding need to buck prevailing trends by attracting and, especially, retaining and capturing the commitment of world-class talent. While it all adds up to a golden opportunity for human resource functions, there is a clear need to get to get on with it – to get better, faster, and smarter – or run the risk of being left in the proverbial dust. Execute or be executed

Multi-Stakeholder Assessment of Critical Success Factors: Insights from the World's Fastest SAP R/3 Implementation

Organizations invest substantial resources in Enterprise Systems (ES) expecting positive outcomes for the organization and its functions. Implementing an ES is a lengthy and costly undertaking, with general upheaval for many of the organizations. Many organizations therefore are seriously considering rapid ES-implementations to reduce cost and other related resources. This paper presents findings of a study conducted to understand critical success factors of rapid ES-implementations gathering data from the world’s fastest SAP implementation, completed in a record time of three weeks. Using a two-phased case study design, gathering data from four distinct stakeholders, this study recognized the relevance of critical success factors identified through the literature to the context of rapid ES-implementations. Moreover, the study identified three new critical success factors that are specific to rapid ES-implementations. The study also demonstrated differentiating views of multiple stakeholders on each of the critical success factors

Leading with political astuteness: A study of public managers in Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom

Combining quantitative survey data from over 1000 middle and senior public managers, as well as qualitative data from 42 in-depth interviews, the study sheds light on how managers understand politics in their work; how they rate their own and their colleagues’ political skills; how they use their political skills; and how these skills were developed. The report also sets forth recommendations to improve the development of managers’ political astuteness at the level of the individual, the organisation, and the professional body/training provider

The Impact of Corporatisation and National Competition Policy: An Exploratory Study of Organisational Change and Leadership Style

Category Research Paper Purpose This study surveys managers of an Australian government owned enterprise undergoing organisational change as a result of public sector reform, specifically, National Competition Policy and Corporatisation. The purpose of the study is to examine the extent/type of organisational change and leadership style adopted to implement this change. Approach To understand the effect of reforms, the researcher explored the extent of change and leadership style through the use of an intraorganisational survey in a government owned Electricity Supply Corporation in Queensland, Australia. The instrument also included qualitatitive components to enable the researcher to qualify the statistical results. Findings Within the public sector, there is an uneasy tension between the need for a revolution of outdated bureaucracies in order to enhance flexibility and innovation on the one hand, and the desire to maintain the standards and procedures that are necessary for quality civic service for a broad range of stakeholders on the other. The results of this study indicate that there was significant organisational change and, according to responses, a change of leadership style indicative of this dilemma. Research limitations/implications The implications for reform setters, managers and politicians suggest the consideration of embedded factors whilst determining the processes and directions of change. Furthermore, it is necessary to choose a leadership style that is indicative of the type of change to be implemented. Additionally, greater participation by organisational members can increase the success of organisational change. The limitations of the study include the measurement of organisational change and leadership style. This instrument was originally used in structured interviews, however, measures were taken validate the instrument in its altered setting. Further, the study is confined to a single electricity organisation. Fertile fields for future research projects could include a larger quantitative study conducted with multiple States or nation wide electricity distribution companies. Originality/Value The study provides empirical evidence of the extent of change as a result of public sector reform. In doing so the study utilises organisational change and leadership style models within a public sector environment

Contemporary developments in teaching and learning introductory programming: Towards a research proposal

The teaching and learning of introductory programming in tertiary institutions is problematic. Failure rates are high and the inability of students to complete small programming tasks at the completion of introductory units is not unusual. The literature on teaching programming contains many examples of changes in teaching strategies and curricula that have been implemented in an effort to reduce failure rates. This paper analyses contemporary research into the area, and summarises developments in the teaching of introductory programming. It also focuses on areas for future research which will potentially lead to improvements in both the teaching and learning of introductory programming. A graphical representation of the issues from the literature that are covered in the document is provided in the introduction

Climate change adaptation in the boardroom

Abstract Climate adaptation is recognised by many of the world’s largest businesses as a global risk and one that requires critical attention. The World Economic Forum’s 2013 Global Risks Perception Survey, identified the ‘failure of climate change adaptation and rising greenhouse gas emissions as among those global risks considered to be the most likely to materialize within a decade’ (p.16). Yet despite action by many transnationals and international firms, it seems evident that most Australian companies appear to be struggling to move forward in responding to climate change impacts, apparently paralysed by short-term profit-first thinking, uncertain political risks and a corporate culture unused to volatility and disruption. Research approach This project set out to communicate adaptation to climate change to the “big end of town” and to gather soft data, acquire information and present issues back to the National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility (NCCARF), the funder of this research. Our approach to the research challenge differed from a traditional technical, analytical or academic method. We used action-learning principles to engage a community in which we, as advisors to corporate Australia and as co-researchers, have social capital and standing. Through trusted information sharing networks, private closed-door meetings and one on one conversation with executives and senior management from over 100 companies we shared ideas, gathered, researched and refined information and tested our findings. Findings Our findings from the boardroom engagement include the following:   The Australian Government expects the private sector to adapt, yet little or no incentives exist to promote this behaviour. Autonomous adaptation as practiced may only benefit the lead actor while creating disbenefit for others (including other corporations, society and the environment). Market practices on current paradigms cannot be expected to meet greater societal adaptation needs. Further adaptation research is required in some areas to help guide shape and monitor adaptation for the private sector. A multiplicity of policy reform may be necessary, but crafting and implementing it is likely to remain beyond the capability of the Australian Public Service (APS) or individual Governments. Highly sophisticated mining, gas and some Asian owned technology companies are leading the way with many opportunities missed by Australian companies. Adaptation for the corporate sector is a key strategic issue, unlike mitigation and corporate social responsibility (CSR), as it benefits the corporate primarily. Insurance dependency may only be a short-term risk transfer mechanism as, in its current paradigm, it can mask risk, create a false sense of security and may impede adaptation.   Conclusion We hope that this report is of benefit to Australian organisations, policy makers, regulators and to researchers in adaptation science. This project shows that, on a whole, the Australian private sector is giving little consideration about the impacts climate change. This project has identified that considerable research gaps exist, but has also provided direction for organisations and researchers. Individual corporations and private sector peak bodies urgently need to explore the risks and opportunities that climate change and associated responses bring. This is especially so for the ICT, aviation, energy, insurance and finance sectors. Please cite this report as: Johnston, GS, Burton, DL, Baker-Jones, M, 2013 Climate Change Adaptation in the Boardroom National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility, Gold Coast. pp. 81

A system dynamics-based simulation study for managing clinical governance and pathways in a hospital

This paper examines the development of clinical pathways in a hospital in Australia based on empirical clinical data of patient episodes. A system dynamics (SD)-based decision support system (DSS) is developed and analyzed for this purpose. System dynamics was used as the simulation modeling tool because of its rigorous approach in capturing interrelationships among variables and in handling dynamic aspects of the system behavior in managing healthcare. The study highlights the scenarios that will help hospital administrators to redistribute caseloads amongst admitting clinicians with a focus on multiple Diagnostic Related Groups (DRG’s) as the means to improve the patient turnaround and hospital throughput without compromising quality patient care. DRG’s are the best known classification system used in a casemix funding model. The classification system groups inpatient stays into clinically meaningful categories of similar levels of complexity that consume similar amounts of resources. Policy explorations reveal various combinations of the dominant policies that hospital management can adopt. The analyses act as a scratch pad for the executives as they understand what can be feasibly achieved by the implementation of clinical pathways given a number of constraints. With the use of visual interfaces, executives can manipulate the DSS to test various scenarios. Experimental evidence based on focus groups demonstrated that the DSS can enhance group learning processes and improve decision making. The simulation model findings support recent studies of CP implementation on various DRG’s published in the medical literature. These studies showed substantial reductions in length of stay, costs and resource utilization

How can universities support beginning teachers?

Many beginning teachers struggle in teaching, consequently, tertiary education has been criticised for not preparing preservice teachers well enough. This qualitative study uses interviews and questionnaires to investigate 10 first-year teachers’ understandings of how universities can support them more effectively. The findings indicated that university preparation needed more literacy (particularly reading and spelling), numeracy, catering for lower socio-economic students, understanding behaviour differentiation, and communicating with parents. A two-prong approach may support beginning teachers: (1) timely induction and mentoring within school settings, and (2) research for advancing teacher education coursework to ensure currency of addressing beginning teachers’ needs