"I'm the boss"-- a study of leadership and the labour divide in some secondary schools : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Philosophy in Women's Studies at Massey University

When is a principal not a principal ... when s/he is an associate principal. The position of associate principal in secondary schools in New Zealand is a site of contradiction. At the same time as the associate is a principal she (often he) is not a principal. As schools with a population of more than 1400 students expand their rolls (Sergiovanni, 1995, Grace, 1995) they can choose (O'Neill, 1996, Armstrong, 1991) whether to include an associate principal in their management structure. While some of these schools turn down the offer, others choose to do so. That such a possibility is available suggests that hierarchical structures (Court, 1993; Regan, 1995) in these organisations are breaking down. It would appear that schools can design the management structure that best suits them, and that their leaders create their own 'badge of office' (Raymond & Cunliffe, 1997), and enact 'their' particular vision (Hegelson, 1990; Belenky et al, 1989). Devolution of power (Lukes, 1974; Smyth, 1989; Deem et al, 1995) to community level contains the possibility of more democratic and participatory leadership (Wilson, 1995; Brosnahan, 1996). The role of the state (O'Neill, 1996; Armstrong, 1992) in endorsing and effecting these changes is central. In contradictory fashion the state is both present and absent in the operation of secondary schools. It claims to be an unequivocal advocate of Equal Employment Opportunity practices (James & Saville-Smith, 1992), yet at the same time will allow one principal only to lead and manage (Grace, 1995; Olsson, 1996) a school. The power that schools have to make decisions around leadership is not as clear cut as it might seem. Historically and persistently schools have been led by men (Grace, 1995). Common belief, largely unquestioned, (Connell, 1987; Court, 1994) suggests that 'strong men' (Connell, 1996; Eveline, 1996, Hurty, 1995, Court, 1989) are required in the schools of today. Women seem (Wodak, 1997; Eveline, 1996) not to fit the bill (Still, 1996; Acker, 1991; Evetts, 1996), thus are not appointed. Many more women, it is generally asserted, prefer to teach rather than manage (Shakeshaft, 1989). Typically women are thought to have a different style (Rosener, 1990; Ferrario, 1991; Southworth, 1993) of leadership which may not be suitable in the competitive educational marketplace of the present (Wilson, 1996; Smyth, 1989), but suited to a collaborative (Brosnahan, 1996; Hargreaves, 1994) organisational culture, perhaps of the future. The position of associate principal can function as a transitional position, providing a formal mentoring opportunity (Woodd, 1997; Ehrlich, 1995). Whether it can facilitate the movement of women into senior management, and reduce principal isolation, is explored in this thesis

Intelligent Region Management = Intelligent Absorption of EU funds

Effective institutions and public administration is a key factor in designing and implementing the growth policy and the economic and social development. Effective institutional and administrative potential is also vital for good region management. Organisation of the system influences deeply the efficiency and effectiveness of the structural aid and simultaneously the level and quality of resources used, what has huge impact on the development and competitiveness of Polish less developed regions. The paper presents the model of EU structural funds implementing, which would help to transpose Polish less-developed regions (their administration) into intelligent regions – implementing European Funds in a pro-developmental way (not pro-social), focusing on strategic synergy projects realisation based on proper timetable, adjusted to specific regional factors (enhancing regional investment attractiveness), enabling individual approach to major developmental projects (increasing their effectiveness) and absorbing less financial sources on good purposes (not more – on bad purposes)Less developed region, region management, European Union funds, R58 – Regional Development Policy

Development of an integrated quality management conceptual framework for manufacturing organisations

In the last couple of decades manufacturing management models such as Six-Sigma, Lean Manufacturing and TQM have been implemented by many organizations to facilitate the production lines, hence improving the quality performance. However, none of these models have been able to solve all organisation problems when implemented alone; on the other hand, integrated management models such as Lean-Six Sigma, have empowered organisations to exceed the improvement rates and achieve as competitive advantage. This paper attempts to develop an integrated quality management conceptual frame-work for Six-Sigma, Lean manufacturing and TQM; to eliminate the quality issues in order to improve and modernize the quality system for manufacturing organisations. The aim is to simplify the implementation process, improve the operation performances and provide imputes and guidance for manufacturing organisations; thus attaining sustainable improvement and performance excellence. The paper reviews the literature relevance to the topic and the required tools to carry out this research. Furthermore, a questionnaire survey is designed to collect the required data and to validate the proposed framework. The research results concluded that the framework developed is applicable for manufacturing organisations and can assist to achieve competitive advantages if adopted and applied correctly

Fast Data in the Era of Big Data: Twitter's Real-Time Related Query Suggestion Architecture

We present the architecture behind Twitter's real-time related query suggestion and spelling correction service. Although these tasks have received much attention in the web search literature, the Twitter context introduces a real-time "twist": after significant breaking news events, we aim to provide relevant results within minutes. This paper provides a case study illustrating the challenges of real-time data processing in the era of "big data". We tell the story of how our system was built twice: our first implementation was built on a typical Hadoop-based analytics stack, but was later replaced because it did not meet the latency requirements necessary to generate meaningful real-time results. The second implementation, which is the system deployed in production, is a custom in-memory processing engine specifically designed for the task. This experience taught us that the current typical usage of Hadoop as a "big data" platform, while great for experimentation, is not well suited to low-latency processing, and points the way to future work on data analytics platforms that can handle "big" as well as "fast" data

Categorisation of legal contrivances in Islamic legal literature: relevance to formation of contracts and transactions

Reference to what could be considered as legal contrivances appears in some prophetic traditions, in addition to some verses of the Qur’an. Although some early jurists such as Imam Malik are considered to have held all contrivances impermissible, which approach has also been adopted by Imam Ahmad and his followers of the initial centuries, the majority of jurists have refrained from condemning all applications falling under them in general as unlawful. In dividing legal contrivances into permissible and impermissible varieties, many of the jurists have fundamentally taken the outcome into consideration. It is observed that the difference on the validity or otherwise of legal contivances, especially in the domain of transactions, could be traced to the fundamental difference on the basis of contracts with regard to the wording of a contract and its meaning or intent. It is noted that a section of jurists have also taken into consideration the time a contrivance is employed in certain transactions with regard to rights that may be affected, in determining the acceptability of the contrivance

Euroisation in Serbia

Euroisation in Serbia is rooted in a long history of macroeconomic instability. Extreme inflation volatility has undermined trust in the dinar and discouraged dinar savings. At the same time, an abundant supply of foreign capital inflows has provided easy access to foreign currency lending at low interest rates in an environment of perceived exchange rate stability – a perception reinforced by the choice of exchange rate regime. As a result, both the asset and the liability side of banks’ balance sheets, and even those of the non-bank sector, is heavily foreign currency-denominated. This paper documents the forces that promote euroisation in Serbia. The paper argues that, in the wake of the global crisis, a window of opportunity has emerged that could foster a process of de-euroisation. The lack of foreign funding and recent exchange rate volatility has tilted borrower incentives towards local currency borrowing. If disinflationary macroeconomic policies gain credibility, with the possible support of regulatory options, euroisation could drop sharply.

Developing Framework for the Implementation of Advanced Manufacturing Technologies in Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises

Intense competition, demanding customers, and shortening product life cycles are prompting small- and medium-sized enterprises to invest in advanced manufacturing technologies (AMTs). Small manufacturers often depend on large manufacturers for orders and so require design as well as manufacturing flexibility on their part. One way of achieving the flexibility is through adoption of AMTs. The decision to invest in AMT is a major decision and thus requires proper consideration to all the aspects of the implementation process before a final commitment is made. Although the technical capabilities of AMTs are well proven, neither practitioner nor academics agree upon a framework for its successful implementation. Using Churchill’s model (Steps 1 and 2) and drawing a link from the available literature, a theoretical framework is developed for the successful implementation of AMTs in small- and medium-sized enterprises. Three implementation phases—namely, planning, preimplementation, and postimplementation—with 14 major issues have been developed; 52 constituent factors have been identified from these issues through literature review and interviews with industry professionals