Instructional Preferences of Students in Transnational Chinese and English Language MBA Programs

This paper reports on Stage 1 of a learning and teaching project focused on students studying in the Chinese and English language delivery of transnational Master of Business Administration (MBA) programs of an Australian university. The programs are delivered using limited and intensive face-to-face teaching augmented by self-directed and web-based learning, and ongoing (mainly email) contact with lecturers before and after they have returned to Australia. The aim of this stage of the project is to provide a greater understanding of students’ instructional preferences so that, where appropriate, lecturers can better scaffold learning and teaching arrangements (Stage 2 of the project) to assist them to meet the learning objectives of the MBA program. Survey data was collected from students studying the MBA in Hong Kong and Singapore in English (EMBA), and in Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan in Chinese (CMBA). Findings demonstrate that whilst students ranked teacher directed, face-to-face instructional delivery highly, they also indicated that an independent, web-based learning environment was their least-preferred approach to learning. These findings put lecturers in a more informed position when it comes to them planning how to best assist students from Confucian-heritage backgrounds to work productively and successfully in their studies

Predicting different commitment components: The relative effects of how career development HRM practices are perceived

Organizations today expect employees to manage their own career development although some will provide extra opportunities. We do not know exactly how career self-management impacts on employees' organizational commitment in terms of affective, normativ

'The right to feel safe :' a feminist analysis of protective behaviours programmes

A study which examines, from a feminist viewpoint, the effectiveness of 'protective behaviours' programmes which are aimed at preventing the sexual abuse of childrenThesis (M.A.) -- University of Adelaide, Dept. of Women's Studies, 1997

Developing supervisors as skilled communicators the role of HR

Effective communication is a major factor enabling managers to act as a conduit in promoting HR policies to their subordinates. In particular, given managers are now expected to take a major role in developing subordinate commitment, communication skills have become an important part of commitment development. This paper reports data from a small sample of HR managers to find out whether HR staff consider communication skills in the selection of their new managers and what actions are taken to develop their communication skills in the hope of improving their staff commitment. Findings suggest that HR practitioners regard communication skills as subsumed under a generic idea of leadership. There were no specific programs reported that explicitly targeted communication skills. Yet HR managers conceded that commitment was largely due to good two way communication with managers playing a key role in the process. The measuring of individual verbal abilities and examining their impact on commitment remains largely undervalued