Market Research Absorbing Risk: Contrasting Training Policies With Workers' Experience

This qualitative enquiry explores the health and safety issues of door-to-door survey workers in New Zealand. Data is drawn from two national organisations fictitiously named OpinionQuest and MarketMatrix. The paper contrasts the formal safety policies and the training given with the workers' actual experience. What do they recognise as risk and how do they deal with it? The research reveals that while many risks are recognised and avoided, the workers absorb others, accepting them as an integral part of their working lives. Organisational training prepares workers for the obvious risks, such as dogs and verbal abuse. It does not address less common events such as physical assault, unwelcome overt sexual overtures - or the road washing away. Recommendations emerging from the research relate to revised training and policies such as the provision of cell phones; systems for tracking the whereabouts of employees working in the field; and adequate coverage, in training, of the full range of risks they may encounter. Survey workers are pivotal to the success of Market Research organisations. Without their risk absorption, the entire process would cease to function

Placing Migrants in Employment: Recruitment Consultants' Experiences

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the issues that recruitment consultants face when trying to place non-native English speaking professional migrants in employment in New Zealand. Five recruitment consultants participated in two focus groups as part o f a wider study conducted in 2007. The consultants in this study worked in the permanent and temporary markets covering a range of professions. Theirs is a highly competitive market, aiming to match candidates with employers to the satisfaction of both. Essentially, the role is a sales one, volume driven and time pressured. Consultants follow the same standard process for all applicants: assessing skills, including communication skills, and preparing three candidates to present to the employer for interview. The perceived differences between migrants and local candidates include difficulties in oral communication; limited knowledge of New Zealand culture, and lack of experience with behavioural interviews. Consultants adopted an educative role towards some highly prejudiced employers. Employers with previous positive experiences with migrants tended to be more receptive. Consultants considered that migrants needed to be more realistic in their job expectations; be prepared to accept contract positions and accept lower level roles initially. They should familiarise themselves with the New Zealand culture, humour and workplace expectations. Current labour market shortages place migrants in a very; good position for accessing employment

Cultural Adaptation: A Case Study of Asian Students’ Learning Experiences at a New Zealand University

More than eighty-five percent of international students in New Zealand are Asian in origin. The level of satisfaction of Asian international students with their learning experiences in New Zealand has been of enormous concern for the New Zealand export education industry. The results of this current research, based on a qualitative research approach conducted at a New Zealand tertiary institution, provide a critical summary of some important and yet challenging issues in teaching Asian students. This study found that Asian students were overall satisfied with their learning experiences at the university in terms of educational quality and programme offering. Asian students‘ voices and narratives on which this research was based have challenged some of our taken-for-granted educational traditions, norms, and practices. Characterising these challenges are language difficulties and cultural differences as intercultural communication barriers, unfamiliar patterns of classroom interactions, lack of knowledge of academic norms and conventions, and inadequate learning support, all these combining to impact on Asian students‘ perceptions and levels of satisfaction with their learning experiences at the university. The study suggests that it is important that lecturers and host institutions are professionally responsible to equip Asian students with adequate knowledge of academic discourses, and help them transcend the culturally framed borders and subjectivities. To meet these challenges, it is important to review and adapt our pedagogical practices and to realign them to the needs of both local and international students

Asian Students’ Perceptions of Group Work and Group Assignments in a New Zealand Tertiary Institution

Globalisation, cultural diversity, and structural reconfiguration in organisations of all types, have led to academics in New Zealand tertiary institutions embracing changes in their course delivery approaches. One of these changes is the emphasis on collaborative learning, featuring group work and group assignments. This study examines Asian students‘ perceptions of the much-promulgated collaborative learning concepts in the form of group work and group assignments. The research was conducted in 2005 in a New Zealand tertiary institution. Twenty-two Asian students participated in one-hour individual semi-structured interviews. The study found that Asian students valued highly the significance of classroom group discussions where they could interact with students from other cultures and backgrounds, improve their English language skills, enhance their cultural understandings and provide them with opportunities to make friends. However, they held intensely negative views about group assignments that require students to complete a project as a group with shared marks determined by the performance of the group. Contributing factors affecting group dynamics included: members‘ attitudes and willingness to cooperate and contribute as a team, the composition of the group, students‘ competing demands on students‘ time and attention, heterogeneity from the natural abilities of students, and the varying cultural values and beliefs held by group members. Most Asian students felt disheartened, helpless and desperate, having to complete such mandatory group assignments. The study suggests that collaborative learning has its strengths and weaknesses. Students‘ needs, interests, cultural values, beliefs, and teaching effectiveness rather than fashions should be considered as a priority in teaching in tertiary institutions

Complement Arities Between Recruitment and Selection Practices and Employee Learning in New Zealand Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises

As a response to comments by numerous authors about lack of attention given to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in human resource management (HRM) literature, this paper examines complementarities between recruitment and selection practices in SMEs and the work-related learning of newcomers. Data were collected through interviews with mainly owners/managers of 60 firms employing up to 50 staff. Analysis of the interviews suggests that the recruitment and selection practices used by some owners/managers had unintended positive effects on newcomers’ learning. Trusted current employees were encouraged to recruit new staff from their networks of family and friends. Sponsors often took the initiative in supporting newcomers on their pathways of work-related learning. Also, some owners/managers used selection methods; that involved candidates demonstrating their skills on-the-job, through work samples or work trials. These selection methods yield, as a by-product, information about candidates’ learning needs. Such information assists workplace models who guide learning of select tasks appropriate to the learner's level of development. The paper concludes that researchers should pay less attention to traditional HRM functions and start to focus on complementarities that might exist among HRM practices. Such a focus may be more consistent with the ways owners/managers view managing human resources

Market Research Absorbing Risk: Contrasting Training Policies With Workers' Experience

This qualitative enquiry explores the health and safety issues of door-to-door survey workers in New Zealand. Data is drawn from two national organisations fictitiously named OpinionQuest and MarketMatrix. The paper contrasts the formal safety policies and the training given with the workers' actual experience. What do they recognise as risk and how do they deal with it? The research reveals that while many risks are recognised and avoided, the workers absorb others, accepting them as an integral part of their working lives. Organisational training prepares workers for the obvious risks, such as dogs and verbal abuse. It does not address less common events such as physical assault, unwelcome overt sexual overtures - or the road washing away. Recommendations emerging from the research relate to revised training and policies such as the provision of cell phones; systems for tracking the whereabouts of employees working in the field; and adequate coverage, in training, of the full range of risks they may encounter. Survey workers are pivotal to the success of Market Research organisations. Without their risk absorption, the entire process would cease to function

User involvement in a Cochrane systematic review:using structured methods to enhance the clinical relevance, usefulness and usability of a systematic review update

Background: This paper describes the structured methods used to involve patients, carers and health professionals in an update of a Cochrane systematic review relating to physiotherapy after stroke and explores the perceived impact of involvement.Methods: We sought funding and ethical approval for our user involvement. We recruited a stakeholder group comprising stroke survivors, carers, physiotherapists and educators and held three pre-planned meetings during the course of updating a Cochrane systematic review. Within these meetings, we used formal group consensus methods, based on nominal group techniques, to reach consensus decisions on key issues relating to the structure and methods of the review.Results: The stakeholder group comprised 13 people, including stroke survivors, carers and physiotherapists with a range of different experience, and either 12 or 13 participated in each meeting. At meeting 1, there was consensus that methods of categorising interventions that were used in the original Cochrane review were no longer appropriate or clinically relevant (11/13 participants disagreed or strongly disagreed with previous categories) and that international trials (which had not fitted into the original method of categorisation) ought to be included within the review (12/12 participants agreed or strongly agreed these should be included). At meeting 2, the group members reached consensus over 27 clearly defined treatment components, which were to be used to categorise interventions within the review (12/12 agreed or strongly agreed), and at meeting 3, they agreed on the key messages emerging from the completed review. All participants strongly agreed that the views of the group impacted on the review update, that the review benefited from the involvement of the stakeholder group, and that they believed other Cochrane reviews would benefit from the involvement of similar stakeholder groups.Conclusions: We involved a stakeholder group in the update of a Cochrane systematic review, using clearly described structured methods to reach consensus decisions. The involvement of stakeholders impacted substantially on the review, with the inclusion of international studies, and changes to classification of treatments, comparisons and subgroup comparisons explored within the meta-analysis. We argue that the structured approach which we adopted has implications for other systematic reviews.</p

Placing Migrants in Employment: Recruitment Consultants' Experiences

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the issues that recruitment consultants face when trying to place non-native English speaking professional migrants in employment in New Zealand. Five recruitment consultants participated in two focus groups as part o f a wider study conducted in 2007. The consultants in this study worked in the permanent and temporary markets covering a range of professions. Theirs is a highly competitive market, aiming to match candidates with employers to the satisfaction of both. Essentially, the role is a sales one, volume driven and time pressured. Consultants follow the same standard process for all applicants: assessing skills, including communication skills, and preparing three candidates to present to the employer for interview. The perceived differences between migrants and local candidates include difficulties in oral communication; limited knowledge of New Zealand culture, and lack of experience with behavioural interviews. Consultants adopted an educative role towards some highly prejudiced employers. Employers with previous positive experiences with migrants tended to be more receptive. Consultants considered that migrants needed to be more realistic in their job expectations; be prepared to accept contract positions and accept lower level roles initially. They should familiarise themselves with the New Zealand culture, humour and workplace expectations. Current labour market shortages place migrants in a very; good position for accessing employment

Complement Arities Between Recruitment and Selection Practices and Employee Learning in New Zealand Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises

As a response to comments by numerous authors about lack of attention given to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in human resource management (HRM) literature, this paper examines complementarities between recruitment and selection practices in SMEs and the work-related learning of newcomers. Data were collected through interviews with mainly owners/managers of 60 firms employing up to 50 staff. Analysis of the interviews suggests that the recruitment and selection practices used by some owners/managers had unintended positive effects on newcomers’ learning. Trusted current employees were encouraged to recruit new staff from their networks of family and friends. Sponsors often took the initiative in supporting newcomers on their pathways of work-related learning. Also, some owners/managers used selection methods; that involved candidates demonstrating their skills on-the-job, through work samples or work trials. These selection methods yield, as a by-product, information about candidates’ learning needs. Such information assists workplace models who guide learning of select tasks appropriate to the learner's level of development. The paper concludes that researchers should pay less attention to traditional HRM functions and start to focus on complementarities that might exist among HRM practices. Such a focus may be more consistent with the ways owners/managers view managing human resources

A review of independent living adaptations

This study will explore and test potential changes to the structural and delivery mechanisms for independent living adaptations. This is in order to move towards the Welsh Government goal of ensuring that adaptations can be delivered more speedily to those who need them. In doing so, it will help reduce inherent inequalities in the current system by ensuring joined up solutions, prevention and early intervention activity. This Review was commissioned in the light of some £35 million being spent annually by local authorities in Wales on Disabled Facilities Grants (DFGs) and the Welsh Government’s own spending of approximately £8 million on Physical Adaptations Grants (PAG) for social tenants. The Review was carried out between May and November 2014 and addressed three aims: mapping the current system performance Indicators testing the feasibility of options for change