Man in his time plays many parts : life stories of William Jordan : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in History at Massey University

When the first Labour government was elected in 1935 William Jordan became both New Zealand's High Commissioner in London and New Zealand's representative at the League of Nations. Prior to his appointment Jordan had served nearly fourteen years as a Labour Member of Parliament.3 3 Malcolm Templeton, 'Jordan, William Joseph 1879-1959'. Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, updated 19 July 2002 URL: http://www.dnzb.govt.nz/ I first became interested in Jordan while I was completing a research exercise on New Zealand's reactions to the Sino-Japanese war in 1937. Jordan featured prominently at the League of Nations when the New Zealand government's stand on international issues brought it into conflict with British policy. He stood out as a significant figure of this period due to his personality and strength of character. As New Zealand's representative, Jordan spoke powerfully on international morality. His forthright speeches showed his courage, often in the face of pressure from other nations. He delivered speeches that were blunt, simple and often in plain undiplomatic language. Bruce Bennett described his, unpretentious, sincere, yet forceful speeches [which] brought him admiration at a forum noted for caution to the point of cowardice. His very simplicity, which some of his associates despised, was part of his magic.4 4Bruce Bennett, New Zealand's Moral Foreign Policy 1935-1939: The Promotion of Collective Security Through the League of Nations, Wellington: New Zealand Institute of International Affairs, 1988, p.14. Jordan's character and personality seemed distinctive and denoted him as a compelling historical individual. Notwithstanding his unique personality, Jordan was also a national figure in his time. When first appointed he was New Zealand's sole diplomatic representative. By the time of his retirement, after a record fifteen years as High Commissioner in London, he had been the country's best-known representative abroad. I was very intrigued to examine not only Jordan the man but to also explore a broader perspective and see how, as a distinct individual, he interacted within the social, cultural and historical contexts of his time

Open Educational Practices in Australia

This case study presents the extent of transformation that Open Educational Practices (OEP) have brought to higher education in Australia. In the early stages of the transformation, open access policies, funding, support and infrastructure were introduced by the national government. Initiatives that uncovered the transformative potential of OEP were then undertaken. The scope of transformation of OEP in Australia has since expanded, influencing and impacting institutions in several aspects, leading the sector to a better position worldwide. However, many challenges still remain. Restrictive copyright regimes and a lack of national and institutional policies and funding are among the barriers faced by OEP in Australia. If these barriers are removed and policy enablers are further developed, the higher education sector in Australia could fully benefit from the transformative potential of OEP

Pacific leaders in open, online and distance learning

The Pacific is a vast region, with a diverse range of cultures and stretched geographical lands, which covers large territories and long distances. Open, online and distance learning (ODL) has always played a key role in providing access to education to remote and rural students and disadvantaged groups. In fact, it could be argued that without ODL, the levels of educational attainment in these regions would be much lower. However, there is work to be done, as some countries in the region still have infrastructure problems, such as Internet connectivity and availability, which directly impact access to online and distance learning. In this piece about Pacific leaders in ODL, I noticed that despite the fact that many leaders have or have had a formal professional base at their institutions, many have worked across different nations and in collaboration with several national and international organisations. Also, initially, ODL leaders were predominantly male, but it did not take long for their female counterparts to join in and be recognised. Encouraged by this journal's editorial board, I made sure that the ODL female leaders are well represented in this piece. This manuscript is divided in three sections; Australia, New Zealand and some small islands of the Pacific region. This is by no means an exhaustive list of ODL leaders in the region, but one that recognises the contributions of earlier theorists and some more current researchers and practitioners. Finally, it is also important to highlight that the large majority of the leaders recognised here are renowned academics, researchers, practitioners and leaders due to their success, leadership and contributions to ODL. Therefore, most of them have published extensively, been invited to present at conferences and other national and international events, and have worked as consultants for key ODL organisations and their partners, some during the course of their employment and/or after retiring. Their career and academic successes are very important, but here I would like to focus on some of their key contributions to ODL in the Pacific region.</p

The Patient as a construction and a non-participant member of a change-process.

The contribution of this paper is a discussion about how the patient as a phenomenon is constructed and used by employees for different purposes, enabling and inhibiting change. The results are based on a three year case study in which data has been collected with interviews and observations. They have then been analyzed and interpreted within a framework consisting of theories about thinking collectives, structuration, information and knowledge management. The findings indicate that “the patient” has implications for how project management is conducted and a patient record upgraded at the anesthesia and intensive care unit of a hospital.the patient; anesthesia information management; constructionism; thinking collectives; knowledge management; structuration.

How to manage people who think. A structural approach.

This is a paper about creativity, diversity and other often used buzzwords. It is also a paper about how to manage people who think. Today we live in a world in which computers and mobile phones have become the key artifacts. Nokia´s slogan ”connecting people” expresses in a brilliant way what it is all about. When we connect people information is transfered and new knowledge hopefully created. And innovations, ideas and individuals are central for everything that takes place. We are all supposed to be flexible, exercising our knowledge in a setting characterized by diversity. This setting is also characterized by paradoxes that I will write more about further down. But transformations such as the globalization and implementing of new information technology race crucial questions about how to deal with a changing economic landscape and new mindsets and changing attitudes. The pages that follow is based on extensive reading of the literature and participating in many conferences and work-shops. In addition to this I have interviewed managers and employees at Electrolux, Ericsson, TeliaSonera and The Confederation of Swedish Enterprise. I have asked people in the above mentioned organizations how they react to concepts such as the knowledge society and the practice of managing knowledge, creativity, diversity and flexibility. This paper is written with a Scandinavian perspective. It is also written with a social constructionist perspective. The theoretical framework includes theories about knowledge management, structuration theory and cognitive theories. The findings are based on interpretative research and I have systematically reflected over the material I have collected. I direct myself towards people in business who think and worry about the future. The purpose is to inspire to further discussions about these very important matters.Knowledge management; structuration theory; knowledge society; globalization; creativity; diversity; flexibility.

Restructuring an Empire. A narrative study of the turnaround of the telecom company Ericsson.

The turnaround of the telecom company Ericsson is considered a unique chapter in Swedish business life in terms of complexity, size and speed. This paper focuses on how some of the interpretative schemes of the employees were transformed during the turnaround and the organizational setting restructured. Instead of making a conventional study of a change process this study uses narrative method and explores the transformation through the eyes of four people. In this way this study hopes to be able to present a broader picture of some of the organizational learning that takes place during events like this, since storytelling is crucial when people make sense of their everyday life. A narrative analysis approach will not result in the one “true” account of a phenomenon. However, narrative analysis can provide detailed insights into individual informants understanding of events and highlight similarities and differences in interpretations that are interesting also for outsiders to take part of. The findings indicate that not only the interpretative schemes for how to run the company were transformed but also how the employees view the world.interpretative schemes; management; narrative method; structuration theory; turnaround; telecom; Ericsson.

17th Annual Institute for Law and Economic Policy Conference Access to Justice: April 7, 2011

There is a fragmented approach to social sustainability in the literature, and this paper aims to contribute to a better understanding of the meanings and interpretations of that concept while reviewing and discussing the social dimension of sustainability from the perspectives of two fields: urban development as well as companies and products. The analysis identifies commonalities and differences in the understanding of the conceptualization of social sustainability and helps to identify core aspects that cross disciplinary boundaries. The paper shows that compiling a list of comprehensive aspects that is representative of social sustainability is not straightforward, as interpretations are context dependant and aspects are often closely interconnected. Differences often occur because of variations in scoping and context, or whether or not a life cycle perspective is used. Nonetheless, there seems to be an underlying common understanding of what social sustainability is, and a set of key themes (social capital, human capital and well-being) is suggested as an alternative to put more specific measures and indicators in perspective. However, context-specific information is still necessary in practical applications.QC 20140523. Updated from manuscript to article in journal.</p