Quality teaching in a managerialist setting: higher education challenges in Australia

Australian universities face increased challenges in a global higher education marketplace. They have responded to this competitive environment by introducing greater efficiency and accountability measures. One key measure is the quality of teaching and in particular, the delivery of student-centred teaching. However, the reforms have changed the working lives of academic teachers who now have greater reporting and administrative responsibilities with less sense of collegiality in the sector. In these circumstances, it is not clear that teaching staff will share the same perceptions of quality teaching as their institutions expect. This paper examines the utility of role theory and learning organization theory as part of a project which will examine the ways in which implicit knowledge can be made explicit and shared in the organization as part of academic teachers' roles. The paper hypothesizes that when academics share their perceptions of good teaching, universities will benefit from a coherent set of quality teaching indicators which are aligned with their organizational cultures

A Changing World of Workplace Conflict Resolution and Employee Voice: An Australian Perspective

The authors contribute to dispute resolution theory and provide new insights on such important issues as employee voice, workplace disputes and employees’ intentions to quit. They conducted and analyzed a survey of managers in Australian workplaces. They apply Budd and Colvin’s (2008) path-finding dispute resolution framework to examine two research questions: first, is there a relationship between the resolution of disputes and employee voice as measured by employee perceptions of influence over decision-making? Second, is there a relationship between the resolution of workplace disputes and employees’ intentions to quit? These are important questions in view of the high costs of workplace conflict and employee turnover. The authors find that employee voice facilitates successful dispute resolution. Further, employee voice has the additional benefit of directly reducing employee turnover intentions, above and beyond its indirect effect by helping to resolve conflicts at work

Workplace Dispute Resolution In Malaysia: The Quest For Organisational Justice

The Industrial Relations Act 1967 (IR Act 1967) is the principal piece of legislation that regulates the industrial relations system in Malaysia, in particular the relation between employers and employees and their trade unions which include mechanisms for dispute resolution. There are two types of disputes under the Act, namely trade disputes and disputes over dismissal. Of particular interest in this study are the provisions for dispute resolution through the use of conciliation under Section 18 in respect of trade disputes and Section 20 for claims for reinstatement (unfair dismissal). Trade disputes can be referred by: the employer or their trade union; or the trade union of employees, which is a party to the dispute; or by the Director General of Industrial Relations Malaysia in the public interest, when the dispute is not likely to be settled by negotiation. In addition, the Minister of Human Resources is empowered to refer any dispute for adjudication by the Industrial Court. However, for disputes over dismissal, it is the claimants who would normally institute their claims for reinstatement under Section 20 (1) of the IR Act 1967

Investigating Meaning in the Workplace: The Potential of Adaptive Theory

The paper focuses on the application of adaptive theory in a study of workplace conflict resolution as a way of understanding the plurality of meanings in dialogues of workplace protagonists

The Emergence of Private ADR in Australian Workplaces

This paper examines the emergence of private alternative dispute resolution (ADR) in Australian workplaces through two surveys and three case studies. The surveys demonstrate that the uptake of private ADR has been slow although most practitioners describe their business as growing. The case studies illustrate deficiencies in the conduct of ADR including breaches of ADR process, ethics, justice and misuse of power. In the light of the apparent growth in private ADR, the cases raise questions regarding training and standards for workplace ADR practitioners

Whole of Government Approaches: Filling Holes or Holistic Governance?

Years of public sector outsourcing, contracting out and privatisation have contributed to the entrenchment of boundaries between government agencies. Together with the natural tendency of bureaucracies to departmentalise their work, this has created independently operating functional silos. In practical terms, it means that with both public and private bodies providing government services, the integration of those services is more difficult and there are gaps in information flow and service provision. Public-private boundaries are formal and often based on strict contractual terms. Whilst some may argue that this is a structural failing of government-private enterprise partnerships, the solution in the main has been to use a joined up approach (UK) or whole of government approach (Australia) in which individual gaps are filled rather than universal solutions imposed. This paper considers these debates in the whole of government approach. The paper commences with a discussion of outsourcing and privatisation and their associated problems for government, before moving to the solutions posed by governments. The paper argues that despite its connotations, whole of government approaches are not designed to provide universal solutions to connect the whole of government, but rather, they represent a reactive, ad-hoc array of individual solutions, often reliant on non-government actors to attend to particular cases

Exploring Avenues for the Growth of Private Alternative Dispute Resolution in Australian Workplaces

Many alternative dispute resolution (ADR) schemes emerged in Australia during the 1980s in a wide range of jurisdictions. Conciliation or mediation are included as a compulsory first step in dispute resolution in family law, consumer law, residential tenancies, and equal employment opportunity. In the federal and supreme courts, mediation is offered to disputants where cases have been backlogged and there is agreement between the disputants to proceed to mediation (Limbury, 1991). Tribunalbased ADR in Australian industrial relations represents an exception to these relatively recent developments as state and federal industrial tribunals have traditionally practised conciliation and arbitration. Instead, a more individualised form of ADR is emerging in the Australian workplace with mediation as a private alternative to the publicly funded system. This paper traces the development and opportunities for growth of private ADR as it has emerged in Australian workplaces through an examination of a range of contributing factors such as the legal and political environment; the decline of unionism; the growth of individual contracts; and the growth of management consultants. The article draws upon on academic literature; a survey of 129 employers across Victoria conducted by the author in 2000 and the analysis of 2000 dispute resolution clauses from federal Enterprise Agreements certified between 1999 and 2001

ADR and Workplace Justice: Just Settlement?

Alternative Dispute Resolution has been deployed by an increasing number of workplaces since the late 1980s in Australia. Dispute resolution processes not only aim to settle disputes but, presumably, to also deliver justice. This article describes the findings of three case studies in which ADR professionals were engaged to resolve a workplace dispute. It was found that whilst ADR was generally effective in achieving consensual settlement of the matter, and satisfying disputants' feelings of procedural justice, it, paradoxically, failed to deliver distributive justice for the weaker disputants. The implications for workplace ADR practitioners is discussed

The case for adaptive theory for investigation meaning in the workplace

Most qualitative research studies in business utilise case studies, which on their own can fail to integrate wider, structural factors which may have shaped the observed events at the local level. This paper outlines the use of adaptive theory (Layder 1997, 1998) as a means of combining agency research (case studies of individual experiences and phenomological research) with structural research (broader theories, surveys of societal issues). The paper focuses on the application of adaptive theory on a study of workplace conflict resolution. The findings indicate that adaptive theory would be most suitable for studies dealing with corruption, HR processes (training, performance development, organisational change) and other areas in which an individual’s perception is required relating to workplace practices