One sport – the future course: independent review of athletics in Australia

This review calls for major governance reform, an overhaul of Athletics Australia’s high performance practices and for the sport to be united under one structure. Executive summary Following the recent 2014 Commonwealth Games, the Board of Athletics Australia Limited, in partnership with the Australian Sports Commission, commissioned an independent review of the design, delivery and administration of Athletics in Australia to gather and evaluate evidence about their strengths and weaknesses and provide recommendations to AA on how best to address them.  Media release ONE SPORT – The Future Course; Independent Review of Athletics in Australia has called for major governance reform, an overhaul of Athletics Australia’s (AA) high performance practices and for the sport to be united under one structure.   The review, chaired by former Australian cricket coach John Buchanan, was released today and highlighted significant issues facing the sport.   These included a lack of accountability and transparency in decision making at AA, poor board management, poor organisational culture and poor high performance systems.   “The situation that the sport of athletics finds itself in is not new. It has been a fragmented sport historically,” Buchanan said.   “Poor governance procedures are central to this lack of an integrated and coordinated delivery of the sport.   “The physical skills that an athletic program provides are fundamental to the health and well-being of all Australians.   “The opportunities for the sport of athletics are enormous if it can get its act together, i.e. ONE SPORT, junior and senior, to provide the range of fundamental physical skills that benefit all people across most sports and activities, whether they are recreational athletes or have a desire to pursue a high performance pathway.” The panel also comprised Melinda Gainsford-Taylor, Lynne Williams, Mark Bartels and Matt Favier. The review received 51 submissions and conducted 136 interviews across all states and territories. It made 16 recommendations, the bulk relating to governance and high performance reforms.   “While the review was comprehensive in its information gathering and extensive in its reporting and recommendations, the key to ensuring reforms of the sport are made is the implementation plan,” Buchanan said.   The plan includes the establishment of an oversight committee comprising representatives from the ASC, AIS and AA to meet on a monthly basis and monitor the progress of reform until the committee is satisfied of AA’s progress for at least 18 months.   It also recommended the ASC guarantee only 60 per cent of total funding to AA for 2015-16 with the balance to be provided when the oversight committee is satisfied with the progress made in implementing the recommendations.   AA has also been asked to report quarterly to all key stakeholders identified by the oversight committee of its progress against the recommendations.   &nbsp

Japan's Paradoxical Response to the new 'Global Standard' in Corporate Governance

We suggest, on the basis of empirical research into the implementation of recent legal reforms, that Japan is not moving inexorably towards a 'global standard' in corporate governance, based on external monitoring and a market for corporate control. Japanese corporate governance is nevertheless changing: in part as an indirect response to legal initiatives, new structures and practices are emerging, aimed at providing greater flexibility in decision-making, while retaining the organisational core of the Japanese firm. The paradoxical effect of legal reforms aimed, in large part, at transplanting the global standard, may be to renew the distinctive Japanese model of the corporation.corporate governance, company law reform, Japan

Union Amalgamations as a Basis for Union Renewal in Australia: Insights from Unfinished Business

For many in the labour movement, union mergers are viewed as a viable means of renewing labour organisations. This paper highlights the ongoing Australian experience with union mergers. In the first half of the 1990s, the number of Australian unions was halved as Australian Labour Party initiatives, supported by the labour movement, decreased the number of unions through amalgamations. Analysis of the mergers finds that union mergers have diverse forms, factional allegiances drive many mergers, and that mergers require strong transitional leadership and significant resources. Finally, union amalgamations by themselves do very little to reverse general trends of union decline

Metaphors as Two-way Mirrors: Illuminating Pre-service to In-service Teacher Identity Development

The transition from pre-service to in-service can be difficult for teachers. One means of looking into the minds and hearts of such teachers is to elicit the metaphors they adopt for themselves. Previous studies have indicated that during this transition much of the confidence, idealism and optimism of teacher metaphors is displaced by bleak and defeatist visions. These changes are usually explained by ‘praxis shock’ – a result of unrealistic prior views of teaching and equally unrealistic workloads and challenges. This research project asks if metaphors might reveal more about pre-service teachers’ views and vulnerabilities, and help avert or mitigate problems encountered in the early years. Metaphors provided by one cohort of pre-service teachers were distinguished according to ‘locus of pedagogy’ (student-centred or teacher-centred) and ‘degree of agency/efficacy’ in an attempt to gauge perceptions of control in the profession. The results have implications for incoming teachers, teacher educators and the profession

Corporate Governance and the Shareholder: Asymmetry, Confidence, and Decision-Making

In the decade following the ten-plus percent stockmarket collapse of 2000, regulators enacted a myriad of regulations in response to increasing angst experienced by U.S. capital market retail investors. Systemic asymmetric disclosures have fractured investor confidence prompting many commentators to characterize the relationship between Wall Street and the investment community on main street as dire. Though copious works exist on the phenomenon of corporate behaviors, especially matters of shareholder welfare, weak boards, pervious governance mechanisms, and managerial excess, current literature has revealed a dearth in corporate governance praxis specific to the question and effects of asymmetric disseminations and its principal impact on the retail/noninstitutional accredited investor\u27s (NIAI) confidence and decision-making propensities. This phenomenological study is purposed to bridging the gap between the effects of governance disclosure and the confidence and decision-making inclinations of NIAIs. Conceptual frameworks of Akerlof\u27s information theory and Verstegen Ryan and Buchholtz\u27s trust/risk decision making model undergirded the study. A nonrandom purposive sampling method was used to select 21 NIAI informants. Analysis of interview data revealed epistemological patterns/themes confirming the deleterious effects of asymmetrical disseminations on participants\u27 investment decision-making and trust behaviors. Findings may help academicians, investors, policy makers, and practitioners better comprehend the phenomenon and possibly contribute to operating efficiencies in the capital markets. Proaction and greater assertiveness in the investor/activist community may provide an impetus for continued regulatory reforms, improved transparency, and a revitalization of public trust as positive social change outcomes

Neuronal Control of Swimming Behavior: Comparison of Vertebrate and Invertebrate Model Systems

Swimming movements in the leech and lamprey are highly analogous, and lack homology. Thus, similarities in mechanisms must arise from convergent evolution rather than from common ancestry. Despite over 40 years of parallel investigations into this annelid and primitive vertebrate, a close comparison of the approaches and results of this research is lacking. The present review evaluates the neural mechanisms underlying swimming in these two animals and describes the many similarities that provide intriguing examples of convergent evolution. Specifically, we discuss swim initiation, maintenance and termination, isolated nervous system preparations, neural-circuitry, central oscillators, intersegmental coupling, phase lags, cycle periods and sensory feedback. Comparative studies between species highlight mechanisms that optimize behavior and allow us a broader understanding of nervous system function

The Value of Community-Service Programs

When both President Bush and Senator Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts assume leading roles in a new national movement, there is reason to believe that something significant may be happening. Such appears to be the case with the growing interest in Washington and elsewhere in youth-focused community-service programs