The legend of the RMA: A trilogy

In this presentation the author paints the conflict of people versus nature in light of the RMA, and go on to look at the repercussions of this through not only the plans that were prepared under this controversial legislation, but also their implementation and resulting environmental outcomes. The author highlights some strategies for lifting the expectations of environmental outcomes achieved under the RMA through improving the quality of planning and governance under this legislation

Planning paradise with the Cheshire Cat: Governance problems under the RMA

Much has been made of compliance costs to business and the need to process consents hastily in relation to the Resource Management Act in New Zealand. This obsession with compliance misses the fundamental problem of implementing the RMA — shortcomings in governance. This address will shed some light on this pervasive problem, first by characterizing RMA within the theoretical range of national mandates, then dealing in turn with governance issues at each level in the intergovernmental hierarchy of partnerships established by RMA and LGA. It concludes with brief mention of long term council community planning, because it too is at risk if governance is not improved

Measurement of tide induced changes to water table profiles in coarse and fine sand beaches along Pegasus Bay, Canterbury

Measurements of changing water table profiles in beaches along Pegasus Bay, Canterbury, show an interchange of water between the sea and beach sand pores throughout a single semi-diurnal tidal cycle. The velocity of water escaping from the water table in response to an ebbing tide does not appear sufficient to elutriate material of silt size or larger from the beach. The low computed velocity is thought to be due to hydrostatic control, by sand dunes at the back of the beach, on water table amplitude. Fresh water and wave wash are considered important supplementary sources to that of tidal water in influencing water table profiles

MP 2010-04

The Allis Chalmers ‘G’ tractors have long been favorites with market gardeners because the model combines excellent toolbar visibility, overall maneuverability, and good fuel economy in a relatively simple mechanical design. Unfortunately, the tractor’s small size and unique style make it a prime target for tractor collectors. This means that buying repair parts for the model ‘G’s can be expensive, since the suppliers cater to the hobbyist-restoration market rather than those using the machines on working farms. Conversion of the tractor to electric power eliminates the excessive costs involved in repairing the engine with original parts. The farmer who originally converted a conventional Allis Chalmers ‘G’ to a solar-powered cultivating tractor received partial funding through a Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Grant. He was very happy with the re-powered tractor and developed a website describing both the process of conversion and the resulting tractor (www.flyingbeet.com). The conversion of an Allis Chalmers ‘G’ to an electric (and ultimately solar-powered) cultivating tractor provides several benefits for the University of Alaska’s Matanuska Experiment Farm: ▷▷ 1) The Agricultural Experiment Station plays a leadership role in developing sustainable farming practices appropriate for Alaska, and using a tractor that does not operate on limited fossil fuels provides a working example of sustainable agricultural practices. ▷▷ 2) Among other duties, the tractor is used to cultivate inside 30’ x 96’ high tunnels where carbon monoxide would be a hazard to the operator. ▷▷ 3) The price of the conversion kit was only slightly more expensive than a replacement gasoline engine, and repair of the electric engine is considerably cheaper than repair of the gasoline engine

Toward a Strategic Human Resource Management Model of High Reliability Organization Performance

In this article, we extend strategic human resource management (SHRM) thinking to theory and research on high reliability organizations (HROs) using a behavioral approach. After considering the viability of reliability as an organizational performance indicator, we identify a set of eight reliability-oriented employee behaviors (ROEBs) likely to foster organizational reliability and suggest that they are especially valuable to reliability seeking organizations that operate under “trying conditions”. We then develop a reliability-enhancing human resource strategy (REHRS) likely to facilitate the manifestation of these ROEBs. We conclude that the behavioral approach offers SHRM scholars an opportunity to explain how people contribute to specific organizational goals in specific contexts and, in turn, to identify human resource strategies that extend the general high performance human resource strategy (HPHRS) in new and important ways

Dynamic Organizations: Achieving Marketplace Agility Through Workforce Scalability

Dynamic organizations (DOs) operate in business environments characterized by frequent and discontinuous change, They compete on the basis of marketplace agility; that is on their ability to generate a steady stream of both large and small innovations in products, services, solutions, business models, and even internal processes that enable them to leapfrog and outmaneuver current and would-be competitors and thus eke out a series of temporary competitive advantages that might, with luck, add up to sustained success over time. Marketplace agility requires the ongoing reallocation of resources, including human resources. We use the term workforce scalability to capture the capacity of an organization to keep its human resources aligned with business needs by transitioning quickly and easily from one human resource configuration to another and another, ad infinitum. We argue that marketplace agility is enhanced by workforce agility because it is likely to meet the four necessary and sufficient conditions postulated by the resource based view (RBV) of the firm – valuable, rare, inimitable, and non-substitutable – if it can be attained. Our analysis therefore concludes by focusing on the two dimensions of workforce scalability – alignment and fluidity – and postulating a number of principles that might be used to guide the design of an HR strategy that enhances both. Throughout the paper, key concepts are illustrated using the experiences of Google, the well-known Internet search firm. Because the analysis is speculative and intended primarily to pique the interest of researchers and practitioners, the paper ends with a number of important questions that remain to be clarified

Achieving Marketplace Agility Through Human Resource Scalability

[Excerpt] Increasingly, firms find themselves, either by circumstances or choice, operating in highly turbulent business environments. For them, competitiveness is a constantly moving target. Many, it appears, are satisfied to enjoin the struggle with patched up business models and warmed over bureaucracies. But some, convinced that this is a losing proposition, are aggressively exploring and even experimenting with alternative frameworks and approaches. The monikers are many -- kinetic (Fradette and Michaud, 1998), dynamic (Peterson and Mannix, 2003), resilient (Hamel and Valikangas, 2003) and our favorite, agile (Shafer, Dyer, Kilty, Ericksen and Amos, 2001) -- but the aim is the same: to create organizations where change is the natural state of affairs. Clearly, this quest poses a number of major challenges for our field (Dyer and Shafer, 1999, 2003), one of which, optimizing human resource scalability, is the subject of this essay

ILR Impact Brief - Workforce Alignment and Fluidity May Yield a Competitive Advantage

[Excerpt] The authors postulate that workforce scalability is the key competency necessary for ongoing marketplace success. Workforce scalability encompasses two factors: alignment and fluidity. The former is an ideal target that calls for the right number of the right type of people in the right place at the right time doing the right thing. The latter is the means by which organizations hit the target, and specifically refers to the speed and ease with which employees are moved around and adjust their behaviors to suit changing business requirements. A set of operating principles facilitates the simultaneous attainment of workforce alignment and fluidity

Uncovering And Exploring The Mobilization And Launch Phase Of High And Low Performing Project Teams

As part of a larger study, this analysis, first, uncovers a previously alluded to, but heretofore un-explicated, phase of project team development (PTD) -- dubbed mobilization and launch -- and, then, explores the ways in which activities and outputs of this phase relate to project team effectiveness (PTE) by comparing them across three high and three low performing teams. The analysis shows that the former used this formative period: (1) to actuate a comprehensive mobilization strategy that was carried out relatively rapidly and resulted in well informed, as well as fully and competently staffed, teams and (2) to hold highly participatory launch meetings from which team members emerged in general agreement about what needed to be done and how and by whom it would be done. Low performing teams, in contrast, basically squandered this potentially valuable time and, thus, emerged from this phase totally unprepared to move to and effectively through subsequent phases of PTD