How does Information Technology impact the methods, potential and purpose of education?

It is evident that information technology has affected changes to the methods, purpose and the perceived potential of education. While various authors differ in their opinion on the degree, desirability and destiny of these changes, all agree that change processes have certainly been underway. However, the process of change is far from over. Numerous authors auger grave peril for education institutions that refuse to integrate information technology into every level of the education institution. Some authors argue that the very nature of education itself will change. Information technology, whether perceived as a power for good or a power for evil, certainly has not been neutral. While effecting change has been difficult in many situations, contemporary information technology has by its very nature, been an agent of change in education institutions

Indigenous Entrepreneurship: An Analysis of Capital Constraints

Encouraging entrepreneurship amongst Indigenous people, and fostering the development of small businesses, has been advocated as the most promising avenue for economic development amongst Indigenous communities (Fuller et al., 2003). Unfortunately, the number of Indigenous people engaged in small businesses in Australia is quite low when compared both to the national average and also with Indigenous participation rates in Canada and the United States of America (Hindle, 2002). While rationales for low Indigenous participation rates in small businesses have been advanced for other Pacific nations (Cheshire, 2001a, 2001b; Croulet and Sio, 1986; van der Grijp 2003; Curry 2005), a cogent explanation of analysis of low participation rates by Indigenous entrepreneurs in Australia remains to be articulated. One explanation for low Indigenous participation rates in small business is due to a lack of access to capital (de Bruin & Mataira 2003). Bourdieu (1986) suggested that there are a number of different types of capital. Firkin (2003) advances this reasoning by arguing the following forms of capital are relevant to entrepreneurs: financial, human, social, physical, organisational and technological. If an entrepreneur lacks of access these forms of capital, this is likely to have negative outcomes for the entrepreneurial venture (de Bruin and Dupuis 2003; Firkin 2003). The literature suggests that Indigenous entrepreneurs lack access to most of these forms of capital. For example, many Indigenous communities lack access to physical, labour, and information marketplaces (Miller 1985; Pearson, 2000); financial institutions and financial capital (Daly 1994); and have low levels of financial literacy and management skills (de Bruin and Matira 2003). Indigenous entrepreneurs do, however, have access to rich sources of social capital through their extended kinship networks. But this form of capital proffers a mixed blessing for Indigenous entrepreneurs. Dense social networks can provide rich sources of financial, intellectual and social capital (Naphiet & Goshal 19984). However if a network is over-embedded it can paradoxically limit access to resources (Uzzi 1997). For Indigenous entrepreneurs, social networks can even result in a drain on resources, as an Indigenous person in business is expected to share their wealth with their kin - even if this wealth is floor stock that needs to be sold in order to create operating surplus (Foley 2003). This is what has been referred to as the 'traders dilemma' in Pacific Island nations (van der Grijp 2003), as the entrepreneur needs to make a profit to succeed in business, but is also expected to distribute wealth among kinship networks. These calls for support and favours from extended networks of relations can often overwhelm new enterprises (Granovetter 1992:7). Sharing resources within Indigenous communities is more than an economic investment - it is also a social investment (Schwab, 1995). In Schwab's (1995) extended analysis the social networks of indigenous people, sharing acts as a primitive form of socialism through redistribution of wealth through the community, and reinforces the relationship of giver and receiver through the act of giving. To refuse a request from a relative in need is to reject the relationship itself (Schwab 1995). As Granovetter (1992: 4) argues, the ''(1) the pursuit of economic goals is normally accompanied by that of such non-economic ones as sociability, approval, status and power; (2) economic action (like all action) is socially situated and cannot be explained by individual motives alone; it is embedded in ongoing networks of personal relations rather than carried out by atomised actors''. Thus the rich social networks of Indigenous entrepreneurs, while a resource, are paradoxically a drain on financial resources, due to their embedded nature. A number of examples of attempts by government to address the capital constraints facing Indigenous communities are identified, specifically programs which seek to enhance financial literacy, micro savings and loans, business incubators and enterprise partnerships

Defining the dimensions of engineering asset procurement: towards an integrated model

Procuring engineering asset management is a critical activity of all types of government, with optimal approaches to procurement still in need of identification. This paper advances a novel approach of exploring the procurement of engineering assets across a number of dimensions: Project rules, organisational interaction rules and complexity. The dimensions of project rules are held to include cost, quality and time. The dimensions of organisational interaction rules are held to be collaboration, competition and control. Complexity is seen as in the project itself, in the interaction between organisations or in the business environment. Taken together these dimensions seem salient for any type of engineering asset, and provide a useful way of conceptualising procurement arrangements of these assets

Mapping the Australian Regulatory Environment: Implications for Construction Firms

As regulators, governments are often criticised for over‐regulating industries. This research project seeks to examine the regulation affecting the construction industry in a federal system of government. It uses a case study of the Australian system of government to focus on the question of the implications of regulation in the construction industry. Having established the extent of the regulatory environment, the research project considers the costs associated with this environment. Consequently, ways in which the regulatory burden on industry can be reduced are evaluated. The Construction Industry Business Environment project is working with industry and government agencies to improve regulatory harmonisation in Australia, and thereby reduce the regulatory burden on industry. It is found that while taxation and compliance costs are not likely to be reduced in the short term, costs arising from having to adapt to variation between regulatory regimes in a federal system of government, seem the most promising way of reducing regulatory costs. Identifying and reducing adaptive costs across jurisdictional are argued to present a novel approach to regulatory reform

Infrastructure transitions toward sustainability: a complex adaptive systems perspective

To ensure infrastructure assets are procured and maintained by government on behalf of citizens, appropriate policy and institutional architecture is needed, particularly if a fundamental shift to more sustainable infrastructure is the goal. The shift in recent years from competitive and resource-intensive procurement to more collaborative and sustainable approaches to infrastructure governance is considered a major transition in infrastructure procurement systems. In order to better understand this transition in infrastructure procurement arrangements, the concept of emergence from Complex Adaptive Systems (CAS) theory is offered as a key construct. Emergence holds that micro interactions can result in emergent macro order. Applying the concept of emergence to infrastructure procurement, this research examines how interaction of agents in individual projects can result in different industry structural characteristics. The paper concludes that CAS theory, and particularly the concept of ‘emergence’, provides a useful construct to understand infrastructure procurement dynamics and progress towards sustainability

Juggling competing public values : resolving conflicting agendas in social procurement in Queensland

Organisations within the not-for-profit sector provide services to individuals and groups government and for-profit organisations cannot or will not consider. This response by the not-for-profit sector to market failure and government failure is a well understood contribution to society by the nonprofit sector. Over time, this response has resulted in the development of a vibrant and rich agglomeration of services and programs that operate under a myriad of philosophical stances, service orientations, client groupings and operational capacities. In Australia, these organisations and services provide social support and service assistance to many people in the community; often targeting their assistance to clients facing the most difficult of clients with complex problems. Initially, in undertaking this role, the not-for-profit sector received limited sponsorship from government, relying on primarily on public donations to fund the delivery of services. (Lyons 2001). Over time governments assumed greater responsibility in the form of service grants to particular groups: ‘the worthy poor’. More recently, government has engaged in widespread procurement of services from the not-for-profit sector, which specify the nature of the outcomes to be achieved and, to a degree, the way in which the services will be provided. A consequence of this growing shift to a more marketised model of service contracting, often offered-up under the label of enhanced collaborative practice, has been increased competitiveness between agencies that had previously worked well together (Keast and Brown, 2006). One of the challenges which emerge from the procurement of services by government from third sector organisations is that public values such as effectiveness, efficiency, transparency and professionalism can be neglected (Jørgensen and Bozeman 2002), although this is not always the case (Brown, Furneaux and Gudmundsson 2012). While some approaches to the examination of social procurement - the intentional purchasing of social outcomes (Furneaux and Barraket 2011) - assumes that public values are lost in social procurement arrangements (Bozeman 2002; Jørgensen and Bozeman 2002), alternative approach suggest such inevitability is not the case. Instead, social procurement is seen to involve a set of tensions (Brown, Potoski and Slyke 2006) or a set of trade offs (Charles et al. 2007), which must be managed, and through such management, public values can be potentially safeguarded (Bruin and Dicke 2006). The potential trade-offs of public values in social procurement is an area in need of further research, and one which carries both theoretical and practical significance. Additionally, the juxtaposition of policies – horizontal integration and vertical efficiency – results in a complex, crowded and contested policy and practice environment (Keast et al., 2007),, with the potential for set of unintentional consequences arising from these arrangements. Further the involvement of for-profit, non-profit, and hybrid organisations such as social enterprises, adds further complexity in the number of different organisational forms engaged in service delivery on behalf of government. To address this issue, this paper uses information gleaned from a state-wide survey of not-for-profit organisations in Queensland, Australia which included within its focus organisational size, operational scope, funding arrangements and governance/management approaches. Supplementing this information is qualitative data derived from 17 focus groups and 120 interviews conducted over ten years of study of this sector. The findings contribute to greater understanding of the practice and theory of the future provision of social services

Uptake of an OHS code of practice by construction firms : barriers and enablers in an Australian industry

The Australian construction industry, reflecting a global trend, is moving towards the implementation of a voluntary code of practice (hereafter VCP) for occupational health and safety. The evidence suggests that highlyvisible clients and project management firms, in addition to their subcontractors, look set to embrace such a code. However, smaller firms not operating in high-profile contracting regimes may prove reticent to adopt a VCP. This paper incorporates qualitative data from a high-profile research project commissioned by Engineers Australia and supported by the Australian Contractors’ Association, Property Council of Australia, Royal Australian Institute of Architects, Association of Consulting Engineers Australia, Australian Procurement and Construction Council, Master Builders Australia and the Australian CRC for Construction Innovation. The paper aims to understand the factors that facilitate or prevent the uptake of the VCP by smaller firms, together with pathways to the adoption of a VCP by industry

BIM – implications for government

As ‘The Architect’s Handbook of Professional Practice’ (cited by Riskus (2007) suggests, Building Information Modelling, or BIM, is “the use of virtual building information models to develop building design solutions, design documentation, and to analyse construction processes”. We would suggest such a definition, while useful, should be extended to include the operational phases of built assets (such as maintenance and decommissioning), and also be applied to the whole area of infrastructure. As a set of technologies, BIM holds promise to deliver benefits for the property, construction, and infrastructure management industries – particularly improved efficiencies and effectiveness through enhanced collaboration at all stages of the construction cycle. There are several important qualifiers, barriers, enablers, and some disadvantages with this suite of technologies. This report outlines the costs and benefits enablers and barriers associated with BIM, and makes suggestions about how these issues may be addressed