Organizational control & the Catholic Church: a case study

This paper presents an analysis of the problem of child-abusing priests in the Catholic Church using data from the USA, UK and Ireland. The apparent scale of this issue raises crucial theoretical as well as policy issues. This paper explores various organizational explanations, linking it to traditional methods of ‘confessional control’ of organizational members. This is a novel concept which brings the issue into a wider organizational lens. Confessional control creates a series of guilt-laden identities that serve to maintain hierarchical control as well as social inclusion. Thus the process of recycling priests was part of a long-persisting pattern applied to child abuse cases. The theoretical implications of this are explored. The data consists of a series of cases across the three countries, partly drawn from a data-base of 4,000 alleged cases

Chemical and Physical Environmental Conditions Underneath Mat- and Canopy-Forming Macroalgae, and Their Effects on Understorey Corals

Disturbed coral reefs are often dominated by dense mat- or canopy-forming assemblages of macroalgae. This study investigated how such dense macroalgal assemblages change the chemical and physical microenvironment for understorey corals, and how the altered environmental conditions affect the physiological performance of corals. Field measurements were conducted on macroalgal-dominated inshore reefs in the Great Barrier Reef in quadrats with macroalgal biomass ranging from 235 to 1029 g DW m−2 dry weight. Underneath mat-forming assemblages, the mean concentration of dissolved oxygen was reduced by 26% and irradiance by 96% compared with conditions above the mat, while concentrations of dissolved organic carbon and soluble reactive phosphorous increased by 26% and 267%, respectively. The difference was significant but less pronounced under canopy-forming assemblages. Dissolved oxygen declined and dissolved inorganic carbon and alkalinity increased with increasing algal biomass underneath mat-forming but not under canopy-forming assemblages. The responses of corals to conditions similar to those found underneath algal assemblages were investigated in an aquarium experiment. Coral nubbins of the species Acropora millepora showed reduced photosynthetic yields and increased RNA/DNA ratios when exposed to conditions simulating those underneath assemblages (pre-incubating seawater with macroalgae, and shading). The magnitude of these stress responses increased with increasing proportion of pre-incubated algal water. Our study shows that mat-forming and, to a lesser extent, canopy-forming macroalgal assemblages alter the physical and chemical microenvironment sufficiently to directly and detrimentally affect the metabolism of corals, potentially impeding reef recovery from algal to coral-dominated states after disturbance. Macroalgal dominance on coral reefs therefore simultaneously represents a consequence and cause of coral reef degradation

The institutions of archaic post-modernity and their organizational and managerial consequences: The case of Portugal

The long march of modernization of the Western societies tends to be presented as following a regular sequence: societies and institutions were pre-modern, and then they were modernized, eventually becoming post-modern. Such teleology may provide an incomplete or distorted narrative of societal evolution in many parts of the world, even in the ‘post-modern heartland’ of Western Europe, with Portugal being a case in point. The concept of archaic post-modernity has been developed by a philosopher, José Gil, to show how Portuguese institutions and organizations combine elements of pre-modernity and post-modernity. The notion of an archaic post-modernity is advanced in order to provide an alternative account of the modernization process, which enriches discussion of the varieties of capitalism. Differences in historical experiences create singularities that may be considered in the analysis of culture, management and organization

Restructuring and the psychological contract in the Australian banking industry

This paper examines the employment trends in the Australian banking industry and assesses the impact of restructuring. How have the organisational changes in the big four banks affected the psychological contract? Utilizing quantitative and qualitative data from a survey of 1500 managers in one large bank, it concludes that the traditional psychological contract is crumbling. However, it has not been replaced by a new human resource management strategy by the big four banks who remain uncertain how to proceed in the current environment

Breaking technological meta-paradigms selling the unspeakable

This is a unique, path-breaking paper seeking to open up an area for analysis. It focuses on the technology of perception and introduces a number of new concepts as part of a theory-building effort. It is argued that the taken-for-granted perceptual space has been shaped by a sensory order. The notion of vision and auditory as ‘higher senses’ and the other channels as ‘lower senses’ derives from Aristotle. Western art became predominantly visual or auditory and this influenced the technologization and commodification of these perceptual channels. However, the technologization of the other perceptual channels (the ‘proxo-senses’) is emergent. This paper seeks to theorize what will be a fundamental technological shift of the 21st century

Technology and the organisation of work/ Littler

207 hal. : tab. : 24 cm

Restructuring in the Australian banking industry

Restructuring in the finance sector has involved significant change in workforce levels, layers of management, career structures and the type and nature of services provided to the community. Utilising quantitative and qualitative data from a survey of managers in one large bank plus a national survey of finance employees conducted in 1997, this chapter provides an overview of the sectoral changes. In banking the traditional employment relations are crumbling. However they have not been replaced by new human resource management strategies and for much of the 1990s the big four banks appeared uncertain how to proceed in the changing environment. The focus of this chapter is primarily on the Australian banking sector, especially the big four banks. However, significant data and comparisons are made with the rest of the finance sector. The layout of the chapter is as follows. The causes of restructuring within the banking industry are briefly discussed in the next section. The focus then shifts to employment trends in the finance sector. Thirdly, we discuss restructuring and HR strategies and employment relations, and we then examine patterns of change in one of the big four banks as a case study of the dynamics of change and an illustration of the general issues. In particular, the case study of Onebank raises the issue of how to manage restructuring