Description:
Work/life balance researchers have documented the low take-up rates of corporate work/life balance policies at the same time as there are reports of persistent work/life pressures. This research aims to provide more comprehensive explanations of the phenomenon of low policy take-up than those currently available in the work/life balance literature which focus on organisational and individual factors. The research project is based on a critical review of the work/life balance literature which focuses on organisational solutions and starts from the assumption that the organisational approach to researching and addressing work/life conflicts is inherently limited, mainly because it does not theorise gender as a social structure and does not take into consideration the social and political context in which work/life arrangements are negotiated but focuses, instead, on individual employees and organisations. I integrated my critical review of the organisational work/life balance literature with concepts in the feminist literature, most importantly the gendered public/private divide, to create an explicit ‘gender lens’ which guides the interpretations of my findings. I applied this gender lens to Habermas’ model of societal evolution to operationalise it as an analytical tool for this research. From this theoretical basis, I designed a comparative research project, using Australia and Sweden as country case studies, which compares the approaches to work/life balance in the two countries. The focus of the analysis is on parental leave as one important example of work/life balance policies. The data for this research includes the parental leave legislation, public documents released by governments and associated bodies as well as national surveys on the take-up of parental leave provisions in both countries. This material is analysed in the light of the conceptual framework. [...]
Description:
Work/life balance researchers have documented the low take-up rates of corporate work/life balance policies at the same time as there are reports of persistent work/life pressures. This research aims to provide more comprehensive explanations of the phenomenon of low policy take-up than those currently available in the work/life balance literature which focus on organisational and individual factors. The research project is based on a critical review of the work/life balance literature which focuses on organisational solutions and starts from the assumption that the organisational approach to researching and addressing work/life conflicts is inherently limited, mainly because it does not theorise gender as a social structure and does not take into consideration the social and political context in which work/life arrangements are negotiated but focuses, instead, on individual employees and organisations. I integrated my critical review of the organisational work/life balance literature with concepts in the feminist literature, most importantly the gendered public/private divide, to create an explicit ‘gender lens’ which guides the interpretations of my findings. I applied this gender lens to Habermas’ model of societal evolution to operationalise it as an analytical tool for this research. From this theoretical basis, I designed a comparative research project, using Australia and Sweden as country case studies, which compares the approaches to work/life balance in the two countries. The focus of the analysis is on parental leave as one important example of work/life balance policies. The data for this research includes the parental leave legislation, public documents released by governments and associated bodies as well as national surveys on the take-up of parental leave provisions in both countries. This material is analysed in the light of the conceptual framework. [...]
A profile of men's sheds in Australia: Patterns, purposes, profiles and experiences of participants: Some implications for ACE and VET about engaging older men
Description:
This paper uses literature and survey results to explore several issues associated with the emergence and development of community-based men’s sheds in Australia and their relationship to both community and further education and the training system. It develops a series of questions about these developments and their relationship to the development of men as learners as well as the nature of education and voluntary organisations. The confirms for the first time, using compelling and rigorously collected survey data from participants, the critical value of men’s sheds in community settings in Australia to older men’s well being: particularly to their health, social enjoyment, ongoing learning capacity and ability to contribute to the community. The sheds, relatively recently created, now provide a valuable and critically important place for a wide range of mainly older men within safe, supervised settings in where approximately 150 such sheds are now found in southern Australia. They allow men to regularly meet and happily socialise, mainly with other men with tools, in a safe, familiar, shared workspace in a wide range of communities, situations and organisational types. The men who use men’s sheds respond positively to environments that allow them to feel at home and learn by doing, in practical, group situations with other men. This paper confirms the high potential of men’s sheds, if carefully configured and managed, to include and support men experiencing issues associated with retirement, health, social isolation, aging and significant change.
Description:
This paper uses literature and survey results to explore several issues associated with the emergence and development of community-based men’s sheds in Australia and their relationship to both community and further education and the training system. It develops a series of questions about these developments and their relationship to the development of men as learners as well as the nature of education and voluntary organisations. The confirms for the first time, using compelling and rigorously collected survey data from participants, the critical value of men’s sheds in community settings in Australia to older men’s well being: particularly to their health, social enjoyment, ongoing learning capacity and ability to contribute to the community. The sheds, relatively recently created, now provide a valuable and critically important place for a wide range of mainly older men within safe, supervised settings in where approximately 150 such sheds are now found in southern Australia. They allow men to regularly meet and happily socialise, mainly with other men with tools, in a safe, familiar, shared workspace in a wide range of communities, situations and organisational types. The men who use men’s sheds respond positively to environments that allow them to feel at home and learn by doing, in practical, group situations with other men. This paper confirms the high potential of men’s sheds, if carefully configured and managed, to include and support men experiencing issues associated with retirement, health, social isolation, aging and significant change.
Description:
The story of early aviation in Australia is enthusiastic expectations and recurrent frustrations, attended by no small danger to those intrepid aviators who lifted themselves skyward in an array of hot-air and gas-filled balloons. Sooner of later, something of a spectacular nature was bound to occur. When it did it was three Melburnians who, on two separate occasions through their aeronautical endeavour, visited social chaos upon the citizens of Sydney. In consequence of a misreporting of one of these events, an inexactitude crept into Australia's aviation history that this article aims to correct.
Description:
This article considers the barriers to higher education currently faced by rural students in Australia. Three barriers to participation in higher education for rural students that appear consistently in the literature are financial pressures, family and community attributes, and physical location. Results of recent studies in this area suggest that these factors often coexist to create one, complex and intertwined barrier which needs to be approach by all involved in a collaborative and cooperative way in order to provide rural people with equitable access to higher education.
Description:
Because mobility is associated with rural social decline, this two-phase cross sectional study investigates whether social patterns in small, rural Australian towns are affected by commuting. Quantitative data, which was gathered via a mail-out questionnaire (response = 54 per cent) that was issued to 1,040 occupationally diverse professionals who worked in fourteen towns throughout north-western Victoria, was analysed to determine whether commuting and non-commuting professionals differed significantly in their community involvement. To explain why certain relationships emerged from survey analysis, face-toface interviews were subsequently undertaken with 24 questionnaire respondents. The key finding of this study is that there is a significant relationship between commuting status and the retention of rural professionals. A significantly greater proportion of noncommuters than commuters remain working in the one location for longer than five years. This finding has important implications for the sustainability of rural areas.
Description:
Because mobility is associated with rural social decline, this two-phase cross sectional study investigates whether social patterns in small, rural Australian towns are affected by commuting. Quantitative data, which was gathered via a mail-out questionnaire (response = 54 per cent) that was issued to 1,040 occupationally diverse professionals who worked in fourteen towns throughout north-western Victoria, was analysed to determine whether commuting and non-commuting professionals differed significantly in their community involvement. To explain why certain relationships emerged from survey analysis, face-toface interviews were subsequently undertaken with 24 questionnaire respondents. The key finding of this study is that there is a significant relationship between commuting status and the retention of rural professionals. A significantly greater proportion of noncommuters than commuters remain working in the one location for longer than five years. This finding has important implications for the sustainability of rural areas.
Description:
This thesis examines and reports upon the application of ergonomics interventions to OHS-based industrial problems. The study focuses on the values of these interventions as investment opportunieties for management. A wide review of the scientific and commercial literature, personal information, observation techniques, and a selected series of seven case studies and eleven separate data-sets within the Australian Postal Corporation have been undertaken.
Description:
This thesis examines and reports upon the application of ergonomics interventions to OHS-based industrial problems. The study focuses on the values of these interventions as investment opportunieties for management. A wide review of the scientific and commercial literature, personal information, observation techniques, and a selected series of seven case studies and eleven separate data-sets within the Australian Postal Corporation have been undertaken.
Description:
The purpose of this article is to describe and document the nascent state of hospitality in colonial Victoria from the 1830s until the gold rushes of 1850s. The primary source of such an account is the personal journal of a public servant, George Augustus Robinson, the Chief Protector of the Port Phillip Aboriginal Protectorate Department, perhaps the European with the most experience of travelling throughout the Port Phillip District. Accounts from other contemporary sources are used to complement Robinson's observations.
Description:
The purpose of this article is to describe and document the nascent state of hospitality in colonial Victoria from the 1830s until the gold rushes of 1850s. The primary source of such an account is the personal journal of a public servant, George Augustus Robinson, the Chief Protector of the Port Phillip Aboriginal Protectorate Department, perhaps the European with the most experience of travelling throughout the Port Phillip District. Accounts from other contemporary sources are used to complement Robinson's observations.
Description:
This paper celebrates the life of a businessman and central banker who, in the depression years, outshone and prevailed over both Theodore and Jack Lang. One member of the Scullin Cabinet, the fiery radical Frank Anstey recalled that 'with his seven year tenure in his pocket he was more than ever Prime Minister and the elected government was only the tube through which he issued orders'. The puzzle then is why Gibson has not received the coverage and attention that he deserves. While there has been a brief memoir of Gibson by Schedvin, no biography of him exists. Just after Gibson dies in 1934 the Commonwealth Bank, with the support of Gibson's Melbourne-based business and banking associates, was intent upon commissioning a short biography with University of Melbourne historian Sir Ernest Scott (1867-1939) assigned to undertake the task. At the same time on one of Gibson's daughters, Phyllis, wrote a doting, but incomplete, memoir of her father. The draft was never completed nor circulated but it led to an interesting sequel.
Description:
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the statistical evidence for the extent of employer training in Australia and analyse this information in the light of three major qualitative projects that have been undertaken into employer training since the mid-1990s.
Description:
With the rise of globalisation, technological innovation, diffusion of information via the Internet, and related changes in business values and beliefs, countries, regions, governments and institutions everywhere are facing changing conditions for competitive advantage (Pfeffer & Sutton, 2000). Globalisation allows companies of all sizes, even micro and small and medium size enterprises (SME) which were once unable to compete with larger firms, to participate in new markets and reduce costs. Deregulated markets allow for more competition as well as better product offering and prices for small businesses.
Description:
With the rise of globalisation, technological innovation, diffusion of information via the Internet, and related changes in business values and beliefs, countries, regions, governments and institutions everywhere are facing changing conditions for competitive advantage (Pfeffer & Sutton, 2000). Globalisation allows companies of all sizes, even micro and small and medium size enterprises (SME) which were once unable to compete with larger firms, to participate in new markets and reduce costs. Deregulated markets allow for more competition as well as better product offering and prices for small businesses.
Description:
Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to share the authors' initial insights into tourism industry capacity building via flexibly delivered online skilling and knowledge sharing. Design/methodology/approach - An online research survey approach was employed, involving a sample of 64 micro tourism operators. Findings - The paper finds that the major benefits perceived by operators across the pilot region, were the time saving aspects demonstrated in the smart form concept. Operators were also drawn in by the best practise examples and direct links to the online resources to bring and keep them up to date with industry information and developments. Research limitations/implications - The data presented in this paper represent initial findings of the pilot project. The project has since been completed. Practical implications - The model used for the pilot in this paper has been adopted by the Tourism Accreditation Board of Victoria and is now being considered for national rollout across Australia. The model is a practical and replicable capacity building model for micro tourism operators anywhere. Originality/value - The paper adopts a collaborative learning network approach to micro business capacity building and training.
Description:
Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to share the authors' initial insights into tourism industry capacity building via flexibly delivered online skilling and knowledge sharing. Design/methodology/approach - An online research survey approach was employed, involving a sample of 64 micro tourism operators. Findings - The paper finds that the major benefits perceived by operators across the pilot region, were the time saving aspects demonstrated in the smart form concept. Operators were also drawn in by the best practise examples and direct links to the online resources to bring and keep them up to date with industry information and developments. Research limitations/implications - The data presented in this paper represent initial findings of the pilot project. The project has since been completed. Practical implications - The model used for the pilot in this paper has been adopted by the Tourism Accreditation Board of Victoria and is now being considered for national rollout across Australia. The model is a practical and replicable capacity building model for micro tourism operators anywhere. Originality/value - The paper adopts a collaborative learning network approach to micro business capacity building and training.
Description:
It has been suggested that work-life balance policies are good weather policies, which have been implemented in times of a favourable economic environment and/or high demand for labour but may be withdrawn once those conditions deteriorate. This paper outlines three critical limitations of the management-oriented work-life balance literature. I argue that organisational approaches alone cannot bring about more balanced work-life conditions and that the scope of the current discussion needs to be systematically broadened to incorporate insights provided by research in other disciplines.
Description:
Purpose – To explore the failure of equal opportunity policies to counteract the barrier of children for women in management by considering male and female managers’ views on work culture, family division of labour and childlessness. Design/methodology/approach – Thirty Australian managers (19 male, 11 female) were interviewed as a follow up to a larger study in 1996, in order to extend inquiries around the issues of children, childlessness and senior management aspirations. Findings – Managers acknowledge the impediment that children are to a woman’s career path. They also have an awareness of patterns of delayed childbearing and potential childlessness. This awareness is confirmed through first hand experience in the families and at work. Managers also use a language of sacrifice and loss regarding their own or others’ failure to partner and procreate, as well as some reference to freedom and lifestyle. Furthermore there are diverging discourses on company loyalty and company greed given in relation to competing family loyalties and obligations. Finally, acknowledgement of gendered inequality (and some blindness to it) is indicated by both male and female managers. Research limitations/implications – Although based on a small sample from one country, the findings do imply that it is unwise to assume that women committed to a career do not want children. The option of having both is not made easy. Practical implications – Family policy for senior management should continue to be considered. Originality/value – Recognition of the complexity and diversity of attitudes to children, family and work contributes to a critique of overdrawn notions of types of women (Hakim, 2001).