Public Sector Organizations and Cultural Change, 2015
A significant portion of the Australian public sector has undergone quite a dramatic transformati... more A significant portion of the Australian public sector has undergone quite a dramatic transformation in recent times. A number of government departments and national enterprises have either been privatized and subjected to the rigors of the open market and the attendant requirement for increased efficiency that this necessarily involves, or corporatized, where privatization is not practicable, due to the nature of the industries in which some organizations are involved. Corporatized organizations are now expected to operate on a more businesslike model so that they can achieve some degree of pseudo-privatization with a view to emulating the business model of their privatized cousins. Organizations that do not provide services directly to the public, and that fall under the public goods banner, are not exempt from this push. The question is, however, to what degree do organizations of this type truly embrace the New Public Management (NPM) model? Do they actually manage to achieve genuine efficiencies or do they succumb to the temptation to maintain their past practices for safety’s sake, so that they can continue to fit the traditional institutional model of Weberian bureaucracy and warrant the mantle of custodians of good order?
Corruption and concerns around ethics have perpetuated through history, heavily influenced by ine... more Corruption and concerns around ethics have perpetuated through history, heavily influenced by ineffective whistle-blowing processes and systems. Corruption has afflicted all forms of institutions and government and remains one of the most important challenges to the moral basis of developed and developing democracies. Whistle-blowing is an ethical issue based on the value systems of a nation. Its effectiveness requires total commitment and concerted efforts by government and civil society to examine cultural influences on such acts. There is no doubt that reluctance around whistle-blowing poses a particularly serious danger to newly democratized countries such as South Africa.
Feminist Institutionalism and Gendered Bureaucracies, 2020
This chapter provides insights into the experiences of forestry workers within the framework of F... more This chapter provides insights into the experiences of forestry workers within the framework of Feminist Institutionalism (FI). First, a brief review of the methods for collecting and analysing data is offered. In the second section, the ‘inclusion of women’ in forest bureaucracy is reconceptualized through perceptual data from interviews. In the third section, the organizational culture of the forest bureaucracy in Nepal is described under seven subheadings In the fourth section, Nepal’s forest bureaucracy is examined through the aspects of formal and informal institutions that support or hinder the inclusion of women in forestry organizations. The fifth section of this chapter presents the concept of structure and agency in forest bureaucracy, examined through the perspectives of the research participants. Next, the dynamics of power relations between male and female employees as ‘gender actors’ in Nepal’s forest bureaucracy are explored. In the subsequent section, some reflections based on observations, recorded in a daily journal during fieldwork, are briefly presented as a supplement to ideas generated from interviews and focus group discussions. Finally, the chapter is concluded with a summary of key points.
Public Sector Organizations and Cultural Change, 2015
The previous chapter charted the exposition of my journey from hope to despair during my long car... more The previous chapter charted the exposition of my journey from hope to despair during my long career in the public sector. I articulated the pressure placed on me resulting from the organizational injunction of expecting me to conform to two contradictory paradigms—those of traditional bureaucracy with its attendant emphasis on process and procedure and NPM with its customer-centric and efficiency focus. The public sector workplace of today is very different from the one of several decades ago. While some change must be expected within any environment I have found that the changes to which I have been exposed as a result of the government’s NPM policy represent a considerable departure from the conditions of old.
This chapter presents a review of Nepalese government policies focused towards gender equality an... more This chapter presents a review of Nepalese government policies focused towards gender equality and women’s inclusion and examines the effectiveness of policies and other interventions for women’s inclusion from historical to current times.
This chapter begins by describing the purpose, aim, and scope of the book. It describes the histo... more This chapter begins by describing the purpose, aim, and scope of the book. It describes the historical context of the public sector culture, the changes resulting from the introduction of the philosophies of New Public Management (NPM) and managerialism, and the effects that these changes have had on public sector employees, particularly those employed in the sector prior to the introduction of NPM. The book analyzes institutional theory and examines the effects that attempting to conform to the mandated NPM philosophy while retaining traditional bureaucratic methodologies has had on those affected organizations and their staff members.
This chapter will address four key issues. First, cultural identities are socially constructed. S... more This chapter will address four key issues. First, cultural identities are socially constructed. Second, the national discourses racialise cultural identities. This discussion includes an examination of the debates in the literature about moving ‘beyond race’. The third argument is that liberal multicultural discourse on sameness and difference is the historical backdrop to the construction of identity in liberal democratic societies. Fourth, cultural identity is constructed on the ground of Indigenous sovereignty in the context of Australian invader society. This chapter provides a critical literature review on the racialisation of cultural identities. The chapter considers the critical race and whiteness literature to examine what is known about racialised identities.
Whistle blowing can be considered a key tool for fighting corruption, encouraging good governance... more Whistle blowing can be considered a key tool for fighting corruption, encouraging good governance, accountability and transparency in the public sector. Our main research objective was to gain a better sense of variables influencing employees’ intentions to blow the whistle within South African local government A survey document was sent to South African local governments. Respondents were required to indicate their opinions on a five point lickert scale. Principal component Factor analysis was applied to the data. The findings are consistent with previous research into whistle blowing. The need to blow the whistle is reduced if an organization’s control system is seen to have integrity and is perceived as a deterrent against maleficent behaviours. Introduction First coined in the 1970’s (Near and Miceli, 1985) whistle blowing became an accepted term over the years (Dworkin and Near, 1997; Near and Miceli 1985, 1996). Whistle blowing is generally defined as “The confession by organi...
The International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, 2015
Intercultural competency (ICC) has been an extensively researched area within the past decade, gi... more Intercultural competency (ICC) has been an extensively researched area within the past decade, given the broad consensus that this trait constitutes one of the key competencies of the 21st century manager. However, somewhat under-explored are aspects including the implications and effects that pedagogies such as blended learning have on the inculcation of ICC traits, specifically within the context of multicultural, multi-ethnic university level student groups in Australia, within which this research has been conducted. Drawing on social psychology, this exploratory study examines perceptual data on blended learning experiences within a cross-cultural higher education setting. Results suggest that intercultural competency is best learned through social exchanges, such as faceto-face rather than blended learning. Our findings provide support for the importance of context, which is significantly related to cross-cultural studies and curriculum development and design.
The focus of this chapter is to examine social construction of a contemporary nation. This will f... more The focus of this chapter is to examine social construction of a contemporary nation. This will first allow us to comment on the racialised discourse that produces a white Australia and second further contextualise the question ‘How do rural people who identify as white Australian think about race and Australian identity in the context of Indigenous sovereignty in their everyday lives?’ Part of the answer to this question requires an exploration of the social construction of the nation. This chapter argues that there is a simultaneous history of the oppression of Indigenous Australians and Oriental others through racialisation.
This chapter discusses Aboriginal policy and in particular, the federal Aboriginal policy and leg... more This chapter discusses Aboriginal policy and in particular, the federal Aboriginal policy and legislation of the Northern Territory Emergency Response (NTER) and the contemporary extension termed ‘Stronger Futures’ until 2020. The NTER is significant because the then Howard Liberal Coalition and successive federal governments legislated and intervened in the Northern Territory that is, a democratically self-governing territory but not federated state. This chapter also examines in detail how empathy and compassion is witheld from those racialised as ‘Other’ or ‘Outsiders’ because of the white patriarchal capitalist possessive logic underpinning federal Aboriginal policy written by hegemonic identities.
In this chapter, respondents who identify as ‘white Australians’ and are Australian-born talk abo... more In this chapter, respondents who identify as ‘white Australians’ and are Australian-born talk about multiculturalism, refugees, and national identity. The point of this chapter is to analyse the complexities of ‘everyday understandings’ of several discourses. White Australia and multiculturalism are discourses intended to understand differences, including differences associated with migrants and refugees. National identity is a discourse of belonging to the country. How do these discourses speak to each other? How do they engage with Indigenous sovereignty? The central argument is that the social and political history of a ‘white Australia’ continues to inform the terms of multiculturalism and ignore Indigenous sovereignty.
Feminist Institutionalism and Gendered Bureaucracies, 2020
Gender, as a social construction, refers to the difference between men and women. Gender is the p... more Gender, as a social construction, refers to the difference between men and women. Gender is the perceived opposite attributes of maleness and femaleness, which define the different behaviours and roles of men and women (Gherardi and Poggio, 2001). Unlike biological differences, gender is socially created and refers to human attributes in relation to norms, values and cultures in a given circumstance (Reed, 2008). Therefore, gender is related more to the perceived (expected or allowed) roles of men and women, which have developed through sets of social practices based on economy, politics and culture. It is a dynamic phenomenon, which is negotiated and contested over time as an element of social relationship (Elmhirst and Resurreccion, 2008). Generally, gender provides additional criteria alongside biological differences in distinguishing between men and women although it has a broader meaning (Gherardi, 1995).
In this paper we examine predictors of job satisfaction within the call centre industry. Using a ... more In this paper we examine predictors of job satisfaction within the call centre industry. Using a qualitative methodology, we investigate the nature and extent of job satisfaction of customer service representatives in two large Australian call centres. The findings from the study confirm that monitoring, personal privacy and flexibility correlate to workers’ wellbeing and job satisfaction
Public Sector Organizations and Cultural Change, 2015
A significant portion of the Australian public sector has undergone quite a dramatic transformati... more A significant portion of the Australian public sector has undergone quite a dramatic transformation in recent times. A number of government departments and national enterprises have either been privatized and subjected to the rigors of the open market and the attendant requirement for increased efficiency that this necessarily involves, or corporatized, where privatization is not practicable, due to the nature of the industries in which some organizations are involved. Corporatized organizations are now expected to operate on a more businesslike model so that they can achieve some degree of pseudo-privatization with a view to emulating the business model of their privatized cousins. Organizations that do not provide services directly to the public, and that fall under the public goods banner, are not exempt from this push. The question is, however, to what degree do organizations of this type truly embrace the New Public Management (NPM) model? Do they actually manage to achieve genuine efficiencies or do they succumb to the temptation to maintain their past practices for safety’s sake, so that they can continue to fit the traditional institutional model of Weberian bureaucracy and warrant the mantle of custodians of good order?
Corruption and concerns around ethics have perpetuated through history, heavily influenced by ine... more Corruption and concerns around ethics have perpetuated through history, heavily influenced by ineffective whistle-blowing processes and systems. Corruption has afflicted all forms of institutions and government and remains one of the most important challenges to the moral basis of developed and developing democracies. Whistle-blowing is an ethical issue based on the value systems of a nation. Its effectiveness requires total commitment and concerted efforts by government and civil society to examine cultural influences on such acts. There is no doubt that reluctance around whistle-blowing poses a particularly serious danger to newly democratized countries such as South Africa.
Feminist Institutionalism and Gendered Bureaucracies, 2020
This chapter provides insights into the experiences of forestry workers within the framework of F... more This chapter provides insights into the experiences of forestry workers within the framework of Feminist Institutionalism (FI). First, a brief review of the methods for collecting and analysing data is offered. In the second section, the ‘inclusion of women’ in forest bureaucracy is reconceptualized through perceptual data from interviews. In the third section, the organizational culture of the forest bureaucracy in Nepal is described under seven subheadings In the fourth section, Nepal’s forest bureaucracy is examined through the aspects of formal and informal institutions that support or hinder the inclusion of women in forestry organizations. The fifth section of this chapter presents the concept of structure and agency in forest bureaucracy, examined through the perspectives of the research participants. Next, the dynamics of power relations between male and female employees as ‘gender actors’ in Nepal’s forest bureaucracy are explored. In the subsequent section, some reflections based on observations, recorded in a daily journal during fieldwork, are briefly presented as a supplement to ideas generated from interviews and focus group discussions. Finally, the chapter is concluded with a summary of key points.
Public Sector Organizations and Cultural Change, 2015
The previous chapter charted the exposition of my journey from hope to despair during my long car... more The previous chapter charted the exposition of my journey from hope to despair during my long career in the public sector. I articulated the pressure placed on me resulting from the organizational injunction of expecting me to conform to two contradictory paradigms—those of traditional bureaucracy with its attendant emphasis on process and procedure and NPM with its customer-centric and efficiency focus. The public sector workplace of today is very different from the one of several decades ago. While some change must be expected within any environment I have found that the changes to which I have been exposed as a result of the government’s NPM policy represent a considerable departure from the conditions of old.
This chapter presents a review of Nepalese government policies focused towards gender equality an... more This chapter presents a review of Nepalese government policies focused towards gender equality and women’s inclusion and examines the effectiveness of policies and other interventions for women’s inclusion from historical to current times.
This chapter begins by describing the purpose, aim, and scope of the book. It describes the histo... more This chapter begins by describing the purpose, aim, and scope of the book. It describes the historical context of the public sector culture, the changes resulting from the introduction of the philosophies of New Public Management (NPM) and managerialism, and the effects that these changes have had on public sector employees, particularly those employed in the sector prior to the introduction of NPM. The book analyzes institutional theory and examines the effects that attempting to conform to the mandated NPM philosophy while retaining traditional bureaucratic methodologies has had on those affected organizations and their staff members.
This chapter will address four key issues. First, cultural identities are socially constructed. S... more This chapter will address four key issues. First, cultural identities are socially constructed. Second, the national discourses racialise cultural identities. This discussion includes an examination of the debates in the literature about moving ‘beyond race’. The third argument is that liberal multicultural discourse on sameness and difference is the historical backdrop to the construction of identity in liberal democratic societies. Fourth, cultural identity is constructed on the ground of Indigenous sovereignty in the context of Australian invader society. This chapter provides a critical literature review on the racialisation of cultural identities. The chapter considers the critical race and whiteness literature to examine what is known about racialised identities.
Whistle blowing can be considered a key tool for fighting corruption, encouraging good governance... more Whistle blowing can be considered a key tool for fighting corruption, encouraging good governance, accountability and transparency in the public sector. Our main research objective was to gain a better sense of variables influencing employees’ intentions to blow the whistle within South African local government A survey document was sent to South African local governments. Respondents were required to indicate their opinions on a five point lickert scale. Principal component Factor analysis was applied to the data. The findings are consistent with previous research into whistle blowing. The need to blow the whistle is reduced if an organization’s control system is seen to have integrity and is perceived as a deterrent against maleficent behaviours. Introduction First coined in the 1970’s (Near and Miceli, 1985) whistle blowing became an accepted term over the years (Dworkin and Near, 1997; Near and Miceli 1985, 1996). Whistle blowing is generally defined as “The confession by organi...
The International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, 2015
Intercultural competency (ICC) has been an extensively researched area within the past decade, gi... more Intercultural competency (ICC) has been an extensively researched area within the past decade, given the broad consensus that this trait constitutes one of the key competencies of the 21st century manager. However, somewhat under-explored are aspects including the implications and effects that pedagogies such as blended learning have on the inculcation of ICC traits, specifically within the context of multicultural, multi-ethnic university level student groups in Australia, within which this research has been conducted. Drawing on social psychology, this exploratory study examines perceptual data on blended learning experiences within a cross-cultural higher education setting. Results suggest that intercultural competency is best learned through social exchanges, such as faceto-face rather than blended learning. Our findings provide support for the importance of context, which is significantly related to cross-cultural studies and curriculum development and design.
The focus of this chapter is to examine social construction of a contemporary nation. This will f... more The focus of this chapter is to examine social construction of a contemporary nation. This will first allow us to comment on the racialised discourse that produces a white Australia and second further contextualise the question ‘How do rural people who identify as white Australian think about race and Australian identity in the context of Indigenous sovereignty in their everyday lives?’ Part of the answer to this question requires an exploration of the social construction of the nation. This chapter argues that there is a simultaneous history of the oppression of Indigenous Australians and Oriental others through racialisation.
This chapter discusses Aboriginal policy and in particular, the federal Aboriginal policy and leg... more This chapter discusses Aboriginal policy and in particular, the federal Aboriginal policy and legislation of the Northern Territory Emergency Response (NTER) and the contemporary extension termed ‘Stronger Futures’ until 2020. The NTER is significant because the then Howard Liberal Coalition and successive federal governments legislated and intervened in the Northern Territory that is, a democratically self-governing territory but not federated state. This chapter also examines in detail how empathy and compassion is witheld from those racialised as ‘Other’ or ‘Outsiders’ because of the white patriarchal capitalist possessive logic underpinning federal Aboriginal policy written by hegemonic identities.
In this chapter, respondents who identify as ‘white Australians’ and are Australian-born talk abo... more In this chapter, respondents who identify as ‘white Australians’ and are Australian-born talk about multiculturalism, refugees, and national identity. The point of this chapter is to analyse the complexities of ‘everyday understandings’ of several discourses. White Australia and multiculturalism are discourses intended to understand differences, including differences associated with migrants and refugees. National identity is a discourse of belonging to the country. How do these discourses speak to each other? How do they engage with Indigenous sovereignty? The central argument is that the social and political history of a ‘white Australia’ continues to inform the terms of multiculturalism and ignore Indigenous sovereignty.
Feminist Institutionalism and Gendered Bureaucracies, 2020
Gender, as a social construction, refers to the difference between men and women. Gender is the p... more Gender, as a social construction, refers to the difference between men and women. Gender is the perceived opposite attributes of maleness and femaleness, which define the different behaviours and roles of men and women (Gherardi and Poggio, 2001). Unlike biological differences, gender is socially created and refers to human attributes in relation to norms, values and cultures in a given circumstance (Reed, 2008). Therefore, gender is related more to the perceived (expected or allowed) roles of men and women, which have developed through sets of social practices based on economy, politics and culture. It is a dynamic phenomenon, which is negotiated and contested over time as an element of social relationship (Elmhirst and Resurreccion, 2008). Generally, gender provides additional criteria alongside biological differences in distinguishing between men and women although it has a broader meaning (Gherardi, 1995).
In this paper we examine predictors of job satisfaction within the call centre industry. Using a ... more In this paper we examine predictors of job satisfaction within the call centre industry. Using a qualitative methodology, we investigate the nature and extent of job satisfaction of customer service representatives in two large Australian call centres. The findings from the study confirm that monitoring, personal privacy and flexibility correlate to workers’ wellbeing and job satisfaction
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