Achieving agri-environmental policy outcomes using models of institutional change

Abstract

Institutions involved in public policy and technological innovation are concerned with processes that influence the behaviour of people. This paper reports on research in the New Zealand dairy industry that is seeking to develop improved process models for managing change in a range of policy, industry and business contexts. The Practice Interplay Model was used to evaluate mediating methods for negotiating environmental and production outcomes within the context of a farm dairy effluent management case study. Significant misalignments between research, farming, extension and policy practitioners' expectations and perceptions of factors required for effective farm dairy effluent management were found. The combination of interactive workshops linked to quantitative verification and testing and follow-up interviews enabled a depth of investigation that was rich in information yet cost-effective in terms of research resources. The process used identified opportunities to change the actions of system participants and alignment between them. It enabled strategies to be agreed that would continually improve and strengthen the process of change. Further development and application of the Practice Interplay Model to policy problems, including the ongoing development of tools and techniques used within the methodology, has the potential to break though into a new policy-development paradigm in New Zealand.     

Sexual resourcefulness and the impact of family,sex education,media and peers

Building on a recently developed theoretical model of sexual self-control, 178 undergraduate women completed measures of learned resourcefulness, reasons for consenting to unwanted advances, and sexual self-efficacy – variables consistently shown to be unique predictors of sexual resourcefulness. Additional measures assessed in this investigation included media internalisation, peer values, parental and school discussions of sexual topics, body image preoccupation, body image satisfaction, and perceived timing of pubertal development. Along with the aforementioned unique predictors of sexual resourcefulness, receiving more information from the mother about dealing with unwanted sexual advances emerged as another direct contributor. Also in concurrence with past research, it was found that women scoring lower in sexual resourcefulness and having more reasons for consenting were more likely to engage in unwanted non-coercive sexual activities, with greater media pressures, higher appearance orientation and lower learned resourcefulness having a shared impact. Implications, limitations, and directions for future research are discussed.     

High Performance Work Organization (HPWO) Initiatives in Television News Operations

Abstract

The “high performance work organization” (HPWO) concept proposes that greater employee involvement in decision making and greater ability for workers to control their reward structure lead to more efficient workplace procedures, as well as happier workers. Although this sociological model has been studied in a variety of industries and work settings, its examination in the media industries has been limited. In seeking to fill that gap, this study undertook an e-mail survey of workers in television news to determine which, if any, HPWO initiatives stations were using and how effective they were. Findings indicate that profit sharing, in-house training, and suggestion systems were more likely to be offered than cross-training, job rotation, outside training, or merit-based pay, indicating that the HPWO initiatives that require little investment of time or money are the most likely to be offered by television stations. Station ownership patterns were not significantly correlated to presence of HPWO initiatives, and market size was only significantly correlated to 2 HPWO initiatives—outside training and profit-sharing programs.     

Multilevel covariance structure analysis of sibling antisocial behavior

Conventional covariance structure analysis, such as factor analysis, is often applied to data that are obtained in a hierarchical fashion, such as siblings observed within families. Multivariate modeling of such data, however, is most frequently done as if the data were obtained as a simple random sample from a single population. An alternative specification is presented that explicitly models the within‐level and between‐level covariance matrices in familial antisocial behavior. Sibling data from the National Youth Survey, a national probability sample of youth, were used to specify a multilevel covariance structure analysis of sibling antisocial behavior. Results demonstrate homogeneity in antisocial behavior within sibling clusters but heterogeneity across families. These analyses highlight potential pitfalls of ignoring issues of independence and demonstrate how conventional covariance structure software can be easily adapted to handle hierarchical models, providing a large set of new analysis possibilities for multilevel data.     

Effective Advising of Diverse Students in Community Colleges

In-depth interviews with 363 students across nine campuses capture the experiences of Latino, African American, Asian, Native American, White and Immigrant students in the California community college system. Four themes emerged with respect to advising and counseling: (a) Differences in the Use of Counseling and Advising; (b) The Importance of the Counseling Relationship; (c) Knowing the System; and (d) Cultural Understanding and Racism.     

After Transfer: The Engagement of Community College Students at a Four-Year Collegiate Institution

This study investigated how educational experiences between community college transfer students and native students differed at a four-year institution. The study sample included groups of native students and community college transfer students, who were further divided by timing of matriculation to the study institution. Benchmarks from National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) were used to assess the levels of students' collegiate experiences. After controlling for various explanatory variables, timing of matriculation to the senior institution showed significant differences in student engagement. Moreover, enrollment status, such as full- and part-time presented the largest effects on the levels of students' educational involvement regardless of student type.     

A Brief History of Workforce Education in Community Colleges

ABSTRACT

Over its 100-year plus history the community college has struggled to make clear its mission. As a comprehensive community college its mission has bounced around to focus on liberal arts, developmental, workforce, community, and general education. In today’s increasingly competitive society with shifting values and changes in power it is likely that workforce education/career and technical education will remain a foundational mission of the community college. Workforce education is strongly supported by state and federal legislators who demonstrate that support with billions of dollars. It is strongly supported by business and industry. And it is strongly supported by parents and students. This brief history captures many of the key issues and developments of the continuing evolution of workforce education in the community college.     

The action workflow approach to workflow management technology

Abstract

This paper describes the ActionWorkflow? approach to workflow management technology: a design methodology and associated computer software for the support of work in organizations. The approach is based on theories of communicative activity as language/action, developed in a series of systems for coordination among users of networked computers. This article describes the approach, gives an example of its application, and shows the architecture of a workflow management system based on it.     

Talent identification and deliberate programming in skeleton: Ice novice to Winter Olympian in 14 months

Abstract

The aims of this study were to talent transfer, rapidly develop, and qualify an Australian female athlete in the skeleton event at the 2006 Torino Winter Olympic Games and quantify the volume of skeleton-specific training and competition that would enable this to be achieved. Initially, 26 athletes were recruited through a talent identification programme based on their 30-m sprint time. After attending a selection camp, 10 athletes were invited to undertake an intensified skeleton training programme. Four of these athletes were then selected to compete for Australia on the World Cup circuit. All completed runs and simulated push starts were documented over a 14-month period. The athlete who eventually represented Australia at the Torino Winter Olympic Games did so following approximately 300 start simulations and about 220 training/competition runs over a period of 14 months. Using a deliberate programming model, these findings provide a guide to the minimum exposure required for a novice skeleton athlete to reach Olympic representative standard following intensified sport-specific training. The findings of this study are discussed in the context of the deliberate practice theory and offer the term “deliberate programming” as an alternative way of incorporating all aspects of expert development.