Dissertations / Theses: 'Executives Australia'

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Mitchell, James Ian School of Sociology UNSW. "MANAGEMENT DISCOURSE AND PRACTICE IN AUSTRALIA." Awarded by:University of New South Wales. School of Sociology, 1998. http://handle.unsw.edu.au/1959.4/17459.

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This thesis sought to place the development of managers, management theory, practice and discourse within its general historical context. The emergence and growth of a body of managers in Australia was examined utilising Historical Sociology, Survey, Content Analysis and Theory of Practices methods. Australian managers, management practice and discourse were influenced by British, American and, more recently, Japanese management theories and practices. Theories and practices from Classical Management and subsequent theories were evidenced as trends which dominated for periods, changing the practices and discourses of managers. Based on a survey of Australian managers, the interaction between management theories and practices was examined and interpreted. Counter trends existed in periods that were dominated by particular theoretical models. These counter trends provided the links to newer practices and theories. The results indicated the continued importance of all theoretical models and the practices they describe. In Australia, the theoretical perspectives did not fit the trends of broad cycles of economic activity but overlapped, having been introduced in differing time frames. Management discourse was evaluated through content analysis of the editorials of Rydge's (a local management magazine) from 1945 to 1987 to ascertain any changes in management discourse as the result of the introduction of new management theories. Other themes and trends were identified and examined to provide insights into managers' values. The production and reproduction of practices were considered utilising a Theory of Practice. In the field of management, practices are produced and reproduced by managers influenced by their habitus, the division of labour and the exercise of power. The survey and content analysis results were examined to profile the habitus through the impact of managers' backgrounds on their behaviour, practice and discourse. These constituted forms of cultural capital which mediated managers' beliefs through symbolic instruments embedded in its structuring structures. Overall, the research highlighted relationships between typologies of management theories, discourses and practices and provided a profile of the production and reproduction of practices in a contemporary Australian setting.

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au, H. Chang@curtin edu, and Hyun Chang. "Cross-Cultural Adjustment of Expatriate Managers: A Comparative Study of Australian Managers Working in Korea and Korean Managers Working in Australia." Murdoch University, 2008. http://wwwlib.murdoch.edu.au/adt/browse/view/adt-MU20080908.105229.

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International assignments are increasingly important in the global business world but many assignments end up in failure causing heavy losses on many expatriates and their organizations. This study employees a multi-dimensional approach, as suggested by much of the literature on international assignments of Australian expatriates in Korea and Korean expatriates in Australia. Hierarchical regression indicated that their expatriate success in performance can be accurately predicted by Family Adaptation how well the family adapted to the overseas location, Nationality where Korean respondents reported a much higher level of family adaptation with the move compared to Australian managers, and Age that older managers were more likely to report success with an overseas posting. Family adaptation with overseas work assignments, was determined by the level of Spouse Agreement and Nationality. Overall, Korean expatriates rated their own performance and level of adaptation much higher than those of Australians in all measurement categories. The Korean group may have outperformed the Australian expatriate group in adjustment and performance, possibly due to their strength in language skills, educational level, religious and socialization commitments, situation-orientation, but most importantly, due to the stability in family and spouse relationships. The outcome suggests that organizations should address the issues related to spouse adjustment in order to ensure successful expatriate operations, from the stage of accepting assignments to the repatriation stage. There is some evidence at least in this research to suggest that these findings need to be replicated with larger samples and considered in future management policy.

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Hatcher, Caroline A. "Making the enterprising manager in Australia: A genealogy." Thesis, Queensland University of Technology, 1997. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/36557/1/36557_Digitised%20Thesis.pdf.

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This study examines the practices and processes through which the identity of the 'enterprising' manager has been formed and idealised in Australia in the 1990s. The study provides a genealogy of the manager as a discursive subject. As a 'history of the present', it takes the formation and practices of the Industry Task Force on Leadership and Management Skills as a 'problem' of the present to be examined and understood. The argument is, that the art of government has shifted during this decade from a focus on state-building (through the development of a contract between employees and the State during the post world war period) to a concern for making the individual responsible. Techniques of regulation have increasingly given way to techniques of self-regulation. It is self-regulation that is now the dominant mode of authority in the production of managers as enterprising. This reading of the present draws on poststructuralist scholarship, in particular, the work of Michel Foucault on governmentality, power, and the subject. The applications of this theoretical work made by Nikolas Rose ( 1991; 1996a, 1996b) provide a conceptual framework for the analysis of the identity formation of the manager in advanced liberal democracies such as Australia. The insights of feminist poststructuralists - Chris Weedon (1987), Valerie Walkerdine (1990), Wendy Hollway (1991), and Lois McNay (1992) - have oriented the research to take account of the gendering of identity formation in the workplace. As a 'history of the present', the purpose of the study is to demonstrate the contingency and instability of the present and its continuities and discontinuities with the past. The study posits the occurrence of the Industry Task Force on Management and Leadership and Management Skills as a significant historical event in the move from the state-building imperative (characterised by the dependence model of welfare) to that of the 'active society' (characterised by responsible and independent individuals). Three political rationalities are understood to shape the present: participation, economic rationalism, and gender. The inquiry provides an elaboration of how each of these rationalities has become possible in the present formation of the enterprising manager in Australia. Alongside these, several mechanisms are examined which help to explain the contours and shape of the present. These include the rise of therapeutic authority, dividing practices such as those of personnel management, and the development of competency-based practices for managers which facilitate the calculation and calibration of individuals. It is in the nature of genealogies to be incomplete, and this study is no exception. It has been impossible to engage with all those phenomena which inform the making of the enterprising manager. What this study does attempt, however, is to demonstrate some precise ways in which the making of the enterprising manager has worked as both a leverage for change, as well as a closure on, what it is possible to become. For this reason, the study targets specific periods for investigation of particular practices. For example, the period of the first fifty years of the twentieth century produced important practices of management. However, it is the period from World War Two to the 1970s that provides an understanding of the formalisation of management practices in Australia, centred around increasing lines of authority and regulation. Alongside this periodisation, the period from 1970 to the mid 1980s is chosen for particular attention, because it is in this period that the idea of 'participation' becomes a normal practice in organisations. Special consideration is given to this period because the study argues that participation is an important political rationality through which the art of government is possible in the present. Additionally, recognising the importance of the concept of discontinuity in understanding the present in a Foucauldian framework, the period from the 1980s to the mid 1990s maps the emergence of the 'active' manager in Australia.This emergence is traced through a range of sites, including a global discourse of the active citizen, as well as more micro attempts to produce these practices, such as the development of manuals and motivational texts.

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Chang, Hyun. "Cross-cultural adjustment of expatriate managers: a comparative study of Australian managers working in Korea and Korean managers working in Australia." Thesis, Chang, Hyun (2008) Cross-cultural adjustment of expatriate managers: a comparative study of Australian managers working in Korea and Korean managers working in Australia. Professional Doctorate thesis, Murdoch University, 2008. https://researchrepository.murdoch.edu.au/id/eprint/649/.

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International assignments are increasingly important in the global business world but many assignments end up in failure causing heavy losses on many expatriates and their organizations. This study employees a multi-dimensional approach, as suggested by much of the literature on international assignments of Australian expatriates in Korea and Korean expatriates in Australia. Hierarchical regression indicated that their expatriate success in performance can be accurately predicted by 'Family Adaptation' how well the family adapted to the overseas location, 'Nationality' where Korean respondents reported a much higher level of family adaptation with the move compared to Australian managers, and 'Age' that older managers were more likely to report success with an overseas posting. 'Family adaptation' with overseas work assignments, was determined by the level of 'Spouse Agreement' and 'Nationality.' Overall, Korean expatriates rated their own performance and level of adaptation much higher than those of Australians in all measurement categories. The Korean group may have outperformed the Australian expatriate group in adjustment and performance, possibly due to their strength in language skills, educational level, religious and socialization commitments, situation-orientation, but most importantly, due to the stability in family and spouse relationships. The outcome suggests that organizations should address the issues related to spouse adjustment in order to ensure successful expatriate operations, from the stage of accepting assignments to the repatriation stage. There is some evidence at least in this research to suggest that these findings need to be replicated with larger samples and considered in future management policy.

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Chang, Hyun. "Cross-cultural adjustment of expatriate managers : a comparative study of Australian managers working in Korea and Korean managers working in Australia /." Access via Murdoch University Digital Theses Project, 2008. http://wwwlib.murdoch.edu.au/adt/browse/view/adt-MU20080908.105229.

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Ross-Smith, Anne. "Women who manage women's experience as managers in contemporary Australian organisations : implications for the discourse of management and organisation(s) /." Phd thesis, Australia : Macquarie University, 1999. http://hdl.handle.net/1959.14/26116.

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Thesis (PhD)--Macquarie University, Graduate School of Management, 1999.
Bibliography: leaves 353-372.
Introduction and thesis overview -- A clarification of how common terms and key concepts within managerial and organisational discourse are interpreted within the thesis -- Theoretical and philosophical concerns: gender and the discourse of management and organisation(s) -- Contextualising the research: an overview of social, political, economic/business organisational conditions in contemporary Australia and review of literature germane to the empirical research studies -- Research methodology, judgement criteria and framework for analysis and representation -- Women managers: day to day managerial work and behaviour: ethnographic/participant observation studies -- Women's perceptions of their experience as managers: the interview studies -- Conclusions and thesis summary.
This thesis investigates the managerial experience of senior women in contemporary Australian public and private sector organisations and explores the implications this investigation has in relation to the discourse of management and organisation(s). -- The thesis proposes that although women have gained a presence in the ranks of senior management in the last twenty years, they continue to remain marginal to the discourse of management and organisation(s). The reason for this, it is argued, is because of the preoccupation this discourse has with conceptions of rationality and masculinity. This proposition is elaborated in the thesis by tracing the philosophical and sociological interpretations of reason and rationality from ancient Greek philosophy to its embodiment in the contemporary discourse of management and organisation(s). -- Whether for biological, social or psychological reasons, it can be argued that men and women are 'different'. A further proposition, therefore, is that they will have a 'different' experience as managers. On the basis of this proposal, the thesis evaluates contemporary theories of gender and sexual difference, but stops short of defining 'difference' specifically with regard to women's experience as managers. Instead, it allows the empirical research to determine what it is that constitutes 'difference' in such a context. -- The empirical component of the thesis seeks to develop an understanding of how senior women managers in contemporary Australian organisations both experience and interpret their experience in management. This is achieved by the use of two different, but complementary studies. Using an ethnographic/participant observation case study approach, the first of these investigates the day to day managerial activities, over time, of two senior women managers, one from the private and one from the public sector. The second component of the empirical research involves as series of in depth interviews with forty senior women managers in Australian public and private sector organisations, together with a small number of interviews with their immediate superiors and subordinates, and observation, by the researcher, of their workplaces. The location of the empirical research in the late 20th century, some twenty years or so after women started to enter the ranks of management in Australia, allows for a reflection on women's progress in management in this country during this period. It also allows for contemporary social and organisational conditions in Australia to be a consideration in evaluating the research participant's managerial experience. The thesis, therefore, links the empirical research findings to Australian literature and research on women and management, current social trends in this country, characteristics of the Australian business culture, Australian managementand the Australian manager.
The research framework utilised in the thesis is informed by critical, feminist and postmodern approaches to organisational analysis. For this reason the Deetz (1994) schema, which defines organisational reserch from the perspective of four differing discursive spaces - dialog, critical, interpretive and normative is utilised to locate the research orientation of the empirical studies. This schema recognises that overlap between the four discursive spaces is possible and thus can accommodate insights from each of the above mentioned approaches, as well as areas of overlap between them. -- The principal research findings suggest, in summary, that women in senior management in Australia largely conform to the traditional (masculine) norms that are deeply embedded in the discourse of management and organisation(s) and in managerial practice, yet at the same time, they consider themselves to be 'different'. A feminist interpretation of Social Contract theory, together with a feminist analysis of Foucault's (1988) notion of an 'ethics' of the self and the link between this notion and non essentialist feminist theory are used in the discussion of the empirical research findings to construct an interpretation of 'difference' as it applies to women's managerial experience. -- The contribution to knowledge in the field of organisational analysis that the thesis seeks to make includes: adding new grounded empirical research whcih uses alternative approaches to organisational understanding; providing a comprehensive analysis of the philosophical and sociological underpinnings of the relationship between management, rationality and masculinity; providing a platform for future policy development and organisational practice, and adding a perspective on contemporary managerial practice and organisation conditions against which to gauge classical studies of managerial work and behaviour. -- Finally, the thesis can also be seen to provide additional insights into recent critiques of essentialist feminsit theory and the 'feminisation of management'/female advantage literature.
Mode of access: World Wide Web.
x, 376, [9] leaves

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Noblet, Andrew, and mikewood@deakin edu au. "Assessing the strain experienced by managers and professional Australian footballers using an augmented job strain model." Deakin University. Bowater School of Management and Marketing, 2002. http://tux.lib.deakin.edu.au./adt-VDU/public/adt-VDU20050825.141959.

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Generic models of job stress, such as the Job Strain Model (JSM), have recently been criticised for focusing on a small number of general work characteristics while ignoring those that are occupation-specific (Sparks & Cooper, 1999). However this criticism is based on limited research that has not examined the relative influence of all three dimensions of the JSM - job demand, job control and social support - and job-specific stressors. The JSM is the most commonly used model underpinning large-scale occupational stress research (Fox, Dwyer, & Ganster, 1993) and is regarded as the most influential model in the research on the psycho-social work environment, stress and disease in recent times (Kristensen, 1995). This thesis addresses the lack of information on the relative influence of the JSM and job-specific stressors by assessing the capacity of an augmented JSM to predict the strain experienced by managers and professional Australian footballers. The augmented JSM consisted of job-specific stressors in addition to the generic components of the model. Managers and professional Australian footballers represent two very different occupational groups. While the day-today roles of a manager include planning, organising, monitoring and controlling (Carroll & Gillen, 1987), the working life of a professional Australian footballer revolves around preparing for and playing football (Shanahan, 1998). It was expected that the large differences in the work undertaken by managers and professional Australian footballers would maximise the opportunities for identifying job-specific stressors and measuring the extent that these vary from one group to the next. The large disparity between managers and professional footballers was also used to assess the cross-occupational versatility of the JSM when it had been augmented by job-specific stressors. This thesis consisted of three major studies. Study One involved a survey of Australian managers, while studies Two and Three focused on professional Australian footballers. The latter group was under-represented in the literature, and as a result of the lack of information on the stressors commonly experienced by this group, an in-depth qualitative study was undertaken in Study Two. The results from Study Two then informed the survey of professional footballers that was conducted in Study Three. Contrary to previous research examining the relative influence of generic and job-specific stressors, the results only provided moderate support for augmenting the JSM with job-specific stressors. Instead of supporting the versatility of the augmented JSM, the overall findings reinforced the broad relevance of the original JSM. Of the four health outcomes measured in Studies One and Three, there was only one - the psychological health of professional Australian footballers - where the proportion of total variance explained by job-specific stressors exceeded 13%. Despite the generally strong performance of the JSM across the two occupational groups, the importance of demand, control and support diminished when examining the less conventional occupation of professional football. The generic model was too narrow to capture the highly specific work characteristics that are important for this occupational group and, as a result, the job-specific stressors explained significantly more of the strain over and above that already provided by the generic model. These findings indicate that when investigating the stressors experienced by conventional occupational groups such as managers, the large amount resources required to identify job-specific stressors are unlikely to be cost-effective. In contrast, the influence of the more situation specific stressors is significantly greater in unconventional occupations and thus the benefits of identifying these non-generic stressors are more likely to outweigh the costs. Studies One and Three identified strong connections between job-specific stressors and important characteristics of the occupation being studied. These connections were consistent with previous research and suggest that before attempting to identify job-specific stressors, researchers need to first become familiar with the nature and context of the occupation. The final issue addressed in this thesis was the role of work and non-work support. The findings indicate that the support provided by supervisors and colleagues was a significant predictor of wellbeing for both managers and professional footballers. In contrast, the level of explained strain accounted for by non-work support was not significant. These results indicate that when developing strategies to protect and enhance employee well-being, particular attention should be given to monitoring and, where necessary, boosting the effectiveness of work-based support. The findings from this thesis have been fed back to the management and sporting communities via conference presentations and peer-reviewed journals (refer pp 220-221). All three studies have been presented at national and international conferences and, overall, were well received by participants. Similarly, the methods, results and major findings arising from Studies One and Two have been critiqued by anonymous reviewers from two international journals. These papers have been accepted for publication in 2001 and 2002 and feedback from the reviewers indicates that the findings represent a significant and unique contribution to the literature. The results of Study Three are currently under review by a sports psychology journal.

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Flanagan, Annette F. "Gender, Jobs and Geographic Origin of Australian Immigrants." Thesis, University of North Texas, 1999. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc935699/.

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This thesis examines access to managerial jobs in the Australian labor market by immigrant women and men from five continents and five individual countries. Comparisons were not made only among both continent and country groups, but also between the women and men within each group, as a measure of occupational gender inequality. An index of managerial representation in the Australian labor market (MORI) was computed and nine independent variables were applied to measure immigrant representation in managerial occupations. Rank order correlates were used to calculate relationships between variables. Results indicate that women (with the exception of Vietnamese) from all countries were disproportionately underrepresented in managerial jobs and that the more dissimilar immigrant men are to native born Australians, the less likely they are to hold managerial jobs.

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Sukkar, Malak, and sukkarm@stvmph org au. "Executives' Decision Making in Australian Private Hospitals: Margin or Mission?" RMIT University. Graduate School of Business, 2008. http://adt.lib.rmit.edu.au/adt/public/adt-VIT20081031.162754.

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This thesis examines decision making at executive level in Australian private hospitals as a social phenomenon, since individuals draw meaning from their own biographical and social environmental experiences. The researcher interpreted the constructed realities of the factors influencing executives' decisions within the context of private hospitals - a field that is rarely examined through the lens of social research. Using an Interpretivist research paradigm, the researcher conducted semi- structured and in-depth interviews with sixteen executive members who are experts in their field and represent both sectors of the private hospital industry: private for-profit and private not-for-profit. The data generated was transformed into technical accounts using an abductive research strategy and adopting Schütz's notion of first-order and second-order constructs. Using Giddens' Structuration Theory, that stressed the fundamental role of the human agent, the structure and their mutual dependence, the researcher moved beyond the interpretation of individuals' meanings, to incorporate the structure as an entity that can be formed and reformed. The researcher interpreted social actors' constructed meanings of these social phenomena in their work environment to form the elements of a two-dimensional decision making model at organisational level, incorporating the present with the future and the internal with the external factors. On an individual level, three different approaches to decision making were identified, based on whether executives perceived the decision making phenomenon as intuition, as a reasoned process or as an expected outcome. While being from a limited research sample, the findings of this study suggest that the paradox of mission / economic decisions restrained executives in the not-for-profit sector from strengthening their hospitals' financial performance, putting at risk, therefore, their ability to achieve social dividends as a way to proclaim their mission. On the other hand, in the for-profit sector, shareholders' dividends appeared to be a strong catalyst for attaining profit maximisation when making decisions. In both settings, the findings suggest that the role of stakeholder theory is questionable, particularly when executives remained hesitant to involve medical specialists, whom they considered to be major stakeholders and profit generators for private hospitals. This attitude appeared to be constant, despite the changes identified in executives' individual approaches to decision making. However, early signs of shifts towards adopting more commercially and socially accountable decisions were apparent in not-for-p rofit and for-profit sectors respectively. The thesis sets out recommendations to assist executives in managing the different factors that interplay to form executives' decisions. The importance of having a mission in business longevity and the integration, as opposed to alignment, of strategic goals with business operations when making executive decisions in private hospitals was highlighted. The implications for both sectors are described and recommendations for further research are suggested.

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Howell, Andrea (Andrea Christine) 1957. "Vision, values and commitment : an examination of the congruence between individual and organisational values and the impact of the degree of congruence on employee commitment." Monash University, Dept. of Management, 2004. http://arrow.monash.edu.au/hdl/1959.1/5485.

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Wood, Glenice. "Perception : a contributing factor in the different career advancement outcomes of female managers." Monash University, Dept. of Management, 2001. http://arrow.monash.edu.au/hdl/1959.1/7558.

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Moyle, Jodie L. "Centred voices : A study of the lived experience of women's health centre coordinators." Thesis, Edith Cowan University, Research Online, Perth, Western Australia, 1999. https://ro.ecu.edu.au/theses/1221.

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The purpose of this phenomenological study is to explore and describe the lived experience of women's health centre coordinators. In addition to the intrinsic value of telling these women's stories, this research provides data which can he used to strengthen the economic, political, organisational and social position of women’s health centres and the women who work in them. Four women managers from regional urban women's health centres in Australia were interviewed about their subjective experiences with respect to their current working roles. Interviews were audio taped, transcribed and coded to produce themes and to preserve anonymity. Data was analysed using Colaizzi’s phenomenological method. Credibility and validity of data was enhanced by the use of multiple interviews, member checks, a pilot study and a clearly identifiable audit trail. The findings of the study reveal that the main themes relating to the experience of women's health centre coordinators are: the importance of shared principles, passions and rewards: their feminist leadership role as managers of a specialist health service; working with the wider system: and the demanding nature of their job. Theoretical sensitivity is demonstrated by re-analysing the emergent themes and descriptions obtained from the data- against the backdrop of the current social, economic and political climate of women's health in Australia. This second order analysis reveals the processes and strategies employed by women’s health centre coordinators in carrying out their work, and highlights the many factors that have influenced their development as feminist managers. Furthermore, the findings suggest that the experience of women's health centre coordinators in this study parallels those of feminist managers elsewhere, and as such, this thesis represents a significant contribution to the dearth of literature on women managers working in feminist, consumer-based organisations.

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Byrne, Margaret Mary, and University of Western Sydney. "Workplace meetings and the silencing of women : an investigation of women and men's different communication styles and how these influence perceptions of leadership capability within Australian organisations." THESIS_XXX_XXX_Byrne_M.xml, 2004. http://handle.uws.edu.au:8081/1959.7/667.

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The aim of this thesis is to investigate how the distribution and function of talk in workplace meetings contributes to differential outcomes for women and men in Australian organisations. This study explores how patterns of male advantage and female disadvantage are reproduced in workplace meetings through the different communication styles which tend to be employed by men and women, and through the way that these different performances are judged. Workplace meetings emerge as a critical site where leadership potential is identified yet, it is argued, men and women do not meet as equals when they meet at work. The thesis includes an evaluation of the current literature on women's and men's communication styles, and the findings of the present study are discussed in terms of the extent to which they correlate with or diverge from existing views. The implications for social change are explored and recommendations provided for the consideration of organisations seeking to broaden the pool of talent from which future leaders are drawn.
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

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Stone, Raymond J. "Cultural dimensions in the cognition of negotiation style, effectiveness and trust development: the caseof Australian and Hong Kong Chinese executives." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 2003. http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B31244762.

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Trudinger, Dave. "The Comfort of Men: A Critical History of Managerial and Professional Men in Post-war Modernisation, Australia 1945-1965." University of Sydney. History, 2004. http://hdl.handle.net/2123/718.

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This thesis is a critical history of managerial and professional men in post-Second World War Australia. The attention that I have given managerial and professional men has been determined by my own political desire to problematise the continued accomplishment of hegemony. As subjects, these men and their discursive practices enable scrutiny of the regenerative labour necessary to sustain power and necessary to realise the material results that accrue to those performing such work. My thesis examines the practices of particular groups of managerial and professional men within four discrete social settings or terrain during the post-war period. I interrogate the operations of managerial and professional men in personnel management (the terrain of work), in market research (the terrain of the market), in parenting and marriage guidance (the terrain of the family) and in the service club Rotary (the terrain of the civic). In each of these terrains I find managerial and professional men framing problems and enacting solutions. A process or intervention that makes natural the connections of interest (of advantage or disadvantage) being constantly recreated; an intervention that expresses a comfort with the mechanics and entailments of hegemony. To enable my critical history I apply, in each terrain, a framework comprising three core elements. I historicize the accomplishment of hegemony; testing the emergence of government and positive expressions of power during post-war modernisation in the local contexts of managerial and professional men�s interventions. I people hegemony; identifying the practices of managerial and professional men as resources for doing social relations (in particular the relations of gender and class) and crucial to the operation of hegemony. And, thirdly, I demonstrate the interventions of these men to be interested; unravelling the possessive investments managerial and professional men make through their interventions. My scrutiny of managerial and profession men and their practices, my choice of terrains in which to study them, my analysis of the process enacted in these terrain and the sources that I have utilised are not intended to assemble a biography of men�s experiences or ideal masculinities. Rather, my thesis provides a biography of interventions in order to disassemble that which appears not to be anything in particular: the ordinary regeneration of hegemony by ordinary men doing ordinary things.

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Barratt-Pugh, Landis G. B. "The discourses associated with the frontline management initiative and their relationship to managing practice." University of Western Australia. Graduate School of Management, 2004. http://theses.library.uwa.edu.au/adt-WU2005.0073.

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[Truncated abstract] This thesis is an analysis of a technology that is radically changing the location, process and position of manager learning, leveraging organisational learning agendas, and creating networks re-ordering institutional frameworks. The thesis examines the discourses, performances and productions associated with the Frontline Management Initiative (FMI) and provides a model of workplace-based management development. Academically, it provides new knowledge about the discourses constituting, enacting and producing manager development. Practically, it provides an understanding of the relations between workplace learning and outcomes that can inform practice. The FMI is a critical technology in terms of leveraging enterprise growth, due to its extensive national profile within the politically dominant societal structures of organisations, the critical interpreting role of frontline managers, and the innovative workplace-based, learner-centred framework. As the solitary Karpin (1995) report beacon, the FMI is positioned in highly contested terrain. Managing practice confronts the complexity of ordering knowledge work, where meaning and knowledge are more fluid and transient. Management development practice is more workplace located where knowing is more situated, distributed and relationally negotiated, but framed by politically endorsed competency-based frameworks. This study takes the unique opportunity to examine a learning technology that is being shaped by powerful mediating discourses. It examines how these multiple discourses construct FMI practice, what meanings of managing they develop and what effect these relational experiences have on subsequent managing practice.

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Dixon, John. "The reform of the Australian Public Service : commercialisation and its implications for public management education /." View thesis, 1995. http://library.uws.edu.au/adt-NUWS/public/adt-NUWS20030818.114628/index.html.

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Rankin, Michaela, and Michaela Rankin@buseco monash edu au. "Determinants of Executive Remuneration: Australian Evidence." RMIT University. Accounting and Law, 2007. http://adt.lib.rmit.edu.au/adt/public/adt-VIT20080812.140803.

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Corporate governance, and the role of executive pay in particular, has received increased attention from the media, government, and the business arena in recent years. The study reported in this thesis adds to our understanding of both the components and determinants of Australian remuneration packages for the top management team. It does so in four main ways: 1. The study examines the determinants of compensation of a range of senior executives within the organisation, in addition to the CEO. No Australian research, to date, explores the structure and determinants of remuneration beyond the CEO; 2. The research is conducted in a contemporary setting and timeframe, where corporations are subject to expanded disclosure requirements, when compared to the subjects of prior Australian research; 3. It examines an expanded range of factors documented in overseas research as likely to relate to remuneration, some of which have not been previously examined in Australian work; 4. Finally, in developing hypotheses concerning factors expected to relate to remuneration, the study reconciles the perspectives provided by both agency and managerial power theories in terms of how they present similar and differing propositions. The research examines both cash and incentive components of executive compensation disclosed by a sample of top 300 Australian companies in 2005. The model incorporates measures of firm performance, economic characteristics, board monitoring and governance characteristics, and ownership characteristics in an attempt to explain the level of executive compensation. The study extends analysis beyond the CEO to incorporate an investigation of both the structure and determinants of compensation of the top five executives, in addition to the CEO. Results indicate that the structure of CEO compensation has changed since prior Australian research was conducted, to include a more heavy reliance on incentive pay. In contrast to the US, the structure of CEO remuneration differs from that of non-CEO executives. As managers move progressively up the senior executive hierarchy, short-term cash bonus and share-based incentive pay both become more important as components of remuneration. There is also a greater reliance on performance hurdles than has been documented in prior Australian and international research. The expectation that remuneration is now more strongly tied to firm performance is supported. The size and complexity of the firm are also considered to be important in determining the level of various components of both CEO and non-CEO executive compensation. This supports the view that larger, more complex entities attract higher quality executives, and pay for such quality and expertise. Growth firms are more likely to pay higher levels of incentive pay and total compensation to CEOs than non-growth firms. Executive remuneration also relates to the strength of various monitoring and governance mechanisms, although to a greater extent for CEOs than for other senior executives. Managers are able to influence the remuneration-setting process where governance structures are weak, or where they have greater influence. In some cases factors relating to CEO compensation differ from those associated with compensation of lower-level executives.

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Lipman, Trevor. "The role of the independent non-executive director in Australia." Doctoral thesis, Australia : Macquarie University, 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/1959.14/28880.

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Thesis (DBA)--Macquarie University, Graduate School of Management, 2008.
Bibliography: p. 275-289.
Company directors have been in existence for more than four hundred years. In the past, they were considered to be a necessary part of corporate existence, and were usually appointed to a board by the CEO or chairman. However, they were usually mates from the 'boys club' and gained their position from whom they knew, and not from what they were capable of contributing. The appointment of independent directors became more normal, as shareholders looked for a way to wrest control back from management. But what independent directors really do and why they are there is not widely understood. A review of the literature relative to independent directors has identified a gap in the knowledge. This gap is the role of the independent director when considered from a commercial aspect; that is, those who observe or write about independent directors. --This thesis has attempted to generate a theory of the role of the independent director through a review of the literature and a subsequent series of interviews. Grounded theory was the chosen methodology for analysing the data and formulating a theory of the role because it allows the researcher to ground the theory in the data instead of establishing a hypothesis and testing it. --The resulting theory is more complex than it first appears. It was found that the primary role of the independent director is to improve the performance of the board and the company. This role is impacted by a number of factors, the two most influential being the information that is available to the independent directors, and the position of the company. This second factor is defined as the size of the company, where it is in its life cycle, and whether it is experiencing any significant change. --These findings enable a number of recommendations to be made to improve policy and practice, recognising the impact of information and company position on the ability of independent directors to contribute positively. It also raises several areas of further study to continue to refine the understanding of the role of the independent nonexecutive director in Australia. These include, among others, investigating the role from other viewpoints such as the board chair or company secretary, or researching the link between company position and information available to independent directors.
Mode of access: World Wide Web.
xiii, 303 p. ill

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20

Fraser, Campbell. "Personal factors influencing managerial effectiveness: A study of Australian construction site managers." Thesis, Queensland University of Technology, 1998. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/107087/1/T%28BE%26E%29%20980%20Personal%20factors%20influencing%20managerial%20effectiveness.pdf.

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Previous research into site managerial effectiveness in the construction industry has been primarily results orientated - based on factual evidence relating to project completion within prescribed parameters of time, cost and quality. These are factors often influenced by circumstances not within the control of the construction site manager. Thus, a need for a nonresults- based effectiveness measurement tool has been identified. Additionally, beliefs exist within the construction industry regarding personal attributes of managers which are thought to influence their effectiveness. There is a need to identify the personal factors which do actually influence effectiveness as distinct from those which are falsely believed to have influence. This research has developed such a non-results-based effectiveness measurement tool. Subordinates, peers and superiors of 46 current construction site managers, and a control group of 15 failed site managers, evaluated their site manager over 52 competency elements summated to establish an overall effectiveness score. A series of personal factors, which senior managers who recruit and promote site managers believed influenced the effectiveness of site managers, were identified. Each personal factor was then tested for correlation against the effectiveness score.

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21

Davies, Malcolm Roy, and n/a. "Prediction of Transformational Leadership by Personality Constructs for Senior Australian Organisational Executive Leaders." Griffith University. School of Psychology, 2005. http://www4.gu.edu.au:8080/adt-root/public/adt-QGU20060220.142914.

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The purpose of this thesis was to investigate prediction of senior leader transformational leadership behaviour. Transformational leadership was identified as a major theory with substantial practical implications for economic prosperity. It was argued that a better understanding of what predicts transformational behaviour would assist in creating a lift in the effective application of the theory with attendant benefits for all organisational stakeholders. It was proposed that personality components would predict transformational behaviour. Personality was conceptualised in two ways: as components of the Five Factor Model of personality and as personality disorder components. Specifically, eight personality constructs were hypothesised as predictors. They were three Hogan Personality Inventory based Five Factor Model components and the five Hogan Development Survey personality disorder components. It was further proposed that self-subordinate rating agreement would moderate the prediction of transformational behaviour by the selected personality components. A survey research methodology was used to gather data from senior Australian organisational executive leaders. Two samples were accessed while subjects were attending training or strategy seminars. The samples incorporated a total of 462 individual senior leader subjects and 1,881 of their subordinates drawn from the top four levels of a range of large multi-level public and private Australian organisations. It was argued that the sample validly represent a senior executive cohort of organisational leaders. Subject leaders completed a brief demographic questionnaire, the leader version of the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire, and either the Hogan Personality Inventory or the Hogan Development Survey. Subjects' subordinates completed the rater version of the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire. Transformational behaviour was operationalised as charisma, which was calculated as the mean of two subordinate rated transformational components of the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire, viz., idealised behaviour and inspirational motivation. This dependent variable was regressed on the various personality variables to assess predictive ability. Moderation of the prediction of transformational leadership behaviour by personality components was assessed by multiple regression of transformational leadership behaviour on the various personality components within self-subordinate rating agreement categories. There were eight specific original contributions from the findings of this thesis. The HPI component ambition was found to positively predict charisma. The HPI component prudence was found to negatively predict charisma. Self subordinate rating agreement operationalised as an absolute difference score was found to moderate the level of prediction by whole HPI regression model and some of the relationships and predictions of charisma by individual HPI components. It was found that prevalence of personality disorder components among senior executives varied from six percent to 34 percent of the sample cases. The HDS personality disorder components sceptical and cautious were found to negatively predict charisma; whereas the HDS component imaginative was found to positively predict charisma. Self subordinate rating agreement operationalised as a relative difference score was found to moderate the whole HDS regression model and some but not all of the relationships and predictions of charisma by individual HDS components. Theoretical and practical implications of the above findings, limitations of this research and recommendations for future research were discussed.

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22

Hill, Lesley Ellen. "Executive Incentives, Corporate Governance and Tax Haven Utilisation: Evidence from Australian Financial Institutions." Thesis, Curtin University, 2019. http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/79399.

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This study extends prior research investigating the relation between firms’ use of tax haven jurisdictions and performance-based remuneration incentives of CEOs. Additionally, we assess the moderating role of corporate governance attributes on the relation between firms’ use of tax havens and the remuneration characteristics of CEOs in those firms. Based on a dataset of 1054 firm-year observations comprising publicly-listed Australian financial institutions over the 2008–2018 period, we find a positive and significant relation between firms’ use of tax havens and CEOs remuneration attributes. Governance attributes of CEOs pertaining to their tenure and level of gender diversity are significantly negatively related to tax haven utilization, and negatively moderate the relation between remuneration levels and tax haven use.

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23

Riaz, Zahid Organisation &amp Management Australian School of Business UNSW. "The impact of institutional factors on disclosure level of director and executive remuneration in Australia." Publisher:University of New South Wales. Organisation & Management, 2008. http://handle.unsw.edu.au/1959.4/43581.

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This study examines the role of three institutional factors (regulative; normative and cultural-cognitive pillars of institutions) in addressing agency problems of Australia. In the wake of the series of corporate collapses of current decade, director and executive remuneration was identified as one of the major causes behind these scandals. The Australian government and other related organisations made both regulative and non-regulative institutional reforms to manage this agency conflict. These reforms, encapsulated in Corporate Law Economic Reform Program (CLERP) Act 2004 demanded an increased level of disclosure of director and executive remuneration particularly, the disclosure of performance based salary. Subsequently, these amendments provided an opportunity through a non-binding vote to shareholders to participate in executive remuneration decisions. This study proposes a new synthesis of institutional and agency theories by examining how institutional interventions addresses agency conflicts in the Australian context. A conceptual model is developed to measure both the conjoined and distinctive institutional impact on the disclosure level of director and executive remuneration in Australia. To measure and quantify the aforementioned impact a mixed method research strategy was used. First, content analysis as an investigative tool was used to develop a disclosure index which determined the level of disclosure of director and executive remuneration from top 100 Australian listed entities. Second, a conceptual model, positing the relationships between independent and dependent variables was verified through an econometric analysis of collected data, performed through the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 15. The findings of this research reveal that there exists a significant difference between the levels of disclosure in the pre and post stages of the introduction of the CLERP Act 2004. This result highlights the significance of regulatory intervention in addressing agency conflicts. The study also indicates that regulative and normative pillars have a higher impact than the culture-cognitive pillar on disclosure practices of Australian firms. In light of these results, the new blend between agency and institutional theories highlight the role of different institutions, particularly the government, in stabilising the organisational practices for good governance and creating national competitive advantages.

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Frawley, Patsie. "Participation in government disability advisory bodies in Australia : an intellectual disability perspective /." Access full text, 2008. http://www.lib.latrobe.edu.au/thesis/public/adt-LTU20090122.114029/index.html.

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Thesis (Ph.D.) -- La Trobe University, 2008.
Research. "A thesis submitted in total fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy [to the] School of Social Work and Social Policy, Faculty of Health Sciences, La Trobe University, Bundoora". Includes bibliographical references (leaves 302-318)

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25

Sears, Jason History Australian Defence Force Academy UNSW. "'Something peculiar to themselves'? : a social history of the Executive Branch officers of the Royal Australian Navy, 1913-1950." Awarded by:University of New South Wales - Australian Defence Force Academy. School of History, 1997. http://handle.unsw.edu.au/1959.4/38736.

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In 1985 Richard Preston identified three Royal Navy (RN) traditions (recruitment of officers at an early age, selection of officers from an elite social group, and insistence on sea service) which had shaped the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN). These traditions, he argued, ensured a high level of professionalism amongst officers in the infant RCN, as well as complete interoperability between the two navies, but failed to recognise the distinct needs of Canadian society. Consequently, from the Second World War onwards the RCN chose to move away from the British model and to ???Canadianise??? its officer corps. The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) also adopted these traditions, and they are examined here in the context of the social backgrounds, development and character of the permanent executive branch officers of the RAN between 1913 and 1950. This thesis argues that while the British model ensured a high level of professionalism within the RAN officer corps, in many other areas the system proved to be of doubtful utility for Australia. Although the Australian government tried to ensure that its naval officers maintained an Australian character and identity, the selection, training and operational policies of the RAN meant that its officers were, to all intents and purposes, virtually indistinguishable from their RN colleagues. While RAN officers were highly disciplined and professional men with excellent seamanship skills, unfortunately a wide social gulf developed between the Navy???s officers and its sailors. Further, the essentially scientific and practical education and indoctrination that naval officers received in their early years, combined with their narrow professional development, meant that they were, at best, only average higher level administrators and often performed poorly in dealings with their Australian political masters. The system produced a conservative type of officer, suspicious of political activity and intellectual effort, bound to the tradition of ???the Silent Service???, who felt that his country did not understand his work or sacrifices but who had not the capacity to change such community perceptions. Lacking highly educated and politically aware senior officers, the RAN found it difficult to cope with social changes after the Second World War. Consequently, the ???Australianisation??? of the naval officer corps was a slow and painful process and the profession of naval officer in Australia was to be even more marginal than numbers alone dictated.

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26

Armstrong, Douglas Bruce, University of Western Sydney, of Science Technology and Environment College, and School of Environment and Agriculture. "CEO characteristics, organisation characteristics, decision making and CBIS success in regional small business." THESIS_CSTE_EAG_Armstrong_D.xml, 2003. http://handle.uws.edu.au:8081/1959.7/773.

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The research conducted for this thesis had two broad aims. The first was to provide descriptive information about the use of computer-based information systems (CBIS) in regional small business. The second of the aims was to examine the relationships among key constructs identified from the literature and to explore how they contributed to predicting CBIS success in regional small business.In the second phase of the analysis, Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) was used to examine the factorial constructs underlying the data. Constructs were identified that measured CEO characteristics, two measuring organisational characteristics, four measuring aspects of decision-making, and five measuring perceived CBIS success. Correlations among the constructs were examined prior to relationships among the constructs being explored using hierarchical regression analysis. The constructs were also examined in a single measurement model to determine their collective effect and relationships with the constructs measuring CBIS success based on structural equation modelling. Notwithstanding the limitations of the research, it resulted in the identification of relationships among key variables that predict CBIS success. The identification of items associated with decision-making processes, and the identification of the factorial constructs underlying the data is a major contribution to a portion of the literature that was non-existent. The final measurement model is also a significant contribution in identifying and specifying the relationships constructs measuring CEO characteristics, organisational characteristics, decision-making and CBIS success in regional small business.
Doctor of Philosphy (PhD)

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27

Desfontaines, Pascal Gerard. "Chief Executive Officer remuneration and financial performance of Australian and South African publicly listed companies." Diss., University of Pretoria, 2018. http://hdl.handle.net/2263/66039.

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Executive remuneration has been discussed extensively in both academia and industry, causing much disagreement. This dilemma is not exclusive to South Africa as executive remuneration has been central in a number of company scandals globally and considered a critical contributor to the global financial crisis. The purpose of this research was to identify and compare the significant CEO pay-performance relationships between the developed and developing economies of Australian and South African publicly listed companies respectively. International comparisons of CEO pay-performance relationships are scarce, with the majority of studies comprising of only single-country analyses. Historical inconsistent remuneration practices of publicly listed companies have resulted in varied effects on company performance and shareholder value creation. CEOs are witnessed receiving large remuneration packages while delivering little shareholder value. Increased public attention has called for stringent corporate governance measures for CEO remunerations schemes. The research study was conducted as an empirical explanatory quantitative study to further understand the relationship between CEO remuneration practices and the financial performance of Australian and South African publicly listed companies. The overarching principal finding of the study was the confirmation of the difference in the significant pay-performance relationships between Australian and South African publicly listed companies, with results indicating that only a negligible portion of the variance in CEO remuneration can be attributed to financial performance measures. The increase in the globally mobility of CEOs has added an additional level of complexity to the pay-performance relationship. Contributing to the field of human resource management and remuneration this study builds on the understanding of CEO pay-performance relationship to maximise shareholder value creation and retain talented CEOs.
Mini Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2018.
Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS)
MBA
Unrestricted

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28

Nelson, Jodie Elizabeth. "Executive stock option disclosures by Australian listed companies: an assessment of their nature, extent and association with governance characteristics." Thesis, Queensland University of Technology, 2007. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/16557/1/Jodie_Nelson_Thesis.pdf.

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This thesis investigates statutory executive stock option (ESO) disclosures by Australian listed companies, and their nature, extent and association with governance characteristics. The study is motivated by the limited prior Australian studies that find evidence of low levels of compliance with ESO disclosures (Nelson and Percy, 2005), and by the changes in Australia's regulatory environment over the financial years 2001 to 2004. Arising from these motivations, three research questions are addressed: 1) what is the nature and extent of compliance with ESO disclosures in annual reports and does it change over time?, 2) how does corporate governance influence compliance with ESO disclosures?, and 3) what other factors influence compliance with ESO disclosures? Based on prior research and an application of agency theory, the research questions are addressed by systematically evaluating ESO disclosure compliance, and by modelling and testing the governance and other factors associated with companies' disclosure practices over the 2001 to 2004 study period. Within the agency framework, it is argued that effective governance mechanisms mitigate agency costs by decreasing information asymmetry through increased disclosure. Hence it is predicted that internal governance mechanisms, including the effectiveness of the board of directors, the effectiveness of the audit committee, the existence of a compensation committee, and management incentives are associated with the level of compliance with ESO disclosures. In addition, external governance mechanisms are predicted to influence compliance with ESO disclosures. Specifically, it is predicted that firms responded positively to the increased media and regulatory scrutiny on financial reporting practices as a result of major corporate collapses in Australia and the United States. Furthermore, it is predicted that regulatory intervention, in the form of new and comprehensive ESO disclosure requirements, as well as the authoritative guidance on valuing options and active enforcement efforts by ASIC, have contributed to increased levels of compliance. Using a combination of univariate and multivariate procedures, compliance and governance characteristics are tested over the financial years 2001 to 2004, to capture the changes in compliance over time and to examine the hypothesised relationships. The results of this thesis indicate that Australian companies do not fully comply with ESO disclosure requirements. Nevertheless, the results show that overall compliance has increased progressively from 2001 to 2004, suggesting that the increased scrutiny of companies' financial reporting practices following major corporate collapses has motivated companies to increase compliance. Notably, compliance has increased after the introduction of new and more comprehensive disclosure requirements for ESOs, as well as increased authoritative guidance and enforcement efforts by ASIC. However, despite the overall evidence of improvement in compliance levels, the results continue to reveal management's reluctance to disclose ESO information that may be considered sensitive (for example, price and value-related information). The multivariate results indicate that firms with a larger board of directors and a larger audit committee are more likely to encourage greater levels of compliance with ESO disclosures. However, a larger board of directors appears to take a holistic approach to monitoring company activities by encouraging higher overall compliance rather than focusing on specific, sensitive disclosures. Where a less independent Chairperson is present, the firm is more likely to disclose more sensitive information only, indicating a substitution effect whereby firms mitigate the agency problems associated with this lack of independence by increasing sensitive disclosures. Also, where the Chief Executive Officer's remuneration is relatively larger, companies are less forthcoming about ESO information. With respect to the influence of external corporate governance, the findings indicate that companies identified as poor performers by the Australian Shareholders' Association (a measure of external governance) exhibit lower levels of overall compliance, but not compliance with sensitive disclosures. This latter finding suggests that poorly performing firms provide similar levels of sensitive and important information as other firms, possibly to direct attention away from the low performance of the company. Consistent with prior disclosure research, other factors associated with compliance include leverage, where firms that are more highly leveraged disclose more sensitive information in an effort to become more transparent to creditors, thus reducing their monitoring costs. The use of a Big 4 auditor (a proxy for auditor quality) is associated with overall compliance, which indicates that external auditors primarily ensure that the financial report as a whole is compliant with the regulations, rather than identifying sensitive disclosures in detail, particularly where these disclosures may not have a material effect. Lastly, performance (as measured by profit or lossmaking status) is negatively associated with compliance. By investigating in detail the nature and extent of compliance with ESO disclosures over time and its relation to governance characteristics, the findings of this study demonstrate that while companies appear to lack full compliance with ESO disclosures, compliance has increased over time with active regulatory enforcement and assistance and comprehensive disclosure requirements. Of particular interest, is that the nature of compliance illustrates the very low levels of compliance with important, but sensitive, components of the required ESO disclosures. Importantly, the adoption of stronger governance structures appears to enhance compliance with ESO disclosures, including sensitive disclosures. Therefore, the findings of this study have important implications for corporate regulators, standard setters, financial statement preparers, shareholders and other users of financial reports with an interest in ESOs.

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29

Nelson, Jodie Elizabeth. "Executive stock option disclosures by Australian listed companies: an assessment of their nature, extent and association with governance characteristics." Queensland University of Technology, 2007. http://eprints.qut.edu.au/16557/.

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This thesis investigates statutory executive stock option (ESO) disclosures by Australian listed companies, and their nature, extent and association with governance characteristics. The study is motivated by the limited prior Australian studies that find evidence of low levels of compliance with ESO disclosures (Nelson and Percy, 2005), and by the changes in Australia's regulatory environment over the financial years 2001 to 2004. Arising from these motivations, three research questions are addressed: 1) what is the nature and extent of compliance with ESO disclosures in annual reports and does it change over time?, 2) how does corporate governance influence compliance with ESO disclosures?, and 3) what other factors influence compliance with ESO disclosures? Based on prior research and an application of agency theory, the research questions are addressed by systematically evaluating ESO disclosure compliance, and by modelling and testing the governance and other factors associated with companies' disclosure practices over the 2001 to 2004 study period. Within the agency framework, it is argued that effective governance mechanisms mitigate agency costs by decreasing information asymmetry through increased disclosure. Hence it is predicted that internal governance mechanisms, including the effectiveness of the board of directors, the effectiveness of the audit committee, the existence of a compensation committee, and management incentives are associated with the level of compliance with ESO disclosures. In addition, external governance mechanisms are predicted to influence compliance with ESO disclosures. Specifically, it is predicted that firms responded positively to the increased media and regulatory scrutiny on financial reporting practices as a result of major corporate collapses in Australia and the United States. Furthermore, it is predicted that regulatory intervention, in the form of new and comprehensive ESO disclosure requirements, as well as the authoritative guidance on valuing options and active enforcement efforts by ASIC, have contributed to increased levels of compliance. Using a combination of univariate and multivariate procedures, compliance and governance characteristics are tested over the financial years 2001 to 2004, to capture the changes in compliance over time and to examine the hypothesised relationships. The results of this thesis indicate that Australian companies do not fully comply with ESO disclosure requirements. Nevertheless, the results show that overall compliance has increased progressively from 2001 to 2004, suggesting that the increased scrutiny of companies' financial reporting practices following major corporate collapses has motivated companies to increase compliance. Notably, compliance has increased after the introduction of new and more comprehensive disclosure requirements for ESOs, as well as increased authoritative guidance and enforcement efforts by ASIC. However, despite the overall evidence of improvement in compliance levels, the results continue to reveal management's reluctance to disclose ESO information that may be considered sensitive (for example, price and value-related information). The multivariate results indicate that firms with a larger board of directors and a larger audit committee are more likely to encourage greater levels of compliance with ESO disclosures. However, a larger board of directors appears to take a holistic approach to monitoring company activities by encouraging higher overall compliance rather than focusing on specific, sensitive disclosures. Where a less independent Chairperson is present, the firm is more likely to disclose more sensitive information only, indicating a substitution effect whereby firms mitigate the agency problems associated with this lack of independence by increasing sensitive disclosures. Also, where the Chief Executive Officer's remuneration is relatively larger, companies are less forthcoming about ESO information. With respect to the influence of external corporate governance, the findings indicate that companies identified as poor performers by the Australian Shareholders' Association (a measure of external governance) exhibit lower levels of overall compliance, but not compliance with sensitive disclosures. This latter finding suggests that poorly performing firms provide similar levels of sensitive and important information as other firms, possibly to direct attention away from the low performance of the company. Consistent with prior disclosure research, other factors associated with compliance include leverage, where firms that are more highly leveraged disclose more sensitive information in an effort to become more transparent to creditors, thus reducing their monitoring costs. The use of a Big 4 auditor (a proxy for auditor quality) is associated with overall compliance, which indicates that external auditors primarily ensure that the financial report as a whole is compliant with the regulations, rather than identifying sensitive disclosures in detail, particularly where these disclosures may not have a material effect. Lastly, performance (as measured by profit or lossmaking status) is negatively associated with compliance. By investigating in detail the nature and extent of compliance with ESO disclosures over time and its relation to governance characteristics, the findings of this study demonstrate that while companies appear to lack full compliance with ESO disclosures, compliance has increased over time with active regulatory enforcement and assistance and comprehensive disclosure requirements. Of particular interest, is that the nature of compliance illustrates the very low levels of compliance with important, but sensitive, components of the required ESO disclosures. Importantly, the adoption of stronger governance structures appears to enhance compliance with ESO disclosures, including sensitive disclosures. Therefore, the findings of this study have important implications for corporate regulators, standard setters, financial statement preparers, shareholders and other users of financial reports with an interest in ESOs.

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30

au, A. Jones@murdoch edu, and Angela Thomas-Jones. "Fashioning the Executive (Look): Australian Women, Fashion and the rise of the New Work Order." Murdoch University, 2006. http://wwwlib.murdoch.edu.au/adt/browse/view/adt-MU20070307.121413.

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Fashion is not essential to completing an effective and productive days work. Suits, shoulder pads and power dressing are images and phrases that encircle working women and are too often relegated to the empty cubicles of 1980s and 1990s history. The proliferation of internet-mediated commerce meant in fictional narratives at least - women swapped their Claiborne for geek chic and up all night hair, the preferential wear for New Economy employees.1 In the 2000s, the Australian employment industry - fractured, non-standard and fluid - is promoting a new creative work order. What are the consequences of this transformation of ideology and iconography for workplace dressing and the bodies of the women who wear it? This doctoral thesis examines the relationship between fashion, clothes, women and work. The goal and methodology of this thesis is the alignment of work theory, with discourses of clothing and fashion, oral history, policy documents and popular culture. Such a research project requires interdisciplinary scholarship that activates debates about womens bodies, the state of the contemporary working environment and the dissonance in literacies between body and workplace. Through the application of semiotic and cultural studies, as well as drawing on theories of media, gender, labour, leisure, literacy and fashion, I investigate the position of women and their bodies within the contemporary Australian workplace. This thesis deploys oral histories to illuminate how women function in the changing Australian workplace. I have compiled these oral sources in order to capture specific experiences and portray the successes and struggles that are faced by the women employed in these sectors. The function of these histories in this thesis is to provide a memory of, to and for working women, revealing many of the unspoken assumptions and characteristics of the contemporary Australian workforce, such as the New Economy, an increasing non-standard workforce, the myth of work/life balance, lifestyle, dissonant bodies in the workplace, and the compartmentalization of work from other social function including family life. Within the nine chapters of this thesis, the research objective is to explore how womens bodies are located within and negotiate the contemporary Australian workforce. It begins with an examination of the conflation between self-help and feminist texts, to map the troubled relationship between gender, power and the female body. The disparate functions of dress and bodies are important focuses in this research. The use of oral history, popular memory theory and the textual analysis of magazines is a way to interrogate the role of womens bodies and fashion in history. The use of oral and popular cultural sources is intentional. The goal is to develop an alternative system for remembering bodies and clothing, with the aim of transforming their historical relevance. The focal point of this thesis is assessing womens bodies and fashion in the workplace. By evaluating contemporary trends in womens work attire, I expose the disparity in the work clothes market in relation to quality, accessibility, functionality and price. This doctoral thesis deploys work theory and the ideologies of the New and Old Economy. Throughout this project, I trace the differences in workplace customs and representations. The purpose of the thesis and indeed the original contribution to knowledge is to demonstrate that women and men must be literate in not only the workplace, but also in workplace clothing. Only when moving from everyday to reflexive literacies can relevant models of discrimination and oppression within the New Economy be revealed and addressed. While presenting the voices and views of working women, this research proposes a strategy for a change in education and the requirement of mentoring in relation to careers and the new work order. The latter chapters are focussed on tracing working life in the new knowledge economy within Australia. They explore the notion of supplementary work in relation to lifestyle change and investigates the creative industries, the creative class and ponders the dilemma of the creative industries in Australia. The objective of this thesis is to not only to critique, but also to gather and deploy the words of women in the contemporary workplace, as both inspiration and model for the strategies required to instigate change. The final chapters capture a proactive desire to not only discuss difference, but make a difference. The probing of dissonant literacies in the workplace opens the tight and troubling relationship between women and bodies.

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31

Thomas-Jones, Angela. "Fashioning the executive (look): Australian women, fashion and the rise of the new work order." Thesis, Thomas-Jones, Angela (2006) Fashioning the executive (look): Australian women, fashion and the rise of the new work order. PhD thesis, Murdoch University, 2006. https://researchrepository.murdoch.edu.au/id/eprint/345/.

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Fashion is not essential to completing an effective and productive day's work. Suits, shoulder pads and power dressing are images and phrases that encircle working women and are too often relegated to the empty cubicles of 1980s and 1990s history. The proliferation of internet-mediated commerce meant - in fictional narratives at least - women swapped their Claiborne for geek chic and 'up all night' hair, the preferential wear for New Economy employees.1 In the 2000s, the Australian employment industry - fractured, non-standard and fluid - is promoting a new 'creative' work order. What are the consequences of this transformation of ideology and iconography for workplace dressing and the bodies of the women who wear it? This doctoral thesis examines the relationship between fashion, clothes, women and work. The goal and methodology of this thesis is the alignment of work theory, with discourses of clothing and fashion, oral history, policy documents and popular culture. Such a research project requires interdisciplinary scholarship that activates debates about women's bodies, the state of the contemporary working environment and the dissonance in literacies between body and workplace. Through the application of semiotic and cultural studies, as well as drawing on theories of media, gender, labour, leisure, literacy and fashion, I investigate the position of women and their bodies within the contemporary Australian workplace. This thesis deploys oral histories to illuminate how women function in the changing Australian workplace. I have compiled these oral sources in order to capture specific experiences and portray the successes and struggles that are faced by the women employed in these sectors. The function of these histories in this thesis is to provide a memory of, to and for working women, revealing many of the unspoken assumptions and characteristics of the contemporary Australian workforce, such as the New Economy, an increasing non-standard workforce, the myth of 'work/life balance', lifestyle, dissonant bodies in the workplace, and the compartmentalization of work from other social function including family life. Within the nine chapters of this thesis, the research objective is to explore how women's bodies are located within and negotiate the contemporary Australian workforce. It begins with an examination of the conflation between 'self-help' and feminist texts, to map the troubled relationship between gender, power and the female body. The disparate functions of dress and bodies are important focuses in this research. The use of oral history, popular memory theory and the textual analysis of magazines is a way to interrogate the role of women's bodies and fashion in history. The use of oral and popular cultural sources is intentional. The goal is to develop an alternative system for remembering bodies and clothing, with the aim of transforming their historical relevance. The focal point of this thesis is assessing women's bodies and fashion in the workplace. By evaluating contemporary trends in women's work attire, I expose the disparity in the work clothes market in relation to quality, accessibility, functionality and price. This doctoral thesis deploys work theory and the ideologies of the 'New' and 'Old' Economy. Throughout this project, I trace the differences in workplace customs and representations. The purpose of the thesis - and indeed the original contribution to knowledge - is to demonstrate that women and men must be literate in not only the workplace, but also in workplace clothing. Only when moving from everyday to reflexive literacies can relevant models of discrimination and oppression within the 'New Economy' be revealed and addressed. While presenting the voices and views of working women, this research proposes a strategy for a change in education and the requirement of mentoring in relation to careers and the 'new' work order. The latter chapters are focussed on tracing working life in the new knowledge economy within Australia. They explore the notion of 'supplementary' work in relation to 'lifestyle' change and investigates the creative industries, the creative class and ponders the dilemma of the creative industries in Australia. The objective of this thesis is to not only to critique, but also to gather and deploy the words of women in the contemporary workplace, as both inspiration and model for the strategies required to instigate change. The final chapters capture a proactive desire to not only discuss difference, but make a difference. The probing of dissonant literacies in the workplace opens the tight and troubling relationship between women and bodies.

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32

Thomas-Jones, Angela. "Fashioning the executive (look) : Australian women, fashion and the rise of the new work order /." Thomas-Jones, Angela (2006) Fashioning the executive (look): Australian women, fashion and the rise of the new work order. PhD thesis, Murdoch University, 2006. http://researchrepository.murdoch.edu.au/345/.

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Fashion is not essential to completing an effective and productive day's work. Suits, shoulder pads and power dressing are images and phrases that encircle working women and are too often relegated to the empty cubicles of 1980s and 1990s history. The proliferation of internet-mediated commerce meant - in fictional narratives at least - women swapped their Claiborne for geek chic and 'up all night' hair, the preferential wear for New Economy employees.1 In the 2000s, the Australian employment industry - fractured, non-standard and fluid - is promoting a new 'creative' work order. What are the consequences of this transformation of ideology and iconography for workplace dressing and the bodies of the women who wear it? This doctoral thesis examines the relationship between fashion, clothes, women and work. The goal and methodology of this thesis is the alignment of work theory, with discourses of clothing and fashion, oral history, policy documents and popular culture. Such a research project requires interdisciplinary scholarship that activates debates about women's bodies, the state of the contemporary working environment and the dissonance in literacies between body and workplace. Through the application of semiotic and cultural studies, as well as drawing on theories of media, gender, labour, leisure, literacy and fashion, I investigate the position of women and their bodies within the contemporary Australian workplace. This thesis deploys oral histories to illuminate how women function in the changing Australian workplace. I have compiled these oral sources in order to capture specific experiences and portray the successes and struggles that are faced by the women employed in these sectors. The function of these histories in this thesis is to provide a memory of, to and for working women, revealing many of the unspoken assumptions and characteristics of the contemporary Australian workforce, such as the New Economy, an increasing non-standard workforce, the myth of 'work/life balance', lifestyle, dissonant bodies in the workplace, and the compartmentalization of work from other social function including family life. Within the nine chapters of this thesis, the research objective is to explore how women's bodies are located within and negotiate the contemporary Australian workforce. It begins with an examination of the conflation between 'self-help' and feminist texts, to map the troubled relationship between gender, power and the female body. The disparate functions of dress and bodies are important focuses in this research. The use of oral history, popular memory theory and the textual analysis of magazines is a way to interrogate the role of women's bodies and fashion in history. The use of oral and popular cultural sources is intentional. The goal is to develop an alternative system for remembering bodies and clothing, with the aim of transforming their historical relevance. The focal point of this thesis is assessing women's bodies and fashion in the workplace. By evaluating contemporary trends in women's work attire, I expose the disparity in the work clothes market in relation to quality, accessibility, functionality and price. This doctoral thesis deploys work theory and the ideologies of the 'New' and 'Old' Economy. Throughout this project, I trace the differences in workplace customs and representations. The purpose of the thesis - and indeed the original contribution to knowledge - is to demonstrate that women and men must be literate in not only the workplace, but also in workplace clothing. Only when moving from everyday to reflexive literacies can relevant models of discrimination and oppression within the 'New Economy' be revealed and addressed. While presenting the voices and views of working women, this research proposes a strategy for a change in education and the requirement of mentoring in relation to careers and the 'new' work order. The latter chapters are focussed on tracing working life in the new knowledge economy within Australia. They explore the notion of 'supplementary' work in relation to 'lifestyle' change and investigates the creative industries, the creative class and ponders the dilemma of the creative industries in Australia. The objective of this thesis is to not only to critique, but also to gather and deploy the words of women in the contemporary workplace, as both inspiration and model for the strategies required to instigate change. The final chapters capture a proactive desire to not only discuss difference, but make a difference. The probing of dissonant literacies in the workplace opens the tight and troubling relationship between women and bodies.

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Stanley, Garrick N. "Public sector reform in Western Australia: the role of chief executive officers in leading cultural change in their organisations." Thesis, Curtin University, 2001. http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/2221.

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The last two decades of the twentieth century saw unprecedented change in the Western Australian public sector. Legislative reform, royal commissions and new policies aimed at enhancing public sector accountability, transparency and efficiency have served to highlight the critical role of CEOs in delivering change. Underpinning sustainable organisational change is cultural change, which in-turn is most effectively driven by a transformational leadership style. There has been little research into CEOs' perceptions of their role in leading cultural change in their organisations. This thesis details an exploratory study of WA public sector CEOs. It discovered that CEOs identified with elements characterising the theoretical construct of a transformational leader. They perceived cultural change as the realignment of organisational values and behaviour with mission, government and community expectations, efficiency and effectiveness. CEOs actively deployed a number of strategies to bring about cultural change but were uncertain about the extent which substantive cultural change was taking place within the public sector. Factors they saw as impacting on their capacity to lead such change included the Government's policy agenda, management theory and potentially, peer support. CEOs who participated in the study were predominantly career public servants, male, over the age of fifty, had worked exclusively in the public sector and only led a small number of organisations. They had mixed views about the impact of such demographics on a CEO's capacity to effectively lead cultural change citing situational factors and personal attributes as being significant variables. There were a number of clear findings from the study that have significant, practical implications for the public sector. CEOs would benefit from a government that communicated a stronger sense of vision about the future directions of the sector. CEOs require structured opportunities to enhance their competencies in the leadership of change and incentives to commit to change agendas that may extend well beyond the tenure of their employment contacts. Finally, CEOs cannot effectively transform organisational culture without support from other leaders and strategic plans that take account of emerging demographic shifts in the workforce that will inevitably impact on staff values, behaviours and expectations.

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Sun, Lan. "An investigation of earnings management practices in Australian firms." Thesis, Curtin University, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/2113.

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Earnings management is an area in which managers are able to exercise discretion over financial reporting to achieve various objectives. Researchers have been investigating the pervasiveness of earnings management and incentives that induce earnings management. However, the evidence is mixed and studies of using Australian data are scarce. This thesis is an empirical investigation of earnings management in the Australian context addressing if and why Australian firms engage in earnings management.Based on a sample covering all ASX listed firms during the period of 2000 to 2006, this study examines the overall breadth and scope of earnings management behaviour in a broad context across Australian industry sectors and individual firms’ characteristics. The result suggests that Australian firms engage in earnings management. The level of earnings management practices in some specific industries and the association of these practices with firms’ characteristics may help the assessment and improvement of the overall quality of financial reporting.Based on a sub-sample, this study also examines whether the practices of earnings management is induced by executive compensation incentives. It extends prior research by using more relevant, recent, and large-scale compensation data to capture the dynamic relations between earnings management and different forms of executive pay. Such dynamic relations may be of interest to compensation committees in designing compensation structures that balance the incentives to improve firms’ performances with the incentive to earnings manipulation.This study also examines whether earnings management is induced by benchmark beating incentives. It extends prior research by examining under what circumstance managers are more likely to beat benchmarks. The results suggest that managers beat two earnings benchmarks: reporting profits and sustaining prior year’s earnings. More importantly, managers are more likely to exercise positive discretionary accruals to inflate earnings to beat ex post benchmarks when the true earnings are below relevant benchmarks. This will be of interest to regulators as an effective way to detect earnings management may be pronounced when the ex ante condition under which firms seek to manipulate earnings is identified.

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Penney, Kendal. "Gender equity leadership in Western Australia: Exploring the experiences of executive leaders driving gender equity in the workplace." Thesis, Penney, Kendal (2020) Gender equity leadership in Western Australia: Exploring the experiences of executive leaders driving gender equity in the workplace. Masters by Coursework thesis, Murdoch University, 2020. https://researchrepository.murdoch.edu.au/id/eprint/60670/.

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The status of women in society has improved remarkably in Australia since the early 1900s. This has seen a marked increase in the number of women in the workforce, yet adequate progress towards eradicating gender inequality from Australian workplaces remains to be seen. This lack of sustainable progress in Australia’s attempts to achieve gender equity highlights a need to better understand how organisations are tackling gender inequality in the workplace. A review of the literature reveals gaps in understanding the role leaders can play in achieving effective and sustainable outcomes in gender equity. A qualitative exploratory design using secondary archived audio recordings explores the lived experiences of fourteen WA executive leaders committed to driving gender equality in their organisations, in order to gain insight into the lived experience of leading gender equity in W.A. organisations; identify possible determinants of effective and impactful leadership in gender equity; and 3) lay the foundations for future research. Results from inductive thematic analysis identified three core themes; Internalizing Desire for Gender Equity Action, Create an Environment for Gender Equity Action; and Considerations for Designing Gender Equity Action. Implications of findings for further research and practice are discussed. Keywords: qualitative, secondary, archived, leadership, gender equity

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Stanley, Garrick N. "Public sector reform in Western Australia: the role of chief executive officers in leading cultural change in their organisations." Curtin University of Technology, Curtin Business School, 2001. http://espace.library.curtin.edu.au:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=12646.

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The last two decades of the twentieth century saw unprecedented change in the Western Australian public sector. Legislative reform, royal commissions and new policies aimed at enhancing public sector accountability, transparency and efficiency have served to highlight the critical role of CEOs in delivering change. Underpinning sustainable organisational change is cultural change, which in-turn is most effectively driven by a transformational leadership style. There has been little research into CEOs' perceptions of their role in leading cultural change in their organisations. This thesis details an exploratory study of WA public sector CEOs. It discovered that CEOs identified with elements characterising the theoretical construct of a transformational leader. They perceived cultural change as the realignment of organisational values and behaviour with mission, government and community expectations, efficiency and effectiveness. CEOs actively deployed a number of strategies to bring about cultural change but were uncertain about the extent which substantive cultural change was taking place within the public sector. Factors they saw as impacting on their capacity to lead such change included the Government's policy agenda, management theory and potentially, peer support. CEOs who participated in the study were predominantly career public servants, male, over the age of fifty, had worked exclusively in the public sector and only led a small number of organisations. They had mixed views about the impact of such demographics on a CEO's capacity to effectively lead cultural change citing situational factors and personal attributes as being significant variables. There were a number of clear findings from the study that have significant, practical implications for the public sector. CEOs would benefit from a government that communicated a stronger sense of vision about the ++
future directions of the sector. CEOs require structured opportunities to enhance their competencies in the leadership of change and incentives to commit to change agendas that may extend well beyond the tenure of their employment contacts. Finally, CEOs cannot effectively transform organisational culture without support from other leaders and strategic plans that take account of emerging demographic shifts in the workforce that will inevitably impact on staff values, behaviours and expectations.

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Ziolkowski, Richard, and n/a. "A re-examination of corporate governance: concepts, models, theories and future directions." University of Canberra. Law, 2005. http://erl.canberra.edu.au./public/adt-AUC20060411.150123.

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This thesis represents a scholarly journey towards an understanding of corporate governance. Unlike the vast majority of writings on governance, this work attempts to take a step back, and to consider why and how we should study corporate governance. These critical questions have been largely ignored during the frenzy of governance research in the past few decades. The thesis argues that corporate governance theory and practice reflects a Tower of Academic Babel¹ reality as writers from diverse backgrounds use different approaches, invent terminology and proclaim a new 'theory'. The thesis analyses the extent of this conceptual confusion about corporate governance and why this arises. It also considers some possible reasons for the increasing disillusionment with the legal, ethical, cultural, institutional, regulatory and other contexts of corporate governance. The corporate governance literature indicates that much uncertainty has arisen over the nature of corporate governance. Both, denotative and connotative meanings of corporate governance have been ambiguous, often because of poorly defined concepts. This ambiguity is compounded by confusion over methodological concepts such as "paradigm", "system", "model" and "theory", the key constructs employed by many legal, and other, writers. Moreover, much of the literature on corporate governance is founded on ethnocentric concepts that are often "chauvinistic in the extreme".² This confusion has been intensified by the added complexity of unique phenomenology, demonstrated by numerous writers with "scholarship and advocacy that is culturally and economically insensitive"³ This thesis argues that the search for corporate efficiency and effectiveness is often misguided, both because of biased performance criteria and a lack of a clear conceptual domain. Consequently, the corporate governance discourse fails meaningfully to address the enigma of what is the range of corporate governance influence on corporate activities? The overarching argument made in this thesis is that our understanding of corporate governance requires a clarification of methodological approach and a comparative perspective. By recasting corporate governance research within consistent models, theories and applications this thesis lays the foundation for future research by which we may investigate the causal relationships that determine corporate efficiency, effectiveness and the optimum structures for good corporate governance. practitioners from most cultures.

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Mignot, Helen R. "Users and accounting information preferences of government department financial reports." Thesis, Edith Cowan University, Research Online, Perth, Western Australia, 1996. https://ro.ecu.edu.au/theses/936.

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The introduction of an accounting standard requiring government departments to replace fund-type, cash-based accounting statements with business-type, accrual based accounting statements has led to criticism that business-type, general purpose financial statements do not take account of the information requirements of major users. Such criticism echoes a long standing debate in which the users of public sector financial statements and their informational requirements are analysed in competing models. One view suggests that there are many users with homogeneous informational needs, who can be classified into a few broad groups. The other view maintains that there are few users who have differential informational requirements. This research adds to the few empirical studies on the usefulness of public sector accounting statement information. The purpose of this research is to test the hypothesis that users perceive that there is no difference in the usefulness of fund-type, cash-based; business-type, accrual-based accounting statements, and both cash and accrual combined accounting statements. Responses from legislators, citizen/ interest group members, and preparers to a questionnaire provides the data for statistical analysis. Test results suggest that there is only moderate support for the hypothesis that heterogenous users have different information needs. Strong support is found for the hypothesis that combined sets of statements as opposed to cash, or accrual are more useful. This conclusion holds for both the importance and useability dimensions of the construct perceived usefulness.

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Allan, Geoffrey, and n/a. "A Different Agenda: The Changing Meaning of Public Service Efficiency and Responsiveness in Australia's Public Services." Griffith University. Griffith Business School, 2005. http://www4.gu.edu.au:8080/adt-root/public/adt-QGU20060914.104311.

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This thesis examines the changing nature of efficiency and tesponsiveness of Australian public services over the past century It will examine how over the past 100 years efficiency has been improved and assessed. It will also examine how, since the 1970s, efficiency has become synonymous with responsiveness. The main argument of this thesis is that the nature of efficiency and responsiveness has changed over the past century.. Reforms introduced fiom the 1970s where the rationale at the time was improved efficiency, were essentially designed to make the public service more accountable and thereby responsive to the political executive. The study will examine: 1. the measures governments employed to improve efficiency and assess their effectiveness; 2. how responsiveness became the corollary of efficiency; 3. the resultant changes assessment of government perfbrmance; and 4. the effect these changes had on the Westminster system in Australia. The thesis is in three parts. Part one deals with the nature of public service efficiency and responsiveness. It examines the literature surrounding the nature of the terms and provides a definition of each. Part two details and analyses how public service efficiency was measured and improved from the end of the nineteenth century to the beginning of the 1970s. It will detail the rise and decline in public service boards and commissions and how they were used to initially limit patronage and then to act as monitoring agencies to ensure that public service input costs were as small as they could be 1i will also detail how other factors, such as the training and education of staff and computerisation had an increasing role in improving efficiency. The third part deals with the changes that have occurred since the 1970s. This will examine how responsiveness emerged as an issue and how it became an essential companion to efficiency when promoting bureaucratic change.. It will examine how the nomenclature of efficiency has been applied when the political executive seeks to ensure greater responsiveness from the public service. This third part will examine the main apparatus that were employed by the political executive to improve efficiency and responsiveness: progr am budgeting, corporate planthng, efficiency audits and contracts with senior staff. Finally, I will demonstrate the inability or unwillingness of many ministers and governments to detail policy objectives and their reluctance to evaluate the effectiveness of spending. This was accompanied by a greater reliance on senior employment contracts as the main lever to improve efficiency and responsiveness of the service.

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Davies, Llewellyn Willis. "‘LOOK’ AND LOOK BACK: Using an auto/biographical lens to study the Australian documentary film industry, 1970 - 2010." Phd thesis, Canberra, ACT : The Australian National University, 2018. http://hdl.handle.net/1885/154339.

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While much has been written on the Australian film and television industry, little has been presented by actual producers, filmmakers and technicians of their time and experiences within that same industry. Similarly, with historical documentaries, it has been academics rather than filmmakers who have led the debate. This thesis addresses this shortcoming and bridges the gap between practitioner experience and intellectual discussion, synthesising the debate and providing an important contribution from a filmmaker-academic, in its own way unique and insightful. The thesis is presented in two voices. First, my voice, the voice of memoir and recollected experience of my screen adventures over 38 years within the Australian industry, mainly producing historical documentaries for the ABC and the SBS. This is represented in italics. The second half and the alternate chapters provide the industry framework in which I worked with particular emphasis on documentaries and how this evolved and developed over a 40-year period, from 1970 to 2010. Within these two voices are three layers against which this history is reviewed and presented. Forming the base of the pyramid is the broad Australian film industry made up of feature films, documentary, television drama, animation and other types and styles of production. Above this is the genre documentary within this broad industry, and making up the small top tip of the pyramid, the sub-genre of historical documentary. These form the vertical structure within which industry issues are discussed. Threading through it are the duel determinants of production: ‘the market’ and ‘funding’. Underpinning the industry is the involvement of government, both state and federal, forming the three dimensional matrix for the thesis. For over 100 years the Australian film industry has depended on government support through subsidy, funding mechanisms, development assistance, broadcast policy and legislative provisions. This thesis aims to weave together these industry layers, binding them with the determinants of the market and funding, and immersing them beneath layers of government legislation and policy to present a new view of the Australian film industry.

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Lord, Kay Elizabeth. "The personal growth and career development of organisational change agents : a narrative study of the careers of experienced practitioners in an Australian setting /." View thesis, 2000. http://library.uws.edu.au/adt-NUWS/public/adt-NUWS20030630.140339/index.html.

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Thesis (M.Sc.) (Hons.) -- University of Western Sydney, Hawkesbury, 2000.
A thesis presented to the University of Western Sydney, Hawkesbury, in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science (Hons.), November, 2000. Bibliography : leaves 154-162.

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Appo, Dennis Keith. "The use of power in Aboriginal organisations /." [St. Lucia, Qld.], 2002. http://www.library.uq.edu.au/pdfserve.php?image=thesisabs/absthe17843.pdf.

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Byrne, Margaret. "Workplace meetings and the silencing of women an investigation of women and men's different communication styles and how these influence perceptions of leadership capability within Australian organisations /." View thesis, 2004. http://library.uws.edu.au/adt-NUWS/public/adt-NUWS20050616.113420/index.html.

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Burgess, Zena, and res cand@acu edu au. "Experiences and Influences of Women Directors." Australian Catholic University. School of Psychology, 2003. http://dlibrary.acu.edu.au/digitaltheses/public/adt-acuvp30.29082005.

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The present research provides the first analyses of Australian women directors from the perspective of social identity theory. The overall objective of the research program is to confirm the validity of social identity theory to the study of women on corporate boards and in doing so, add to the limited knowledge regarding successful women directors. An aim of the research was to identify factors that are significant in the social identity of women who are successful directors of corporate boards. These factors were revealed through a longitudinal study (over six years) of changes in the demographic characteristics of the women and their board positions. Factors were revealed through their perceptions of their effectiveness as an ostensibly minority (female) board member. Similarities in stereotyped attitudes to men and women board directors confirmed their status as an ingroup member. Through identification of significant factors in women’s success as board directors it is hoped to assist both individual women who are striving for success on corporate boards and organisations who wish to make more effective use of women on their boards. Five studies examined various aspects of women directors’ experiences and influences through three survey instruments that were used to collect data over a period of six years. A survey design allowed the gathering of detailed data on a variety of items thought to be relevant to women’s experiences of being directors and allowed the data collected to be oriented to a theoretical framework. Thus, a survey design was deemed superior to common alternatives of analysis of archival company annual report data or re-analysis of data collected by executive search companies for a study of corporate directors. A survey of 572 Australian women directors in 1995 identified many characteristics of women directors. A profile of a typical Australian women director was constructed and compared to international research on women directors covering a similar period (e.g., Burke, 1994b; Catalyst, 1993; Holton, Rabbets & Scrivener, 1993). An examination of differences between the characteristics of executive and nonexecutive women directors confirmed that the two director roles could be perceived as distinct groups. A further survey of the women six years later examined changes in their characteristics and board experiences. Of the 298 women who had agreed to follow-up research, 59 surveys were returned as no longer at the same address, 23 women indicated that they were no longer on a corporate board, and 32 were current corporate directors. Changes in the women’s profiles that the directors had attained through increased board memberships and more central board roles were interpreted as indicators of success. Based on research by Cejka and Eagly (1999), similarities and differences in stereotypical attitudes of men and women directors were examined in relation to social identity theory. Factors in nonexecutive women directors’ identification as board directors, their perceptions of their ability to contribute as board directors, and their behaviour as a board directors were assessed by measures from Karasawa (1991) and Westphal and Milton (2000). The present research program demonstrated the value of social identity theory as a vehicle for understanding Australian women director’s experiences on corporate boards. For the present research, social identity theory provided insights into how successful Australian women directors perceive themselves and other members of their ingroup of board directors. By contributing to a deeper understanding of successful women directors, it is hoped that a greater number of women will be able to successfully join ingroups of board directors, thereby breaking down the barriers to women.

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Sarkar, Hasina Farhana. "Impact of the quality of internal audit function and the internal audit outsourcing/co-sourcing on external audit fees: Evidence from listed companies in Australia." Thesis, Edith Cowan University, Research Online, Perth, Western Australia, 2021. https://ro.ecu.edu.au/theses/2470.

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This study is driven by two competing perspectives, substitutive and complementary, to examine the effects of internal audit function quality and sourcing arrangements on external audit fees. The substitution perspective expects high-quality internal controls to substitute for external audit activities, thus, decreasing external audit fees. In contrast, the complementary perspective proposes that high-quality internal audit functions require more reviews and reports, leading to increased external audit fees. This study analyses the competing perspectives using a combined dataset from the Morningstar database and questionnaire responses from chief audit executives of listed Australian companies. This study established a composite measure of internal audit function quality based on five internal audit function attributes to assess the relationship between internal audit function quality and audit fees. An ordinary least square regression analysis of 408 listed Australian firms from 2017 to 2018 found a positive relationship between internal audit function quality and external audit fees. Analyses of sourcing arrangements for internal audits suggest that higher internal audit functions will increase audit fees regardless of firms’ sourcing arrangements. This study provides a much needed literary update given that previous literature focused on examining the internal audit function quality and audit fee linkage in Australia before 1 July 2004, when the Corporate Law Economic Reform Program No. 9 was introduced. The Corporate Law Economic Reform Program No. 9 seeks to improve investor confidence in publicly listed companies in Australia and regulates auditors’ engagement. There have been contentious debates about the costs and benefits of this law for Australian public companies. Effects from the Corporate Law Economic Reform Program No. 9 are captured in the observation window for this study (1 January 2017 to 31 December 2018), filling an important gap in the literature. This study also contributes to the internal audit outsourcing literature by exploring the relationship between the outsourcing arrangement of internal audit functions and the external audit fees among listed companies in Australia.

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Mitchell, James Ian. "Management discourse and practice in Australia /." 1998. http://www.library.unsw.edu.au/~thesis/adt-NUN/public/adt-NUN20001204.102253/index.html.

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Lam, Thi Loan. "Negotiating the labyrinth: female executives in higher education leadership in Vietnam and Australia." Thesis, 2019. http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1397795.

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Research Doctorate - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Women are under-represented in leadership roles in higher education, especially at senior levels, although they represent the majority of those who study and complete higher education degrees across the world (Berman & West, 2008; Black, 2015; Eagly & Carly, 2007; UNESCO, 2014, p. 6). Despite the fact that the number of females in executive leadership positions has increased over the last decade, there are still fewer women than men in these roles. In contrast to their male counterparts, women who have been successful in securing senior leadership roles in tertiary education continue to face a number of barriers to maintaining their employment status (D. R. Davis & Cecilia, 2015). Given these discrepancies, I investigated the strategies used by women who have successfully negotiated the “labyrinth”, a metaphor which implies the complicated set of obstacles that women face. What confronts women seeking career equity is not just a single “glass ceiling” that they need to break through once, but a maze-like journey through a series of different barriers which are often more obscure than obvious. In light of the inequities confronting women, and the labyrinthine nature of their career journeys, my aim was to determine the extent to which women’s acquisition of leadership skills is an essential factor in overcoming the confronting challenges and covert barriers which impede their success. This research focused on the extent to which participants’ leadership styles and competencies have empowered them, allowing them to acquire executive leadership positions in tertiary education which would otherwise have been reserved for men. This research also explored the extent to which leadership strategies need to be continuously developed by successful women to maintain their current career trajectories, in spite of the many barriers they face. I used complementary Mixed-Methods, online and paper survey questionnaires and semi-structured face-to-face interviews, which I conducted in the higher education sector in Vietnam and Australia. My respondents included 380 current executive female leaders who took the online survey, and included 24 current women senior-executives who agreed to participate in a follow-up interview. My analysis of the findings reveals that leadership strategies, opportunities and leadership training are the three most significant areas enabling or preventing women from attaining executive positions.

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Dugdale, Paul. "Public management in the welfare state : managerialism and consumer advocacy in the 1980's." Master's thesis, 1992. http://hdl.handle.net/1885/110706.

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This thesis is about recent developments in the Australian welfare state. The historical focus is on the Federal Labor administration in Australia in the 1980s. It is concerned with questions about the public administration in society with regard to social welfare. This concern covers the internal arrangements of the bureaucracy, its effect on society through its actions, and its interactions with society that influence its operation.

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Bretherton, Tanya Robyn. "Managerial women and enterprise bargaining : the role of narrative identities in preference formation." Phd thesis, 2005. http://hdl.handle.net/1885/151712.

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Abell, David I. "A review of directors' and officers' liability insurance policy wordings in light of the Statewide Tobacco, National Safety Council, AWA & East End court decisions." Thesis, 1993. https://vuir.vu.edu.au/15554/.

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The Statewide Tobacco, National Safety Council & AWA decisions have generated a good deal of comment in business circles and in the media. References have been made in legal and business journals as to the importance of Directors' and Officers' Liability (D & O) insurance when discussing these court decisions. Unfortunately, for the purchasers of this class of insurance there is very little written material as to how to adequately evaluate the different D & 0 insurance policies offered by underwriters. This paper examines the background of this class of insurance and suggests a way of comparing the various policies offered by the insurance market and a number of risk minimisation strategies.

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Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Executives Australia'

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