Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Public safety Victoria Melbourne'

The Picturesque aesthetic emerged in the later 18th century, uniting the Sublime and the Beautiful and had its roots in the paintings of Claude Lorrain. In Britain, and in Australia, it came to link art, literature and landscape with architecture. The Picturesque aesthetic informed much of colonial culture which was achieved, in part, through the production and dissemination of architectural pattern books catering for the aspirations of the rising middle classes. This was against a background of political change including democratic reform. The Italianate villa, codified and promoted in such pattern books, was a particularly successful synthesis of style, form and function. The first Italianate villa in England, Cronkhill (1803) by John Nash contains all the ingredients which were essential to the model and had a deeper meaning. Deepdene (from 1807) by Thomas Hope gave the model further impetus. The works of Charles Barry and others in a second generation confirmed the model's acceptability. In Britain, its public status peaked with Osborne House (from 1845), Queen Victoria's Italianate villa on the Isle of Wight, Robert Kerr used a vignette of Osborne House on the title page of his sophisticated and influential pattern book, The Gentleman's House (1864,1871). It was one of many books, including those of J.C, Loudon and AJ. Downing, current in colonial Victoria. The latter authors and horticulturists were themselves villa dwellers with libraries and orchards, two criteria for the true villa lifestyle. Situation and a sense of retreat were the two further criteria for the villa lifestyle. As the new colony of Victoria blossomed between 1851 and 1891, the Italianate villa, its garden setting and its landscape siting captured the tenor of the times. Melbourne, the capital was a rich manufacturing metropolis with a productive hinterland and international markets. The people enjoyed a prosperity and lifestyle which they wished to display. Those who had a position in society were keen to demonstrate and protect it. Those with aspirations attempted to provide the evidence necessary for such acceptance, The model matured and became ubiquitous. Its evolution can be traced through a series of increasingly complicated rural and suburban examples, a process which modernist historians have dismissed as a decadent decline. These villas, in fact, demonstrate an increasingly sophisticated retreat by merchants from ‘the Town’ and by graziers from ‘the Country’. In both town and country, the towers of villas mark territory newly acquired. The same claim was often made in humbler situations. Government House, Melbourne (from 1871), a splendid Italianate villa and arguably finer than Osborne House, was set in a cultivated landscape and towered above all It incorporated the four criteria and, in addition, claimed its domain, focused authority and established the colony's social status. It symbolised ancient notions of democracy and idealism but with a modem appreciation for the informal and domestic. Government House in Melbourne is the epitome of the Italianate villa in the colonial landscape and is the climax of the Picturesque aesthetic in Victoria.

This thesis examines the perceptions of lecturers, graduates and employers of personal and interpersonal skills development in an accounting degree at Victoria University. The development of personal and interpersonal skills in students in higher education has been the focus of discussion amongst accounting educators, accounting practitioners and the accounting profession for many years. There is a general consensus on what skills are necessarily sought to ensure success within the accountancy profession but very few previous studies on how those personal and interpersonal skills are being developed. This research study presents a research framework which emphasises the complex interrelationships between an accounting curriculum, accounting lecturers, accounting graduates and employers of graduate accountants and their perceptions of how personal and interpersonal skills are developed. A case study approach, combining archival, qualitative and quantitative methods, is used to investigate how a Bachelor of Business Accounting degree in one Australian university facilitates personal and interpersonal skills development. The case study results indicate that the curriculum, as the vector for skills development, has both explicit and implicit references to skills outcomes. Graduates� perceptions of many of the personal and interpersonal skills considered in this study are closely related to the curriculum findings. However, there appears to be a lack of convergence between lecturers� perceptions, the curriculum and graduates� perceptions. Employers generally agree that graduates display most of the personal and interpersonal skills, albeit at a low level, in the workplace. There are curriculum implications arising from the results of this research for accounting academics who design and develop accounting programs where the value of graduates� personal and interpersonal skills are acknowledged. As a first step, academics need to improve accounting curricula by explicitly integrating personal and interpersonal skills in their subjects. Communicating to students the explicit nature of personal and interpersonal skills development and making them aware is the next step.

The ability to successfully innovate on a sustained basis is critical in today�s �hyper-competitive� environment characterised by increasingly rapid technological change and shortening product life cycles, and where competitors quickly imitate sources of competitive advantage. At the same time, organisations find managing innovation difficult; both larger firms who fight to avoid being outplayed by smaller, more nimble competitors, and smaller firms struggling to compete against the resources and reach of larger, global competitors. This research develops an assessment instrument designed to assist organisations to improve their ability to innovate. An inductive, case-based methodology is adopted utilising action research techniques to develop the Innovation Capability Assessment instrument. The starting point of the research was an extensive analysis of the corporate entrepreneurship and innovation literature. The literature provided a basis for understanding what question areas might need to be included in such an instrument and led to the development of an initial theoretical framework and a preliminary assessment instrument. The preliminary assessment instrument was further developed and refined via five exploratory case studies. Three subsequent confirmatory case studies were used to validate the instrument�s effectiveness. The case studies were carried out at Australian organisations operating within a variety of industries and of varying sizes, all of whom were looking to improve their innovation performance. Data was collected through interviews with key members of each organisation and through assessment and action planning workshops involving participants from a cross-section of each organisation. The case studies led to additional assessment questions being added to the instrument, and the rationalisation of others. This research identifies the enablers of organisational innovation and finds that these are common to all the case organisations involved in the fieldwork. The innovation enablers form the basis of the Innovation Capability Assessment instrument that measures innovation performance against 21 questions within three key assessment areas: strategic management of innovation, the internal environment, and a series of innovation competencies. The relative importance of each innovation enabler to the organisation is also assessed. The Innovation Capability Assessment instrument is shown to be very relevant across a variety of organisation types and sizes. In addition, it is useful for an organisation to identify and prioritise weaknesses, and develop actions for improving their innovation capability.

There have been a limited number of studies carried out on employee workplace identity. There have been many studies carried out on organizational change; however, they have been carried out mostly from an instrumentalist perspective where the topic of organizational change has been treated in isolation from other aspects of organization. The question of how a relationship exists between employee workplace identity and organizational change has been left unanswered. This thesis applies narrative theory as a conceptual bridge across identity and change. By considering how employees derive a sense of workplace identity from the workplace narratives, and organizational change as the destruction of existing workplace narratives and adoption of new workplace narratives, it is possible to gain new understandings of these concepts. A theory is developed which explains how narrative theory creates a relationship between identity and change. This new theory is further developed to explain how narrative theory creates a relationship between organizational identity, culture, leadership, conflict, and change. The new extended theory is applied to a narrative presentation of empirical data, which offers a powerful explanatory lens for understanding the relationship between these chosen aspects of organization.

This study attempted to identifj and explore the role the building plays in the organisation culture of nursing homes. To do this a research plan was formulated in which the central plank was a case-study of a seventy-five bed high care nursing home. As part of the case-study, interviews were conducted at the nursing home with ten members of staff, two residents and a daughter of a resident. The study was also informed by interviews with two architects, who specialise in the design of nursing homes and aged care facilities. A theoretical model entitled the 'Conceptual Framework' was developed prior to the case-study. It was tested by applying it to findings related to the physical context and the organisation culture of the case-study venue. The hypothesis that the building does influence the culture of the nursing home environment was explored by studying the manner in which the building influenced the lives of those who work in the nursing home and those who live there. This challenge was met with the use of theoretical contributions from organisation theory and psychodynamics, which together provided a vehicle for analysis of the culture and the building's role in it.

[Truncated abstract] The aim of the research was to explore the association between wrist guard use and wrist fracture risk in snowboarders in Australia. During the study, the opportunity was also taken to examine the relationship between wearing wrist guards and the severity of wrist and elbow injury. A case-control study was conducted at the Mount Buller Medical Centre, Victoria, Australia. A total of 494 participants was recruited during the 2004 and 2005 ski seasons. Cases were defined as any snowboarder seen at the Clinic with a fractured wrist (N = 119), and controls as any snowboarder seen at the clinic for any reasons other than a fractured wrist (N = 375). Severity of forearm injuries were defined and analysed separately. Study participants completed a questionnaire consisting of: basic demographics (age and sex only); wrist guard use on the day of presentation; normal use of protective equipment; the number of days spent snowboarding that season; the ability of the snowboarder; and ski run difficulty. Risk taking behaviour was assessed by a history of any previous fracture or joint injury and psychometric questions. Clinic medical staff recorded site and severity of fractures and soft tissue injuries. Logistic regression was used to obtain adjusted odds ratios for these risk factors against the main outcome measure. Presence of wrist fracture and injury in snowboarders with and without wrist guards. ... There was a significant association between wrist guard use and soft tissue elbow injuries (adjusted odds ratio = 17.6, p = 0.011, 95% CI: 1.93 – 160.2), but no significant association with elbow fractures (adjusted odds ratio = 1.84, p = 0.385, 95% CI: 0.46 – 7.30). There was thus no evidence in this study that wrist guards increase the occurrence of other severe injuries in the forearm by transferring the impact force away from the protected wrist up the arm. No evidence was found for compensatory risk taking behaviour in participants wearing protective equipment. A local injury prevention strategy was implemented in schools in the Mt Buller district during the course of this study. Education about the protective effects of wrist guards enabled a policy change in the local secondary college so that wrist guard use is now mandatory for all snowboarders in the school ski programme: That policy states:

Conclusion. It is probably now appropriate to close a chapter in the history of public communication campaigning. Weaknesses which have usually been seen as instrumental can now be seen for what they are: conceptual failures grounded in compromised ontologies and false epistemologies. As I showed in the last chapter, even when viewed within their own narrow empiricist frame, public communication campaigns fail to satisfy a test of empirical efficacy. But empirical failure reveals a deeper moral failure: the failure of government to properly engage in a conversation with the citizens to whom they are ultimately responsible. Whether public communication campaigns are a symptom or a cause of this failure lies beyond the scope of this thesis. But there can be little doubt that the practice of these campaigns has encouraged the persistence of an inappropriate relation between state and citizens. The originators and managers of mass media public communication campaigns conceive of and execute their creations as persuasive devices aimed at the targets who have been selected to receive their messages. But we do not see ourselves as targets (and there are profound ethical reasons why we should not be treated as such), neither do we engage with the mass media as message receivers. On the contrary, as social beings, we become actively and creatively involved with the communicative events which we attend to and participate in; the mass media, like all other communication opportunities, provide the means for generating new meanings, new ways of understanding, new social realities. But people are constrained from participating fully in public discussion about social issues; the government's construal of individuals as targets and of communication as transmitted messages does not provide the discursive space for mutual interaction. Governments should aim to encourage the active engagement of citizens in public discussion by conceiving of and executing public communication as part of a continuing conversation, not as packaged commodities to be marketed and consumed, or as messages to be received. It is time to encourage alternative practices-practices which open up the possibility of productive conversations which will help transform the relationship between citizens and state. However, as I have argued in this thesis, changed practices must be accompanied by profound changes in thinking, otherwise we continue to reinvent the past. Communication practice is informed by the ontology of communication which is itself embedded within other ontologies and epistemologies. The dominant paradigm of communication is at present in a state of crisis, caught between two views of communication power. On the one hand it displays an obsession with instrumental effectiveness on which it cannot deliver. On the other hand-in an attempt to discard the accumulated baggage of dualist philosophy and mechanistic models of effective communication-it indulges in a humourless critique of language which, as Robert Hughes astutely observes, is little more than an enclave of abstract complaint (Hughes 1993:72). This thesis has been an attempt to open up a space for a new ontology, within which we might create new possibilities.

The Metropolitan Fire Brigade (MFB) Melbourne, is at the crossroads. Change is sweeping the economic and political environment within which international fire services operate. The MFB is not insulated from this change. Unless alternative productivity strategies can be achieved, the emergency response sector of the Brigade will suffer the same fate as the corporate sector of the MFB and other statutory authorities. Downsizing within this sector has been occurring in response to the above conditions over the past four years. This study investigates the impact of change upon public safety agencies in general, then compares data gathered on the MFB against this to: • Identify the level of organisational commitment that currently exists; • Develop an understanding of the impact of downsizing upon public sector employees. This study reviews the body of literature concerned with culture and change, downsizing and outsourcing and examines and builds upon the framework of previous research, particularly in the area of downsizing and its impact upon survivors. The study was designed as a one shot correlational study. A questionnaire was designed and administered to the population. Responses were analysed and discussed in context with the referenced literature. This study extends previous research in that it compares those findings with current findings. Low morale, job insecurity, poor communication and negativity have been identified as consistent with that of previous research (Brockner 1992; Brockner, Grover and Blonder 1988; Cascio 1993). In other areas the findings vary from previous research, in that organisational commitment remains high, contrary to the literature.

The purpose of this research was to investigate the motivation of the employees in the Austrahan pubhc service with special attention to the Western Melbourne Institute Of TAFE (TAFE), and Darebin City Council (DCC), located in Melbourne. The dependent variables considered in this study were: age, education, decision making process, employee development programs, measurement and feedback of actual results, opportunities for advancement, group cohesion, and performance based pay systems.

Religion and culture can impact profoundly on healthcare practices and health outcomes. The Australian community is rich and diverse in differing cultures and religions, and at times of medical emergency the paramedic increasingly will be required to respond to healthcare needs of this diverse community. This study is designed to investigate current paramedic practices as they relate to an awareness of the cultural and religious needs of community groups as a holistic approach. It also incorporates the voices of these community groups from their experiences with emergency paramedics during pre‐hospital health care for those living in Melbourne, Australia.

This project provides various points of view to determine whether the private sector can build-own-operate-transfer pubhc infrastructure projects more efficiently than the public sector and will use as an example the building of the City Link Project. The project will argue the advantages of it being managed by the private or public sector. Some consideration will be given to the argument that the Victorian State Government simply does not have the capital or the expertise to complete a public infrastructure project the size of the City Link.

Chronic diseases have increased dramatically in Australia and around the world over the past decade, causing pain, suffering, disability, psychosocial problems, early mortality and economic and public health crisis. However, many chronic diseases and conditions could be prevented with better evidence based and community based health promotion strategies. Guided by a philosophy of idealism, the aim of this thesis was to develop a community centred health promotion strategy to assist the improvement of health and the prevention of chronic disease in an Australian context. More specifically, the research was concerned with exploring the potentiality of statistical or epidemiological evidence and community collaboration as pathways to chronic disease prevention and improvement of health at an individual, community and system level. The research utilised a praxis paradigm and action research design over three stages. Stage One included in depth quantitative analysis of health and epidemiological data and addressed the question: What is the current evidence/knowledge about health status, determinants and inequalities in Victorian communities and the broader Victorian and Australian context? Stage Two involved qualitative participatory action research methods to engage a small group of community members from the Brimbank region of Melbourne (Victoria, Australia) in the community governance of health promotion and disease prevention. The questions addressed were: What are the benefits of community based health promotion and prevention? What ideas for health promotion action does the community have to offer? Stage Three involved a minor evaluation of the strategy as a whole and addressed the question: In what ways, can health evidence and community involvement in health promotion contribute to better health outcomes? Stage One identified various determinants that impact on health status and result in inequalities. Stage Two revealed six major benefits for community based health promotion and prevention and generated a number of useful ideas for health promotion action in the community. Stage Three showed positive evaluations by the participants and identified numerous indicators of success of the health promotion strategy as a whole.

Healthcare is a complex arena of multi-skilled interaction. In recent years, it has grown extensively out of the simple act of treating the sick by a noble healer to taking measures of preventing illness not only of the clients but also of the community. It is no more a deal between two persons: the sick and the healer (like a doctor). Community healthcare is regulated by several agencies including legislative agencies (like government, international health organisations), professional bodies, industrial regulators, consumer advocates and commercial entities (such as insurance companies and pharmaceuticals). Healthcare service providers or professionals are not the sole regulators rather their actions need to balance the legal obligations to the client (such as client satisfaction), to staff (such as workplace safety) and to business (to maintain competitive advantage in the industry). Current healthcare service provision is challenged by many factors including diversification of the task, diversity of workforce characteristics due to globalisation and increased service demand by knowledgeable customers searching proactive healthcare and not just curative care. To overcome these challenges along with maintaining quality service, organisations need skilled staff. This, however, is threatened by occupational hazards like occupational violence against staff (OVAS) which is well documented globally and across Australia. The impact of OVAS is not limited only to disruption of service but also to the quality of service and shortage of human resources in some cases. Regulatory agencies like the Department of Health, Comcare, Safe Work Australia and Worksafe Victoria (VAGO, 2013) are providing guidelines on OVAS management. Most healthcare providers are considering some actions, but not with any universal consensus. According to the hierarchy of control in Work Health and Safety Management System (WHSMS) a hazard could best be controlled by eliminating it, but if not then training of staff is an option. Training will always be needed whether or not other measures of hazard and risk control are implemented. This encourages research to develop effective training in terms of trainers’ perspective (in delivery), learners’ perspective (of appreciating the sessions) and management’ perspective (of the outcome of hazard control). Literature shows that the workforce training in hospitals to control OVAS lacks consistency and uniformity across Australian hospitals. ‘Management of Violence and Aggression International Training’ (MSVT) is one training programme run by the BN123 Health, Victoria, since 1990. With that background the main aim of this qualitative case study research project was to “identify the effectiveness of the existing training programme (MSVT) in prevention of occupational violence against staff (OVAS) “. Occupational violence is a part of work health and safety issue. So, the research intended to enquire: ‘Is the existing MSVT in prevention of OVAS achieving its purpose, particularly in the current WHSMS setting of the hospital?’ The literature review assisted in identifying the causes of OVAS, types, prevalence and the factors associated with it. It also helped to analyse the published incidents. Among different training evaluation methods, the Kirkpatrick’s model was found most suitable to evaluate MSVT. Analysis attempted to correlate the outcome of the training against existing objectives. Limited access to information meant that I could not perform in-depth analyses, but the findings of this study are expected to guide future research on the effectiveness of MSVT at BN123 Health with more integration to the WHSMS and other safety programmes This research used a qualitative case study with Actor-Network Theory (ANT) to fulfil the goal. The limited access to health facilities both due to obstacle in sensitive data collection and accessing busy participants of different sections of the hospital in a limited time frame. This study explored actors related to OVAS and suggested adoption of an innovative approach to improve workplace safety through the formation of new networks. It did this by looking through the lens of Actor-Network Theory (ANT). The present vision of the government in digitalising the health sector in Australia is a prime opportunity to re-align the network in the WHSMS of the hospital for better impact of training on the OVAS situation. Limited guidance from top management was an issue. MSVT was under the control of the Psychiatric Department at its inception but was then moved under Human Resources (HR), which seems to have reduced its importance and resource management ability. Hospitals are dominated by clinical priorities rather than HR issues. Being a part of the general training programme administered by HR has limited the ability of MSVT as it struggled to receive funding to recruit enough full-time trainers to undertake research on OVAS incidents, promote the programme across the whole organisation, publish materials to create awareness to all staff and develop resources to help retain the knowledge of the participants in the post-training period. Limited flow of information on OVAS was another issue. Even though BN123 Health invests in innovation like RSKSOFT, for reporting it did not purchase all the modules of that programme to improve the flow of information to the trainers of MSVT. BN123 Health demonstrated a proactive attitude in managing OVAS by procuring and trademarking MSVT but is lacking continuity of efforts in it, maybe due to its commitment to clinical aspects of the service. This could be verified by further research. The research identified scope for innovation. Firstly, the training programme could be strengthened by incorporating recent updates on organisational objectives and legislative changes and standardisation with industry practices. It could also be strengthened by incorporation of an improved audio-visual component, distance learning facilities for beginners and refreshers, updating resources including books and journals, inter-organisation exchange programmes and inclusion of regular research results in booklets and handouts. Targeted delivery would also assist, with constant vigilance on incidents and inclusion of vulnerable groups in training. Another worthwhile innovation would be to change the focus from staff only programmes to involve customer or client interest. This could include arranging training for clients and carers as they are a party in the conflict. Management training would be useful to prepare resources for the population of the catchment area, bringing together all healthcare providers (including GPs) who refer clients to the hospital. Updating real-time information collection, storage and analysis by professionals as well as information access to trainers would also be a worthwhile innovation. With the availability of mobile technology, BN123 Health has scope to improve its ability to get real-time information from the incident spot and to develop better management to control events. This could also provide arrangements for easy data entry by general staff.

This study investigated childbirth education programs in Victoria from the perspective of the educators themselves. Prior to the study the Ministerial Review of Birthing Services in Victoria (1990) entitled “Having a Baby in Victoria” identified shortcomings in the childbirth education programs offered to expectant women and their partners. The study sought to interpret the experiences of the childbirth educators with regard to the development, implementation, delivery and evaluation of their programs.