Michael Zanko Copyright (c) 2013 All rights reserved. http://works.bepress.com/mzanko Recent documents in Michael Zanko en-us Tue, 29 Jan 2013 21:05:34 PST 3600 A discourse of classification: what type of "thing" is the myers-briggs type indicator and what makes it "work"? http://works.bepress.com/mzanko/23 http://works.bepress.com/mzanko/23 Sun, 22 Apr 2012 16:44:38 PDT Theorists who study discourses are interested in the social construction of reality through talk and text. The discursive construction of reality occurs at different (though interconnected) levels - from transient and situated instances and episodes oflanguage use (Potter & Wetherell 1987), through to the circulation of durable sets of interrelated knowledge claims, usually created and maintained by certified experts attached to institutions such as schools, universities, hospitals, prisons and courts (Foucault 1972, 1978). In this paper, we explore some aspects of these different dimensions of discourse, through a consideration of the creation, circulation and use ofthe Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), a popular personality typing tool. We argue that closer attention to the characteristics of discourses and the practices that surround them - that is, how they are created, maintained and structured - can help us to understand how they work to construct reality across a variety of contexts.

]]> Karin Garrety et al. Change and diversity: HRM issues and trends in the Asia-Pacific region http://works.bepress.com/mzanko/22 http://works.bepress.com/mzanko/22 Sun, 22 Apr 2012 16:44:37 PDT This paper reports on key human resource management (HRM) trends and issues in 21 economies that are part of a project to study contextually embedded HRM policies and practices in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), a major international regional organization. After a brief description of the Global Advantage Through People project, the identified HRM trends and issues are analysed in terms of time, the World Bank classification of developed and developing economies, regional regime membership, culture and the aggregate APEC level. This analysis is undertaken in order to ascertain any similarities, differences or patterns that enhance our understanding of HRM. The results provide a useful basis for future comparative HRM research in the Asia-Pacific region that is pitched at finer grained analysis at organization/industry levels.

]]> Michael Zanko Innovation and HRM: absences and politics http://works.bepress.com/mzanko/21 http://works.bepress.com/mzanko/21 Sun, 22 Apr 2012 16:44:36 PDT This article analyses the role of HRM practices in the implementation of an innovative cross-functional approach to new product development (concurrent engineering, CE) in Eurotech Industries. Contrary to CE methodology stipulations, and despite supportive conditions, HRM received scant attention in the implementation process. Organizational power and politics were clearly involved in this situation, and this article explores how their play created such HRM ‘absences’. The article builds on a four-dimensional view of power in order to provide a deeper understanding of the embedded, interdependent and political nature of HRM practice and innovation.

]]> Michael Zanko et al. The use of personality typing in organizational change: Discourse, emotions and the reflexive subject http://works.bepress.com/mzanko/20 http://works.bepress.com/mzanko/20 Sun, 22 Apr 2012 16:44:34 PDT This article is based on a study of an organizational change program that sought to alter employees’ self-perceptions, emotions and behavior through the use of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, a popular personality-typing tool. The program affords an opportunity to explore the various ways in which discourses advocating personal and organizational change work through employees’ subjectivity.We argue that theoretical approaches that view the targets of such programs as passive – as either ‘colonized’ or constructed by discourses – fail to capture the complex and contradictory nature of organizational control, and subjects’ changing positions within it. Drawing on symbolic interactionism, we argue that the power of discourses is mediated through an active, reflexive, and often emotional engagement on the part of individuals. Through their involvement, employees variously reproduce, resist or reconfigure power relationships which, during organizational change, are themselves unstable and inconsistent.

]]> Karin Garrety et al. The play of power and politics in innovation and HRM http://works.bepress.com/mzanko/19 http://works.bepress.com/mzanko/19 Sun, 22 Apr 2012 16:44:33 PDT This paper analyses the human resource management (HRM) practices involved in the implementation of a process innovation approach to product development (concurrent engineering (CE)) in the Australian subsidiary of a multinational firm engaged in military defence electronics. According to the research literature, almost all aspects of managing product development under a CE approach are linked to people management. Yet in this particular case, other than project team structure, the prescriptive HRM dimensions of CE were conspicuously absent in the implementation process. This absence is explained by the play of power and politics involving stakeholders analysed over an 18 month period. The implications of this analysis for understanding the embedded, interdependent and political nature of HRM and process innovation are addressed.

]]> Michael Zanko et al. Understanding Worker Motivation in the Australian Film Industry http://works.bepress.com/mzanko/18 http://works.bepress.com/mzanko/18 Sun, 22 Apr 2012 16:44:32 PDT The Australian Film Industry operates in an environment which is uniquely challenging. Workers in the industry continuously face hardships which outweigh the benefits. This research seeks to understand how workers overcome the hardships and apparently consistently invest inequitable proportions of labour and skills to maximise their performance. Whether people will work hard or not bears strongly on their level of motivation. Motivation in the Australian Film Industry is determined by three sets of identified factors. These are modifiers which stem from the producer’s influence and internal and external drivers which arise from the individual. Using Grounded Theory this research will explicate a substantive theory explaining why people work so hard in an industry that seems to reward them so poorly.

]]> M. L. Jones et al. Innovative workplace change: social well-being and health http://works.bepress.com/mzanko/17 http://works.bepress.com/mzanko/17 Sun, 22 Apr 2012 16:44:30 PDT Patrick M. Dawson et al. Embedding professionally relevant learning in the business curriculum through industry engagement http://works.bepress.com/mzanko/16 http://works.bepress.com/mzanko/16 Sun, 22 Apr 2012 16:44:28 PDT This paper reports on preliminary findings from an ALTC funded project on how to build curricula that meet the needs of business students and employers of business graduates. The project grew out of an Australian Business Deans Council Teaching and Learning Network scoping study which identified widespread concern among industry, academic and professional associations about the lack of engagement with real world problems by business graduates. In the paper we discuss the need for industry engagement, define professionally relevant learning, and outline the study objectives and methodology. We present a typology of industry engagement in the curriculum that emerged from our fieldwork, and tools that business faculties can use to embed professional learning. Finally, we suggest directions for future research.

]]> Michael Zanko et al. Responsibility for occupational health and safety outcomes in the labour hire industry: a tripartite arrangement? http://works.bepress.com/mzanko/15 http://works.bepress.com/mzanko/15 Sun, 22 Apr 2012 16:44:27 PDT Andrew J. Sense et al. Grounded Theory: A theoretical and practical application in the Australian Film Industry http://works.bepress.com/mzanko/14 http://works.bepress.com/mzanko/14 Sun, 22 Apr 2012 16:44:26 PDT Among the various methods of qualitative analysis, Grounded Theory provides researchers with a unique tool for theoretical development. Most conventional forms of qualitative analysis require the researcher to preselect a path of investigation in a method which is primarily deductive, where investigation and theoretical aggregation are a product of discovery, and data are informed by this discovery. Grounded Theory works in a manner which is contrary to this conventional path by being inductive. Using Grounded Theory, a researcher is afforded the luxury of maintaining an open mind and allowing the data to inform the discovery of theory. In this way emergent findings are highly representative of natural phenomena, and evolving theories are not forced to fit into preconceived moulds explicated from the literature. This paper presents a theoretical and practical application of Grounded Theory, illustrated with a case from the Australian Film Industry. Grounded Theory has been applied in this case to induce theoretical findings which explain the processes of motivation and commitment in this industry. The paper outlines the value and the practicality of using Grounded Theory for this type of study and provides a practical understanding of how the method can be used. The paper provides a brief discussion of the findings that have emerged as a result of applying the rigour of Grounded Theory. Finally, a list of analytical guidelines are provided for readers interested in pursuing this path of theoretical discovery (Appendix A).

]]> M. L. Jones et al. Emerging Interorganizational Structures in the Australian Wine Industry: Implications for SMEs http://works.bepress.com/mzanko/13 http://works.bepress.com/mzanko/13 Sun, 22 Apr 2012 16:44:25 PDT This paper discusses the globalization of the wine industry in terms of such issues as global production, distribution, technology transfer and branding. It also examines the increasing focus on localization and cluster development in light of the industry’s current rationalization. The paper argues that with such reconfiguration, ‘New’ and ‘Old World’ distinctions are blurring and may disappear. Furthermore, as the wine landscape evolves, regional cluster-based interorganizational domains are forming, along with the emergence of regional branding and the decline of a homogeneous Australian level industry. It is contended that these domains are essential in securing an ongoing role for SMEs.

]]> D. K. Aylward et al. Reconfigured domains: alternative pathways for the international wine industry http://works.bepress.com/mzanko/12 http://works.bepress.com/mzanko/12 Sun, 22 Apr 2012 16:44:24 PDT The international wine landscape has undergone dramatic changes over the past 20 years. The two-dimensional wine industry models of the 1980s and 1990s, based on ‘national set-perspectives’, are failing to address the new and very complex landscape now emerging. A true globalisation of the wine industry is creating a myriad of challenges and opportunities for multinationals and SME wine firms alike. Most importantly, however, it is creating the need for a significant reconfiguration of national industries to accommodate the internationalisation of production, supply chains, distribution, marketing and consumption. This paper assesses and comments on these changes within an organisational ecology framework. It compares and contrasts the different organisational structures within New and Old World wine industries, examines their contributions to the internationalised landscape, and proposes alternative pathways within this multidimensional and fluid sector.

]]> David Aylward et al. The Use of Personality Typing in Organizational Change: Discourse, Emotions & the Reflexive Subject http://works.bepress.com/mzanko/11 http://works.bepress.com/mzanko/11 Sun, 22 Apr 2012 16:44:22 PDT This article is based on a study of an organizational change program that sought to alter employees’ self-perceptions, emotions and behavior through the use of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, a popular personality-typing tool. The program affords an opportunity to explore the various ways in which discourses advocating personal and organizational change work through employees’ subjectivity.We argue that theoretical approaches that view the targets of such programs as passive – as either ‘colonized’ or constructed by discourses – fail to capture the complex and contradictory nature of organizational control, and subjects’ changing positions within it. Drawing on symbolic interactionism, we argue that the power of discourses is mediated through an active, reflexive, and often emotional engagement on the part of individuals. Through their involvement, employees variously reproduce, resist or reconfigure power relationships which, during organizational change, are themselves unstable and inconsistent.

]]> K. Garrety et al. Interorganizational relations and public regulation: the case of partially mandated occupational rehabilitation networks http://works.bepress.com/mzanko/10 http://works.bepress.com/mzanko/10 Sun, 22 Apr 2012 16:44:21 PDT Michael Zanko The Politics of Human Resource Management in Implementing Process Innovation http://works.bepress.com/mzanko/9 http://works.bepress.com/mzanko/9 Sun, 22 Apr 2012 16:44:16 PDT This paper analyses a longitudinal case study of organizational and human resource management (HRM) dimensions in the implementation of an approach to product development (concurrent engineering (CE)) in a multinational firm engaged in defence electronics. Most aspects of managing product development in CE are linked to people management. Yet in this case, other than project team structure, prescriptive HRM dimensions of CE received little attention in the implementation process. This failure to address the 'formal' prescribed HRM issues is explained by a multilayer analysis of the play of power and political lobbying among 'stakeholders' over time: the HRM function, key groups and individual managers. The implications of the failure to understand HRM issues in such new organizational techniques are addressed.

]]> Michael Zanko et al. Worker Commitment in the Australian Film Industry http://works.bepress.com/mzanko/8 http://works.bepress.com/mzanko/8 Sun, 22 Apr 2012 16:44:12 PDT Worker commitment in the Australian Film Industry is examined in this paper. Workers express a perceived inequity with regard to the inputs versus their outcomes. However, their continued engagement and persistent hard work in the industry would indicate a state of equity. Adams’ Equity Theory has been used in this research as a tool to help uncover the various factors which work to implicitly return equity to film workers. The commitment factors that have emerged through the research are discussed, and are considered in light of the factors which have surfaced through a preliminary literature review.

]]> M. L. Jones et al. Cultural issues in organisational change: the case of the Australian Services Union http://works.bepress.com/mzanko/7 http://works.bepress.com/mzanko/7 Sun, 22 Apr 2012 16:44:09 PDT Trade union renewal in the context of a changing socio-political business environment remains a central challenge for union leaders. Strategies for reform must accommodate an array of issues, including gender, legislative change, environmental concerns and the growth in part-time work. The development and implementation of strategies are further compounded by the history and culture of trade unionism that adheres to tradition and is often sceptical of radical new ideas. The case of the Australian Services Union (ASU) is used to highlight some of these contemporary concerns in an analysis of longitudinal qualitative data on union organisation and change. This trade union provides a pertinent example as it is not only having to deal with the problem of declining union membership, but it is also trying to address cultural change issues associated with union amalgamation and in so doing, redress the tradition of male unionism through promoting the place of women. These changes are seen as both problematic and central to the development of union strategies and alternative approaches to revitalising trade unionism in the twenty-first century.

]]> Patrick M. Dawson et al. The steel leadership program: telling the stories http://works.bepress.com/mzanko/6 http://works.bepress.com/mzanko/6 Sun, 22 Apr 2012 16:44:08 PDT Introduction
  • Between October 1999 and June 2000 fifteen interviews were conducted with Springhill employees who had participated in the SLP course.
  • The OD Team at Port Kembla intends using these stories to help build a new culture.

An analysis and representation of participants' stories of their experiences arising out of the BHP Steel Leadership Program (SLP) does not lend itself readily to executive summary and bullet points. However, we have been able to discern a number of key themes from the process of gathering these stories and, of course, from the stories themselves.

]]> Karin H. Garrety et al. Responsibility for occupational health and safety outcomes in the labour hire industry: A tripartite arrangement? http://works.bepress.com/mzanko/5 http://works.bepress.com/mzanko/5 Sun, 22 Apr 2012 16:44:07 PDT Labour hire workers are one category of a group more generally labelled contingent, temporary, precarious or casual workers. Research shows they are generally at increased risk of occupational injury and illness compared to permanent employees. It is proposed that one of the causal factors is the unique tripartite employment relationship used to engage labour hire. The dynamics and behaviours in this triangular relationship are discussed with reference to the legal and organisational uncertainty that it frequently presents. A model is proposed that suggests the occupational health and safety interdependence between the three parties. The potential occupational health and safety outcomes for the labour hire worker are examined. Apparent gaps in the existing literature are identified, along with future research opportunities.

]]> Alex Spillett et al. Designer Deviance: Enterprise and Deviance in Cultural Change Programs http://works.bepress.com/mzanko/4 http://works.bepress.com/mzanko/4 Sun, 22 Apr 2012 16:44:06 PDT This article explores the value of investigating cultural change programmes as exercises in engineering deviance. It does so through a case study of an organizational development cultural change programme at Sprogwheels, a large Australian corporation. Drawing on and extending the classic work of Becker (1966), the article details how the programme combined a moral crusade against what it sought to have labelled as the ‘deviant conservatism’ of the existing organizational culture with social support for ‘deviant radicalism’, in the form of a counter-cultural, self-enterprising set of middle managers promoting corporate change. The article explores the complex and contradictory ideas of deviance that are deployed in such programmes, and examines the implications of a deviance analysis for an improved understanding of the dynamics of cultural change.

]]> R. Badham et al.