University of Technology, Sydney. School of Management, Faculty of Business. / This study investigated how selected Australian universities evaluated and adopted various learning management systems in their teaching and learning programs, given claims of uncritical evaluation, problems and cautions in the Australian (1998: 13; Brabazon, 2002; Yetton, Forster, Hewson, Hughes, Johnston, Nightingale, Page-Hanify, Vitale and Wills, 1997) and North American (Berg, 2002; Noble, 1998b) higher education literatures. Ironically, universities charge large amounts of money teaching their students to develop competence in critical analysis, yet some studies have claimed that they were deficient in critically analysing their own decisions (Brabazon, 2002; Yetton et al., 1997). This important question has received little attention in the higher education literature, despite the high visibility and costs of these decisions. Although limited theoretical explanations have been proposed by various researchers, such as Yetton et al. (1997) and Brabazon (2002), these matters have not been the subject of published empirical research to date. A grounded theory methodological framework, validated by the insights of institutional theory, was employed throughout to promote broader sociological explanations than other studies constrained by functionalist theoretical frameworks (Yetton et al., 1997). Qualitative case studies utilising semi-structured interviews and document analysis were conducted at three Australian universities. The findings of this analysis were written up in three case study narratives and an analytic cross-case analysis. Semi-structured interviews and document analysis at the field level were undertaken as an additional source of data to verify emergent grounded theory. A grounded theory of uncritical decision making (Figure 57) was ultimately developed in response to this study’s research problem. The core category around which this model was developed (‘falling behind’) appeared in all three cases, in interviews with experts from the Australian higher education sector, and was also found in both the Australian and overseas higher education literatures. This grounded theory also represents a minor contribution to the institutional theory literature as a new institutional change process model which links the activities of key individuals with broader field developments, and integrates the constructive and reproductive assumptions of old and new institutional theory.

This study addresses the gap in our understanding of the processes used to recruit and select Vice-Chancellors for Australian Universities. There are presently 39 recognised Universities in Australia and between them they provide the nation with the academically qualified leaders of the future. As such one would expect that not only would they be the vessels of our knowledge, but also that they would be managed and led in ways that were similar to those in use in the private sector. The changes that have taken place in the higher education system have meant that additional pressures have been placed upon the senior executive of each University. The transition from a binary system to the current unified system, the advent of the global community, increased technology and new management practices have created the need for University management to adopt recognised management and leadership practices. The Federal government has moved to reduce the dependence of the system upon recurrent funding and there has been an increase in managerialism within Universities. One outcome has been the need for the Chief Executive Officer (Vice-Chancellor) to develop additional management and leadership skills in order to cope with the changes occurring and the rate of change. In the United States, the selection criteria used to recruit Vice-Chancellors (or University Presidents) have changed to reflect the desire for candidates to have backgrounds in management and leadership. The role of the Vice-Chancellor is critical to the success of educational institutions that are now being managed as autonomous business units responsible for budget, growth, mergers as well as maintaining academic credibility. A literature review revealed that the work undertaken by David Sloper formed virtually our entire knowledge base of Vice-Chancellors in Australia. Sloper identified democratic and incumbency patterns, social characteristics, the legal basis for the role and what incumbents actually do. Thus we know quite a deal about the role and incumbents. However the same literature review showed that while this data existed, it did not extend to the processes that were used within the Higher Education system, to target, identify and select suitable candidates. Clearly there was also no examination as to the effectiveness of such processes or how they could be improved if necessary. Given the importance of Universities in Australia and their role in Higher Education, this lack of knowledge provided the basis for this study and the systematic review of all available data. The study also identified a paradox in addition to the lack of research on recruitment and selection practices in this unique microcosm. The paradox concerns the fact that many of the successful candidates do not come from a ‘business’ discipline as may be expected for a role considered to be the Chief Executive Officer of the institution. Yet in Australia, previous research indicated that the ‘rules’ for recruiting Vice-Chancellors have changed little and that traditionally candidates have come from the science disciplines (Sloper, 1994). While this in itself does not indicate that incumbents are lacking in fundamental management and leadership knowledge and expertise, an obvious question arises. Why are Australian Vice-Chancellors not drawn from faculties where this expertise resides or why are they not drawn from the business community? In order to further examine the processes in place and to a lesser extent the paradox, all available data was collected regarding the roles of Vice-Chancellors, the paths they have taken to the position as well as selection criteria, position outlines, job adverts and related material. This was thoroughly examined and then a brief questionnaire was forwarded to current incumbents and other involved stakeholders. Interviews were conducted to clarify specific issues and case studies prepared accordingly. Thus this qualitative study thoroughly researches the recruitment and selection practices in use, attempts to determine their effectiveness and addresses the paradox in order to provide a detailed framework that allows these elements to be explained.

This study examines staff perceptions of the implementation of an Enterprise Resource Planning system (ERPs) in three Australian universities. It considers the growing body of literature on the issues impacting on effective and efficacious Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) implementations in organisations including the most recent literature on ERPs in the higher education sector. This literature identifies a number of issues that it is argued, translates from the corporate sector to the higher education sector including a number that require additional focus in this sector. It is proposed in this dissertation that effective and efficacious implementations in Australian universities require particular consideration of organisational influences related to their context and the perceptions of the users of the systems. Case study methodology was used to examine the staff perceptions of the management of ERP implementations in universities. This involved undertaking case studies in three Australian universities in the process of implementing ERP systems. The first phase of the study obtained data through a series of focus groups at one university to explore staff perceptions of the efficacy of the ERP implementation at their university. This data and the relevant literature served as a framework for the development of the research process in the second phase of the study. This phase involved conducting a series of interviews with staff that enabled the researcher to undertake a more detailed exploration of the staff perceptions of influences affecting ERP system implementations at three Australian universities. The research study identifies the influences impacting on the outcomes of these implementations of ERPs in the three Australian universities and forms the basis for the development of guidelines for the effective and efficacious management of ERP implementations in Australian universities. This set of guidelines for the management of implementations of ERPs in Australian universities is an outcome that can have applicability for the higher education sector generally.

In the past psychology has been criticised for its mono-cultural nature and insensitivity when dealing with Maori clients and students. As a consequence university departments of psychology have sought to address these issues by incorporating the ideology of biculturalism into its operations. The aim of the study was to evaluate the bicultural developments occurring within these departments by assessing the type and effectiveness of bicultural initiatives. A questionnaire designed to assess bicultural initiatives, attitudes and, intentions was sent to academic staff within university psychology departments in New Zealand. Northern departments displayed significantly greater commitment to bicultural progress than southern departments with northern academics performing initiatives (e.g., �established a committee of staff and students to promote bicultural perspectives and interpret and apply bicultural policy�) more often and of higher commitment than southern academics. Overall, within psychology departments very little bicultural progress has occurred except in the most northern departments. However, the effectiveness of many initiatives is debateable with tokenistic initiativeness predominant in most departments. The qualitative analysis of participant comments identified academic justification for bicultural inaction within departments. This was displayed in various themes: multiculturalism versus biculuralism, psychology being an a cultural science, Maori self-determination being separatism akin to apartheid, the relevance of the Treaty of Waitangi to psychology, and Backlash. Two main reasons for these findings are discussed; (1) lack of knowledge of Maori issues and, (2) racism.

The aim of this thesis is to explore the politics of discourse within Australian universities with particular reference to the position of creative writing as a research discipline. My thesis argues that some discourses have more power than others, with the effect that some forms of knowledge are seen as valid research and others as invalid, at least in research terms. Academic research has been increasingly dichotomised in the short history of research in Australian universities through issues of public versus private funding, and university concern for sector autonomy. The growing influence on university research, stemming from a global market economy, is one that privileges applied research. Creative writing�s position within a basic/applied dichotomy is tenuous as its practitioners vie for a place in the shrinking autonomous research sector of universities. I show the philosophical understanding of creativity (with specific reference to creative writing) from a historical perspective and explore this understanding in the current climate. This understanding of creativity confounds creative writing�s position as research, for this highlights the obstacles faced in certifying it as a valid form of knowledge. I investigate the current status of creative writing in the area of university research in relation to research equivalence, and examine the terminology, the social structures and individual experiences surrounding creative writing as a form of research.

This study examines public relations practice in a developing country by looking at two Indonesian organisations - a commercial television station (RCTI) and a state university (UGM) - using a case study approach complemented with a qualitative analysis of the history of public relations practice at a societal level. Two theories about advanced public relations practice have been borrowed for the framework of the study. They are Grunig's model of public relations and Broom's public relations role theory. However, given the less developed practice of public relations in Indonesia, the present study did not intend to test these theories in a rigorous manner. Rather, the theories have been mainly used as guidance in analysing public relations practice in Indonesia. Modern public relations has been practiced in Indonesia as early as the 1940s. Public relations was used as part of Indonesia's struggle for independence, while the arrival of multinational corporations, and recent changes in national economic policy, has since extended public relations practice into the wider corporate world. While it is clear that both RCTI and UGM considered public relations important, they treated public relations in different ways. RCTI, as a private sector company, located its public relations department in the higher level of its organisational structure with the purpose of promoting the interests of the organisation and defending itself in the marketplace of ideas. UGM, as a public sector agency, located its public relations department in the lowest level of the organisational structure. Overall, public relations as an organisational activity was more important in RCTI. However, both organisations practiced the first two models of public relations, namely, the press agentry and the public information model, and public relations practitioners in both RCTI and UGM predominantly played the role of technicians.

This thesis considers the adequacy of existing theories of implementation of tertiary education policy, in relation to university amalgamations in the 1980s and 1990s in Australia. In particular the thesis examines the difficulties of mergers attempted in the case of Monash University (a successful amalgamation), the University of New England (a partially successful amalgamation), and the Australian National University (an amalgamation which never took place). The thesis argues that the best available model of policy implementation in the tertiary education sector is that set out by Cerych and Sabatier (1986), and that even this is less than adequate through its omission of several relevant factors, notably the factor of leadership. The thesis accordingly presents a modification of the Cerych and Sabatier (1986) model as well as suggestions for inclusion of factors omitted in the broader implementation literature.

Thesis (B.A.)--Haverford College, Dept. of Economics, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Illinois State University, 2006. / Title from title page screen, viewed on April 27, 2007. Dissertation Committee: Phyllis McCluskey-Titus (chair), Amelia D. Adkins, Ross A. Hodel, Beatrice B. Smith. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 142-147) and abstract. Also available in print.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2006. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.