This thesis is derived from a work project, the consideration of approaches to the development of Human Resource Management competency standards for the Australian Public Service. The thesis is a vehicle for examining and exploring a complex Human Resource Development strategy, through dealing with the details of the project. This project was undertaken from 16 January to 13 April 1995. The project occurred in a turbulent environment with limited resources. The decision whether or not to develop Human Resource Management competencies was an important step in the implementation of the National Training Reform Agenda by the Australian Public Service, being influenced by a number of changes in the national environment as well as having to accommodate a number of factors internal to the Australian Public Service. Factors included: the impact of changes to vocational education and training at the national level such as the introduction of the Australian Qualifications Framework; the impact of a devolved management structure; the differing needs of stakeholders; the need to accommodate industrial relations issues; and the impact of resource constraints (including time). The thesis explains the context and conduct of the project. It critically examines the development of action plans and progress made over the course of the project. It explains the process and content of project activities and provides comments on them. This allows insights into the development of Human Resource Development policy in the public sector. In particular it shows how the nature of the project changed from its anticipated focus on competency identification to its final focus on preparing advice to the Joint Australian Public Service Training Council. That advice recommended that separate Human Resource Management competency standards should not, after all, be identified. It concluded that they should be integrated with the core competency standards for the Australian Public Service. The thesis reflects on key aspects of the project including its subject matter, processes, and outcomes. Some of these concern the impact of the systemic, conceptual and structural changes in the National Training Reform Agenda on strategic Human Resource Development. In addition the thesis reflects on the many roles of the project officer in strategic Human Resource Development activities, suggesting that the project officer should act as a consultant rather than servant. To illustrate this point the thesis describes how the project officer was able to facilitate processes during this project that resulted in management accepting outcomes that differed from their expectations but better met their needs. The work of Lippitt and Lippitt (1986) is found to be helpful in identifying the project officer's roles. Finally the thesis considers the outcomes of the project in the light of the publication of the Karpin report (1995) and finds that the outcome is consistent with the thrust of that report.

This paper focuses on three main themes. Firstly, what is Strategic Human Resource Management (SHRM) and the rhetoric surrounding it? Secondly, does the reality match the rhetoric? Thirdly, is the model that has been adopted by the private sector an appropriate model for the Australian public sector to be using? HR has been criticised for being an administrative function that is regulatory and compliance based, adding little value to an organisation. SHRM provides a strategic focus, involving the partnering of HR and line areas to provide value added people services. SHRM has been described by some theorists (Ulrich, Rothwell et al) as the only way of the future for the HR function. The model/s of SHRM that have been adopted by the private sector are now being promoted by the Public Service and Merit Protection Commission as the way forward for HR in the Australian Public Service. This paper discusses the appropriateness of the SHRM model/s for the public sector by examining what is happening in the HR area in three Commonwealth Government departments: Health and Aged Care, Transport and Regional Services and Family and Community Services. It examines the dilemmas for the HR functions as they try to move to an SHRM approach in these organisations, and suggests models that are appropriate to the public sector context.

Is scenario planning a process that can be used by agencies of the Australian Public Service to generate and develop information that is relevant to the future, and thereby make possible improved strategic planning? This is the core question of this dissertation. The first part of the thesis is devoted to the case for investigating the benefits of scenario planning. Literature defining and describing the benefits of scenario planning for both private and public sector organisations is examined, and factors that appear to be critical to effective implementation of the process are discussed. Against this theoretical background the empirical evidence of seven cases of the application of scenario planning in six agencies of the Australian Public Service is considered. Several conclusions are drawn on the basis of the data obtained from the seven cases studied. Scenario planning is more likely to make possible improved strategic planning of public sector agencies such as those that comprise the Australian Public Service (irrespective of their function or size) if it has the active involvement of senior management during the developmental phase of the process, and their ongoing support for any follow-up activity. In addition, a well resourced and in-depth research phase is integral to the success of the process. Even if these elements are not present to a high degree, a well managed scenario planning exercise will improve to some degree the ability of an agency�s senior executive to think more openly and proactively about its future business context. In addition, well resourced and properly supported scenario planning can also help a public sector agency to improve the quality of its information gathering, test the viability of its strategy options and develop appropriate contingency plans.

Talking to a computer is hard. Large vocabulary automatic speech recognition (ASR) systems are difficult to use and yet they are used by many people in their daily work. This thesis addresses the question: How is ASR used and made usable and useful in the workplace now? To answer these questions I went into two workplaces where ASR is currently used and one where ASR could be used in the future. This field work was done with designing in mind. ASR dictation systems are currently used in the Australian Public Service (APS) by people who suffer chronic workplace overuse injuries and in the Hansard department of Parliament House (Hansard) by un-injured people. Analysing the experiences of the users in the APS and at Hansard showed that using an ASR system in the workplace follows a broad trajectory that ends in the continued effort to maintain its usefulness. The usefulness of the ASR systems is �performed into existence� by the users with varying degrees of success. For both the APS and Hansard users, they use ASR to allow work to be performed; ASR acts to bridge the gap between otherwise incompatible ways of working. This thesis also asks: How could ASR be used and made usable and useful in workplaces in the future? To answer this question, I observed the work of communicating sentences at the ACT Magistrates Court. Communicating sentences is a process that is distributed in space and time throughout the Court and embodied in a set of documents that have a co-ordinating role. A design for an ASR system that supports the process of communicating sentences while respecting existing work process is described. Moving from field work to design is problematic. This thesis performs the process of moving from field work to design, as described above, and reflects the use of various analytic methods used to distill insights from field work data. The contributions of this thesis are: � The pragmatic use of existing social research methods and their antecedents as a corpus of analyses to inspire new designs; vi � a demonstration of the use of Actor-Network Theory in design both as critique and as part of a design process; � empirical field-work evidence of how large vocabulary ASR is used in the workplace; � a design showing how ASR could be introduced to the rich, complicated, environment of the ACT Magistrates Court; and, � a performance of the process of moving from field work to design.

In 1996 the Howard Government came to power in Australia. At that point in time the commonwealth budget was in significant deficit, the economy was weak and there was significant commonwealth debt. To address these issues the Howard Government moved to implement several cost savings and income generating projects began under the outgoing ALP government. In addition, part of the Howard reforms was the move toward the private side in the public / private mix in the delivery of government services. One of the high profile and significant projects was the outsourcing of the commonwealth public sector Information and Communications Technology (ICT) delivery. It was called the IT Initiative and was managed by the Minister for Finance, the Honourable Mr Fahey. Mr Fahey had earlier attempted significant outsourcing projects whilst in NSW government; at one time Mr Fahey was NSW Premier. The intent of the IT Initiative as policy was to achieve better and more cost effective ICT services for the commonwealth. This research reviews the efficacy of the IT Initiative. Under the Westminster system, governments can implement government policy as approved by the parliament. However not all policy is reviewed by the parliament. In this case the IT Initiative was part of the Howard pre-election policy and therefore was considered 'mandated' by the electorate. Irrespective of this approval, was the IT Initiative supported by the research at the time and did the IT Initiative and its implementation make sound business sense when compared to the research and models and in particular effectiveness, efficiency and economy. This thesis will review the IT Initiative using both static and dynamic models using Transaction Based Economics (TCE). Both models will support the view that the IT Initiative as practiced was a relatively high risk strategy. The thesis will utilise TCE and risk management to develop a risk profiling model for ICT with effectiveness, efficiency, economy as the three dimensions. Finally, the risk-profiling model, while based on earlier modelling, provides a new insight into the issue of centralising versus decentralising of government operations especially as these approaches relate to novel technological applications across various departments.

Syftet med studien var att undersöka ledares upplevelse efter ett ledarutvecklingsprogram och om den eventuellt bidragit till värden för att underlätta en större organisationsförändring inom offentlig sektor samt om utbildningen kan rekommenderas till nya ledare. Utbildningens avsikt var att stärka ledarnas roller och vara ett stöd i den nya organisationens uppsatta mål. Två grupper (deltagit, ej deltagit i utbildningen) av kvinnliga enhetschefer inom omsorgsförvaltningen deltog i undersökningen vars data kvalitativt analyserades. Resultatet visade att utbildningen bidragit med större förståelse för kommunens helhetsperspektiv och komplexitet vad gäller ekonomiska resurser och solidaritet över förvaltningsgränser då ledare från olika förvaltningar deltagit. Vidare att kommunikationen med andra ledare och utbyte av erfarenheter och kunskaper bidragit till stöd, kunskap och bildande av kontaktnät vilka varit värdefulla för ledarskapets roll och kommunen som helhet. Svårigheter att förankra helhetstänk hos medarbetare och realisera visioner upplevdes därför att budget styr och begränsar verksamheten. / The purpose of this study was to examine the leadership`s experience for a leadership development program in conjunction with a major organizational change within the public sector. If there were any lasting value from the program, and could it be recommended for new leaders? The education´s purpose was to strengthen the leader´s role and provide support to the new organization`s goals. Two groups (participated and not participating in the training) of female heads of unit in the care department, participated in the study, whose data were analyzed qualitatively. The results showed that the training contributed to greater understanding of the municipality´s overall perspective and complexity in items of financial resources and solidarity across administrative boarders. In addition to communication with other leaders and exchange of experience and knowledge contributed to a formation of networks which have been valuable for support, the leadership role and the municipality in general. The leader´s experience difficulties to implement to its employees the idea of the municipality being one united unit and also the vision that the budget roles and sets the standard on the business.

The purpose of this study is to dig deeper into the perceptions regarding diversity - and the ambition to achieve increased such - among those who have participated in the Swedish Public Service diversity coach education. Furthermore, the aim is also to problematize, and increase the awareness of, different outlooks on diversity and its practical usage. All in all, ten so called “Zebra coaches” have been interviewed for this study. The empirical material has been analysed through a theoretical framework that problematizes the constructs of inequality, based on gender, ethnicity, race, class, etc., on different levels. The study shows that the motivation for engaging in work on organizational diversity partially can be connected with normative identity markers, such as ethnicity and functionality. Being included in the normative community, often results in inequality and discrimination becoming invisible, due to not being subjected to it oneself. This is likely one part of the reason why diversity issues, among the coaches, is not primarily seen as something that could promote a positive change also for others, but rather as something that could mainly fulfil personal gains. When discrimination is viewed as existing somewhere else, and, therefore, not entirely relevant in to one owns situation, it can for some employees be hard to find any motivation whatsoever to engage in anti-discriminatory work and diversity issues. For those who do not inhabit the organizational norms, inequality is, on the other hand, clearly visible, which often leads to a personal motivation to work against such. The study also shows that the diversity education has not generated any bigger change in the informants’ ways of working, after having returned to their respective places of work. The engagement in, and outlook on, actions to promote diversity, is rather intertwined with whether or not the informants place of work targets minority or majority groups in its journalistic output. In order for diversity to be an integrated part of the diversity coaches’ work practices, a specific assignment to do so or a personal experience of inequality is needed. Another interesting finding from the study is the multiple definitions of diversity that have been developed during the coach training. As a result, the informants are interpreting the concept of diversity in two opposing ways: one focusing on the physical differences that exist in certain groups, whereas the other definition focuses on internal differences that exist in all individuals. Diversity being viewed as individual differences among all people has partially been a new way of defining the concept, and this broader definition has had various consequences. Firstly, the diversity concept is now criticized for being too big to manage, and in some cases the uncertainly of what diversity is, and what it involves, has led to the feeling of “giving up on diversity”. Secondly, as a result of the training, the coaches tend to view diversity as finding individual differences in their own homogeneous work group, and not to broaden the group to be more versatile on a physical level. The two different definitions of diversity can also help us understand the informants’ reflections about how greater diversity should be achieved practically, both within the organization, as well as in its journalistic output. Regarding recruitment, there are two main approaches on how to achieve diversity internally: on the one side, diversity is considered to be achieved by active actions that strive to recruit people who embody diversity, and on the other side, diversity is perceived as a natural consequence of meritocracy. Finally, the study also shows that monitoring mechanisms are used within public service, to ensure diversity is displayed in various programs/shows. The effort to show diversity outwards may result in hiding the internal homogeneity, which, according to the informants themselves, exists in the organization.

Syftet med denna magisteruppsats är att belysa hur bosnienserbiska public servicejournalister upplever den journalistiska yrkesrollen, den redaktionella vardagen och den samhälleliga kontexten som de befinner sig i. Journalister på Radijo Televizija Republike Srpske, RTRS, har stått i centrum för undersökningen som är av kvalitativt slag. Två datainsamlingsmetoder användes – samtalsintervjuundersökning och frågeundersökning. Båda genomfördes på redaktionen i Banja Luka. Dessutom har uppsatsens ambition varit att belysa den metodproblematik som kan uppstå när känsliga forskningsfält undersöks. Huvudfrågan lyder: Hur ser nyhetsjournalister på RTRS på sin professionella yrkesroll och vardag? De kompletterande frågorna är: På vilket sätt anser RTRS-journalisterna att kriget påverkar dem i det dagliga arbete? Vem, vad eller vilka anser RTRS-journalisterna har störst makt över RTRS-journalistikens inriktning? Hur ser RTRS-journalisterna på grannkanalen RTVFBiH – och hur påverkar det synen på det egna arbetet? Samt Hur stor inverkan anser RTRS-journalisterna att den generella jargongen i RS har på RTRS:s journalistik? På grund av kriget under 1990-talet är dagens bosniska samhälle djupt nationalistiskt och etniskt splittrat, vilket även tydligt avspeglas i landets medier. Inte minst och i synnerhet public service som även den är nationalismburen. Detta bidrar till en både svårbalanserad verklighet för public servicejournalister i landet. Samhällsprofessorn Kaldor och journalistikforskaren Baruch Wachtel menar båda att förutsättningarna för media i postkonfliktkontexter likt den i Bosnien på olika sätt hindrar den ”riktiga” journalistikens fulla existens och kvalité. Resultatet visar att RTRS-journalisterna ofta beskriver sin verklighet på ett negativt sätt – starkt krigsfärgad, djupt nationalistisk, under press från olika håll (annonsörer, chefer etc.), oerhört politiserad, oprofessionell, självcensurerad etc. Sammanfattningsvis beskrivs vardagen på RTRS och det journalistiska yrket på ett sätt som markant skiljer sig från det som i vanliga fall förknippas med public service. Kriget beskrivs vidare som den dominerande och återkommande problematiken, en öm punkt som omöjliggör den bosniska public servicejournalistikens neutralitet och objektivitet. Detta betraktas dock som befogat eftersom föreställningen om att de ”andra” (bosnienkroaterna och bosnjakerna) förhåller sig likadant mot bosnienserberna. På så sätt menar flera journalister att kriget fortfarande fortsätter och public service är ett av många nationalistiska slagfält i dagens Bosnien.

Public Service är ett svårdefinierat begrepp. De gamla idealen handlar mycket om enmedieideologi som baseras på etermediernas möjligheter och begränsningar, vilket har skapatsvårigheter när Public Service har letat sig ut på Internet. Kritik från bland annatbranschorganisationen Tidningsutgivarna ifrågasätter Public Service-företagens breddning påwebben. De anser att gränserna för vad Public Service-företagen får och inte får göra äralltför otydliga.Med hjälp av fyra kvalitativa samtalsintervjuer (tre personer från Sveriges Television samt enfrån Tidningsutgivarna), och med kvalitativa textanalyser av statliga propositioner ochutredningar angående Public Service-uppdraget undersöks hur Public Service-uppdraget ochdess medieföretag påverkas av medieutvecklingen.I uppsatsen jämförs resultaten med Anna Maria Jönssons tankar kring Public Service och denmedieideologiska inriktningen ”Social ansvarsideologi”. De statliga propositionerna ochutredningarna ligger även till grund för att besvara frågor kring Public Service som ideal ochanvänds således också som en teori.Resultaten visar att de kommersiella konkurrenterna har svårt för Public Service-företagensbreda målgrupp, alla. Detta ifrågasätter de som arbetar på Sveriges Television och menar attdet är motsägelsefullt då konkurrenterna efterapar Sveriges Televisions satsningar. Denhuvudsakliga slutsatsen som dras är att Public Service-uppdraget borde omformuleras utefterden rådande medieutvecklingen.

Mitt examensarbete behandlar frågeställningen om hur synen på ett bra barnprogram skiljer sig åt hos public service kanalerna, TV4 och övriga kommersiella kanaler? Detta berör också frågor om vem som egentligen avgör vad som är bra barnprogram; är det producenterna eller mottagarna? Jag har valt den här frågeställningen där för att jag har en nyfikenhet på och ett intresse av hur barnprogrammen skiljer sig mellan kanalerna och hur de kommer att se ut i framtiden. Public Service syftar till att ge allmänheten en särskild sorts berikande programutbud inom radio- eller teveverksamhet. Termen public service har flera olika betydelser; Ofta används den för att beteckna de företag som finansieras av någon slags tv-avgift, har ingen eller begränsad reklam och/eller är statligt ägda/kontrollerade.  Det är idag ett turbulent läge för Public service och trycket från de kommersiella kanalerna har sannolikt en inverkan på programverksamheten. Under arbetets gång har det slagit mig vilken stor inverkan producenter och inköpare har på begreppet ”bra” underhållning.  Jag har tittat på befintliga barnprogram och gjort en semiotisk analys av dem. Jag har även jämfört de olika kanalernas policy och sett skillnader mellan dessa kanaler.  Ett vidare syftet med studien är vidare att få ett underlag till att göra en gestaltning, där jag själv producerar ett fingerat barnprogram för TV. Det är ett barnprogram som på något sätt ifrågasätter makten över produktionerna hos dessa stora bolag. / BI/Media