Evaluation reports, along with development studies literature suggest that development practice is often failing to enact espoused participatory, empowering and gender equitable approaches or to achieve these espoused goals. Mainstream development theories are underpinned by values and beliefs about what is good and what �ought to be�. In this study I explore the influence of values on the development practice of Cambodian practitioners working in non-government organisations in rural Cambodia. Development practitioners are the major conduit of community based development assistance, but little is known about how their values impact their day-to-day practice, and influence their moral and political choices. In the study I used ethnographic methodology, guided by feminist principles. The research was conducted with individuals and groups of experienced, mostly Cambodian development practitioners. Data were collected in four phases through in-depth and semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions and observations of practice. I examine the (in)congruity between practitioners� espoused theories and values and those demonstrated by their practice. The findings reveal that the values are not essentially different but are prioritized differently. The espoused values are consistent with those of the international development discourse, all of which are premised on a belief in human equality. Theories and values inferred from actual practice reflect hierarchical underpinnings. In the Cambodian context this is consistent with socio-cultural values and the hierarchical order of society. However, as expatriate research participants and the literature attest, this incongruence is not particular to Cambodian practitioners. The study reveals practitioners give higher priority to fulfilling the tasks necessary for the achievement of their NGOs� planned outputs and organisational imperatives than to the facilitation of participatory and empowering processes. At the same time, the enactment of some development values is in tension with certain socio-cultural norms and practices. Practitioners are challenged to make desirable development values explicit and identify how to operationalise them in the lived social, cultural, political and economic context.

As software becomes increasingly important to all aspects of industry, there is a need to encourage practitioners to adopt best practice so as to improve the quality of the processes in use, and therefore achieve targets relating to time, budget and quality. The software development industry in Australia is dominated by a myriad of small firms. This presents a challenge in terms of determining the current practices of industry participants, and in devising improvement initiatives which are feasible for small organisations. Currently, the level of adoption of best practice among local software developers is unknown. To help improve the software industry, it is necessary to determine the current status of use of practices and techniques. Furthermore, the effectiveness of assessment-based software process improvement for small organisations needs to be evaluated. The objective of this research is to understand the extent of software development practices currently in use, and to evaluate the effectiveness of assessment-based software process improvement initiatives for small firms. To achieve this objective, an extensive mail survey of the Queensland software industry was conducted to identify and compare best practice in software development with current practice. The survey was based on the software best practice questionnaire used by the European Software Institute. Following on from this, a detailed evaluation of a process improvement program in 22 small firms was carried out. The program used the Rapid Assessments for Process Improvement for software Development (RAPID) model and method. RAPID is based on ISO/IEC 15504 (SPICE) and includes eight processes: requirements elicitation, software development, configuration management, quality assurance, project management, problem resolution, risk management, and process establishment. The evaluation analysed the process capability of the firms as reported from one-day software process assessments and also the extent of improvement as recorded at follow-up meetings held 7 to 16 months after the assessment. Both quantitative and qualitative techniques were used to analyse the assessment reports. The study confirmed that there is wide variation in the extent of adoption of software development best practice in terms of the individual practices, as well as the organisations. While project management planning and customer involvement practices are widely adopted, the use of metrics for estimating and testing are barely used by the organisations that responded to the survey. Overall, practices of a technical nature are more widely adopted compared to techniques related to support and management. Organisations involved in developing commercial off-the-shelf software have higher adoption than firms which do not develop such systems, and adoption of best practice is associated with the size of the development group. The leaders in adoption have significantly better practices when compared to the laggards for 40 of the 44 practices included in the survey. Furthermore, organisations from the finance, insurance and utilities sectors exhibited higher adoption of best practice compared to organisations from other sectors. The overall adoption of 48 percent implies that the organisations which responded have adopted, on average, almost half of the best practices in the questionnaire. While this overall adoption rate places the Queensland software industry in a competitive position compared to adoption of firms in European countries, there is scope for improvement. The process improvement assessments of 22 firms also confirmed that the capability of technical processes is higher than that of management processes; and suggested that higher capability is associated with the proportion of experienced staff and the proportion of staff with post graduate qualifications. Higher process capability is also associated with firms undertaking projects of lengthy durations. Most of the processes were rated at the lowest levels. Almost one third of all the processes were rated as incomplete (level 0) and 46 percent were rated as performed (level 1). The evaluation of the process improvement program was conducted by analysing the 22 assessment reports, and the 20 final reports from the follow-up meetings. The extent of improvement is associated with the proportion of technical staff and the proportion of formally qualified staff. The evaluation revealed that assessment-based process improvement programs are effective for small firms, regardless of the maturity of the processes at the time of the assessment. As well as detailing the process capability of 22 small software firms, this study provides an interesting insight into the actions, reasons for inaction, and reactions of the firms as far as implementing the recommendations from the assessments. Analysis of the reactions of the participants of this program suggests that for small firms, mentoring, training and organisation stability are important factors, while senior management support may not be an issue of concern. The study indicates that small firms can benefit from a low cost process improvement program with a restricted scope, a short time frame to evaluation, and mentoring from external assessors/consultants. It is also crucial that the firm is not disrupted by internal or external events during the course of the software process improvement program. Furthermore, this study provides a contribution to assessment methods by validating the RAPID model and method, and providing recommendations to improve the RAPID method. The outcomes from this research have the potential to better equip practitioners and consultants to undertake software process improvement, hence increasing the success of small software development firms in domestic and global markets.

This thesis deals with two related topics: core development objectives in community forestry in the Philippines, and the 'instruments' of development practice which have been used to address these objectives. The two topics have currency beyond forestry development and are at the centre of a debate about sustainable development. Community forestry aims to democratise resource access, alleviate poverty, and ensure the sustainability of forest resources. Development practice, however, has often led to contradictory outcomes. This paradox is examined from three perspectives: that of political economy, characteristics of practice, and the theory of rationalisation. ¶Four government-initiated community forestry projects in the Philippines are analysed. These projects provide an historical trend on the development and refinements of the different techniques from the early 1980s to the present. The relationship between the use of these techniques and improved outcomes in terms of the three core concerns is established. Empirical findings from the cases suggest that there is no necessary relationship between the employment of these instruments and better development outcomes. The attempt to democratise forest resource access through the use of access instruments has benefited the local elite and reinforced the government's jurisdiction over these resources. Similarly, the use of appraisal and participatory planning techniques has homogenised views of the local community and advanced a centrally determined agenda in forest management that has worked against the alleviation of poverty. Forest degradation is likely to continue, even with the incorporation of social factors into the concept of sustained-yield forest management. ¶The political economy perspective suggests that contradictory effects can be explained by the country's historical and political structure which has been shaped by an economically-driven development model and dominated by a more privileged sector. Despite genuine efforts for reform, this perspective contends that community forestry projects and related development interventions will always be influenced by political forces, and their benefits will be captured by the privileged sector. On the other hand, a focus on the characteristics of practice leads to the conclusion that contradictory effects are results of the limitations of these techniques, including their poor application. This implies that the adverse effects may be addressed through the refinement of these techniques and improvements in their application. Finally, the rationalisation thesis reveals that paradoxical effects are inherent in the use of these techniques. This perspective posits that even with the apparent shift from a state-controlled to a more participatory and decentralised approach in forest management, such as community forestry, the instrumentalist nature associated with the application of these techniques reinforces the characteristics of homogeneity, technocracy, and centralism which are inclined to produced paradoxical outcomes. ¶Both the political economy and the rationalisation perspectives provide a gloomy prognosis for community forestry. However, the recognition of the dual problems of poverty and environmental degradation in the Philippine uplands, suggests that community forestry should not be abandoned. Through a responsive mode of practice, there is room to move to improve the outcomes of the three central objectives. But responsive practice is not a panacea for all development ills. The process is bound to be slow, strategies will vary from one place to another, and success will be patchy. But because responsive community forestry practice is not amenable to central programming and control, it is more likely to result in sustainable outcomes than the present approaches.

Evaluation reports, along with development studies literature suggest that development practice is often failing to enact espoused participatory, empowering and gender equitable approaches or to achieve these espoused goals. Mainstream development theories are underpinned by values and beliefs about what is good and what �ought to be�. In this study I explore the influence of values on the development practice of Cambodian practitioners working in non-government organisations in rural Cambodia. Development practitioners are the major conduit of community based development assistance, but little is known about how their values impact their day-to-day practice, and influence their moral and political choices. In the study I used ethnographic methodology, guided by feminist principles. The research was conducted with individuals and groups of experienced, mostly Cambodian development practitioners. Data were collected in four phases through in-depth and semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions and observations of practice. I examine the (in)congruity between practitioners� espoused theories and values and those demonstrated by their practice. The findings reveal that the values are not essentially different but are prioritized differently. The espoused values are consistent with those of the international development discourse, all of which are premised on a belief in human equality. Theories and values inferred from actual practice reflect hierarchical underpinnings. In the Cambodian context this is consistent with socio-cultural values and the hierarchical order of society. However, as expatriate research participants and the literature attest, this incongruence is not particular to Cambodian practitioners. The study reveals practitioners give higher priority to fulfilling the tasks necessary for the achievement of their NGOs� planned outputs and organisational imperatives than to the facilitation of participatory and empowering processes. At the same time, the enactment of some development values is in tension with certain socio-cultural norms and practices. Practitioners are challenged to make desirable development values explicit and identify how to operationalise them in the lived social, cultural, political and economic context.

Föreliggande intervjustudie undersöker kopplingen mellan multimodala arbetssätt och differentierad undervisning, för att utreda huruvida multimodala arbetssätt kan användas för att möta alla elever i läs- och skrivundervisningen utan att exkludera. Syftet är att bidra med kunskap om multimodal differentierad läs- och skrivundervisning som möjliggör att alla elever möts, kan lära samt utveckla kunskap. Frågeställningarna som besvaras är: Hur beskriver lärare att differentierad undervisning möjliggörs? Vilka möjligheter och hinder för elevernas språk- och kunskapsutveckling identifierar lärarna i den beskriva undervisningen? Det teoretiska ramverket grundas i forskningsområdet kring multimodalitet, differentierad undervisning samt språk- och kunskapsutvecklande arbetssätt. Dessutom nyttjas en teoretisk modell avseende läspraktiker för att diskutera studiens resultat. Materialet samlades in genom kvalitativa semistrukturerade intervjuer och analyserades genom tematisk analys. Resultatet indikerar att möjligheterna med multimodala arbetssätt är att begripliggöra innehåll och bearbeta samt fördjupa innehåll för att stötta språk- och kunskapsutveckling i gemensamma sammanhang. Det senare kan medföra att den tidiga läs- och skrivundervisningen blir differentierad, eftersom fler elever får möjlighet att förstå, lära och delta. Samtidigt framkommer hinder i form av att undervisningen eventuellt upplevs oregelbunden, blir för intrycksrik för en del elever, förlorar sammanhanget eller kan få elever att undvika utmaningar ifall de själva får välja vilken uttrycksform de ska använda. / This interview study examines the relation between multimodal practices and differentiated instruction, to investigate if multimodal practices could offer a way to meet all students, without exclusion during literacy instruction. The aim is to contribute with knowledge about multimodal differentiated literacy instruction which meets all students, helps them to learn and develop knowledge. The research questions that will be answered are: How do teachers describe that differentiated instruction is made possible? What possibilities and obstacles for students’ language and knowledge development are identified by the teachers? The theoretical frame is based on the research area of multimodality, differentiated instruction, and to scaffold language and knowledge development. Moreover, a theoretical model about reading practices is used to discuss the result of the study. The material was gathered through qualitative semi-structured interviews and the analyzed through thematic analysis. The result shows that possibilities with multimodal practice include making teaching content more understandable together with opportunities of processing and deepening it to support language and knowledge development within a context. The later can contribute to make early literacy instruction differentiated, because more students get a chance to understand, learn and participate. Although, obstacles appear since instruction might come across as irregular, contain too much stimulus, lose context or students might avoid challenges if they choose what form of expression to use.

Behavior-driven development (BDD) is a development practice focusing on behaviors and requirements from users and stakeholders. It is designed to develop behaviors which contribute directly to system outcomes. BDD encourages multiple stakeholders to collaborate by minimizing communication gaps and create a shared understanding of the project between technical and non-technical speakers. As a result, the development process becomes faster and the cost lower. Although BDD has many benefits, there are teams who feel inertia towards using it as their main development practice.This thesis work took place at a company with a strong agile foundation. It had the goal to investigate reasons why teams feel inertia against BDD, and thus contribute to BDD research and assist the company. The assumption that positive motivation would help in dispelling inertia was the idea behind this thesis work, and that a stronger motivation for a practice can be achieved by assessing a team’s suitability for it. To reach the goal of the thesis a qualitative research methodology was used, with a focus on obtaining a better understanding of opinions and behaviors that exist, with rounds of interviews and forms as the main method of data collection. Interviews were also consistently used throughout the thesis work to validate that it followed the right track.The inertia which teams at the company have experienced was clustered into different dimensions. These dimensions were used to develop a self-assessment tool intended to help people starting a project to assess how well BDD might fit their context. It allows people to assess their inertia in the different dimensions identified, and as well as attempting to give an overall guide to readiness, also giving some recommendations where gaps could be identified.The deliverable of the thesis work is the tool for managing inertia against BDD. It was developed in a spreadsheet-format for quick development and easy access for multiple users. However, it is important to highlight that this tool focuses on agile autonomous teams. The tool is not about forcing the development practice on someone but rather acts as an aid in giving insight into how well BDD could work for a specific project and team. Finally, to grasp the validity of the tool teams who had previous success developing projects using BDD at the company were able to try it out to see how well it reflected their project reality. The tool also got tested on teams who felt strong inertia towards BDD, to verify whether it helped them manage it or not. / Beteendedriven utveckling (BDD), är ett arbetssätt som fokuserar på beteenden och krav från både användare och intressenter. Det är utvecklat för att främja och skapa beteenen som bidrar till det önskade målet. Några av BDDs fördelar är att arbetssättet uppmuntrar intressenterna till tätt samarbete, att minska luckor i kommunikation och information samt att det skapar en delad förståelse för projektet mellan teknisktoch icke-tekniskt kunniga intressenter. En positiv konsekvens av detta är att utvecklingen tenderar att bli snabbare och kostnaderna lägre. BDD ser till att alla inblandade är eniga om vilket resultat man kan förvänta sig från ett utvecklingsprojekt, redan innan utvecklingen börjar. Detta gör att de missförstånd som är vanligt förekommande mellan intressenter och utvecklingsteam reduceras. Trots att BDD, som nämnts, har flera fördelar finns det team som känner motstånd mot att använda BDD som sitt huvudsakliga arbetssätt.Antagandet att motivation kan bidra till att minska motståndet och att motivationen kan skapas genom att påvisa för team hur lämpligt BDD skulle vara för just dem var ideén bakom detta arbete. Det utfördes på ett företag med stark agil bas. Målet var att identifiera och utreda orsakerna till att team känner motstånd mot BDD, och på så sätt bidra till forskningen och samtidigt hjälpa företaget med en ökad insikt i detta. Syftet med arbetet var att utveckla ett verktyg för att hjälpa team förstå sitt motstånd mot BDD och guida dem till hur de kan hantera det. För att nå målet användes en kvalitativ forskningsmetod med fokus på att få en bättre förståelse för åsikter och beteenden som finns angående BDD. Olika rundor av intervjuer utgjorde den huvudsakliga datainsamlingen. Intervjuer användes också kontinuerligt för att validera att arbetet höll rätt kurs.Det motstånd mot BDD som påträffades på företaget grupperades i olika dimensioner. Dessa användes för att utveckla slutprodukten av kandidatexamensarbetet, ett självskattningsverktyg. För att underlätta utvecklingen valdes ett spreadsheet-format på verktyget, detta även för att enkelt kunna dela det mellan flertalet intressenter.Det är viktigt att understryka att verktyget fokuserar på autonoma team. Det har inte som mål att tvinga någon att använda BDD, utan att agera som hjälp för att visa hur arbetssättet skulle kunna fungera för ett specifikt projekt och team. Slutligen, för att kunna verifiera kvaliteten på verktyget, utvärderades det i samarbete med team som tidigare på ett framgångsrikt sätt utvecklat ett projekt med BDD. Detta för att se om självskattningsverktygets utsägelse motsvarade teamets helhetsupplevelse. Verktyget testades också av andra team för att se om det var till hjälp för dem eller inte.

本研究目的在於探究組織面對外在壓力下所形塑的組織變革能耐內涵，以及智慧資本觀點HRD實務在組織變革過程中所扮演的角色與實質內涵。研究個案來自於1994-2005年天下雜誌所選出的標竿企業，包括9家個案公司與21項變革事件，透過深度訪談與次級資料進行資料蒐集，並採用紮根理論進行資料分析。 研究結果發現，有二種路徑影響個案公司形塑或強化組織變革能耐，不同路徑的走向來自於在組織變革過程中遭遇變革阻力的類型。當個案公司未遭遇變革困境或員工心態衝擊程度小時，採行第一種路徑，即企業平時透過智慧資本觀點之HRD實務扮演的策略性角色所累積的智慧資本，有助於在變革當下轉化為組織變革能耐，並順利推展變革活動。另一方面，若遭遇內外部衝擊的交互作用，產生變革困境，原有的組織能力無法因應時，個案公司會採行第二種路徑自主性的調整與學習，透過促進性角色的智慧資本觀點之HRD實務，持續強化與形塑組織變革能耐，以克服組織困境，並有助於成功推行變革。 二種路徑所形成組織變革能耐內涵包括：穩固人心的企業文化價值、領導者的信任式領導能力、領導者持續性的執行力、專業導向的員工賦權、參與式的變革承諾、管理制度系統化、跨越邊界的系統化溝通、以及開放式的組織學習能力。外在環境壓力僅是引起組織改變的導火線，因為影響組織變革能耐內涵的差異化，同時包括了幾項連結性因素：變革驅動因子、變革行動類型、變革阻力的類型、與組織變革能耐的發展路徑，而外部環境壓力僅是變革驅動因子中的起始點。 在以上二種組織變革能耐發展路徑中，智慧資本觀點的HRD實務扮演了策略性或促進性的角色，有助於培植組織變革能耐，或強化組織變革能耐促使變革成功。除了策略性與促進性角色，智慧資本觀點之HRD實務在變革過程中也扮演維持性的角色，產生作業性能耐協助組織維持每天正常運作的績效。這些作業性能耐包括：員工的工作職能、員工的工作績效、組織成員平時的互動等等。 無論是扮演維持性、策略性、或促進性角色，智慧資本觀點HRD實務的組成內涵包括發展型、建構型與合作型的HRD構形，但是不同角色的HRD實務具有差異化的組成要素。透過發展型、建構型與合作型HRD構形，得以發展人力資本，建構組織資本，培養社會資本，而經由長時間所蓄積的智慧資本，有助於形成組織變革能耐或作業性能耐。本研究依據研究結果推展出10項研究命題，建構形塑組織變革能耐的變革模式，並提出相關的管理意涵。 / This study aims to explore the organizational capacity for change (OCC) under external pressures facing firms and the roles of intellectual-capital HRD practice in the organizational change process. Cases were obtained from benchmarking enterprises selected by Commonwealth Magazine from 1994 to 2005, including nine cases and twenty-one change events. In-depth interviews and secondary data were collected and analyzed by grounded theory procedures. The research findings show that the target companies adopted two paths to develop and shape OCC. Change resistance is obvious to be the influential factor. First, under low-degree of employee resistance, the intellectual-capital HRD practice plays the strategic role to accumulate intellectual capital, which is transformed into OCC during the organizational change. Second, change difficulties are generated from both external and internal shocks during transformation, then the target cases develop or strengthen new OCC to solve problems. And intellectual-capital HRD practice plays the facilitating role in the second path. Eight dimensions forming OCC are derived from the above two paths, including company culture value, trustworthy leadership, continuous execution, employee empowerment based on expertise, participative change commitment, systems management, systems communication across boundaries, and open organizational learning. External environmental pressure only is the fuse in change drivers, and the sequential process of change drivers, change types, change resistance, and the OCC path determine the differential OCC. Intellectual-capital HRD practice plays the strategic or facilitating role in different OCC development path to make change implementation successful. Besides, it is a maintaining role to generate operational capability, including employee competence, employee job performance, and employee interaction, to sustain operational performance. The components of intellectual-capital HRD practice are developmental, constructive, and collaborative HRD configuration, which yield human capital, organizational capital, and social capital, respectively. The long-term intellectual capital accumulation facilitates to shape OCC or operational capacity. Finally, the research proposes ten propositions to construct the change model shaping OCC and derived managerial implications.

This item contains the agenda, minutes, and attachments for the Faculty Senate meeting on this date. There may be additional materials from the meeting available at the Faculty Center.