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The purpose of this paper is to report on papers presented at the biannual VALA Conference, held in Melbourne, 5‐7 February 2008.

Conference report

Repositories and Web 2.0 tools in particular are finding an important place in libraries. It is up to libraries to ensure their use is to the end benefit of users.

Libraries have a key role to play in preserving the past as well as collaborating into the future, in both physical and virtual spaces.

The purpose of this paper is to share the experiences of three public libraries near Melbourne, Victoria, Australia of using Web 2.0 tools to reach existing and new users.

Using blogs and other social software and mash‐ups, Casey‐Cardinia Library Corporation, Eastern Regional Libraries and Frankston Library Service are opening up their web sites and services to their communities and giving voice to their users. The various tools are described and how the libraries are making use of them is detailed.

That Web 2.0 tools can be successfully utilised by public libraries to provide enhanced services to their users.

The paper provides practical examples of how Web 2.0 tools can be used by public libraries. It is of particular value to public libraries that are interested in or already providing service to their users using Web 2.0 tools.

Leadership education and training are challenging, multidimensional undertakings that require a willingness to engage in deep personal growth as the most critical antecedent to learning. This article explores the strategic alignment of values, efficacy, and goals using two tools in practice, which are part of a current research design. The Values-Based Leadership Model & Competency Map [Figure 1] and The Values-Based Leadership Taxonomy [Figure 2] are innovative tools for practitioners in Higher Education that may be applied to other industries as well. The powerful and innovative tools are in practice and are part of a current 2016-2017 research aimed at tracking leadership learning at Norwich University which will benchmark data from 9 other graduate degree programs involving over 800 instructors, staff, and executive leadership positions.

The purpose of this paper is to understand how everyday cross-cultural interactions affected the adjustment of undergraduate international students attending a private university in the northeastern United States of America.

Data were collected primarily through interviews with nine international students and observations at “Eastern University”. Students were purposively selected to balance gender and world regions. Analysis used constant comparison until findings emerged, which were member-checked with study participants (Merriam, 2009).

Findings show that the impact of university diversity initiatives for promoting everyday cross-cultural interactions is described as creating an us/them divide, promoting solidarity and establishing a cultural presence. It is concluded that formal university events foster recognition of the campus diversity international students help provide, but their impact on everyday cross-cultural interactions is both positive and negative. Additionally, the mode by which undergraduate international students are introduced to their US campus affects their integration and future interaction patterns.

Further research is needed to explore higher education institutions (HEIs)’ connection to human resource development (HRD) for shaping the future global arena. Studies that address the continuum from higher education to the workforce are needed to prepare the next generation of professionals for a global world. This study is limited due to small sample size. Findings are not generalizable in a statistical sense, but HRD professionals in HEIs may compare the details in this study with their own institutions.

This study contributes to the discussion of national HRD by addressing international students and their insights into how diversity programs impact adjustment in an American setting. Additionally, organizational and faculty development initiatives in academic institutions can be improved by understanding the insights found in this study.

How does a manager’s coaching behaviour encourage taking charge behaviour among subordinates? Although prior research has found a positive association between managerial coaching behaviour and employee performance, to date few studies have examined its effect on proactive behaviours in the workplace such as taking charge. Drawing on social exchange theory (SET) and social cognitive theory (SCT), this study develops a theoretical model to examine the mediating effects of work engagement and role breadth self-efficacy (RBSE) in the relationship between managerial coaching and subordinates taking charge. Additionally, drawing on social role theory (SRT), we test whether our proposed relationships are contingent on subordinates’ gender.

We tested our proposed moderated-mediation model using empirical data collected across two waves from 196 employees within a large Malaysian services enterprise. Partial least squares structural equation modelling was used to test the proposed hypotheses.

The results revealed that managerial coaching has a significant, positive relationship with taking charge, work engagement and RBSE. However, only work engagement was found to partially mediate the relationship between managerial coaching and taking charge. Subordinates’ gender was found to positively attenuate the direct effect between managerial coaching and taking charge among females. However, the mediating effects of work engagement and RBSE in managerial coaching and taking charge were found to be not contingent on subordinates’ gender.

Finding from this study reveals that managerial coaching is useful in shaping employees' taking charge behaviour through work engagement. Hence, organisations should focus on strategies aiming to enhance managers' coaching capabilities.

This study extends the nomological networks of managerial coaching by highlighting it as a predictor of taking charge. Moreover, drawing on SET and SCT to explain the mechanism of managerial coaching and taking charge, we provide a novel perspective on how managerial coaching can influence taking charge. Specifically, we highlight the critical role of work engagement as a key mechanism that influences the relationship between managerial coaching and taking charge. Finally, we demonstrate managerial coaching as a means through which organisations can improve individual functioning.

This chapter provides an overview of the South Pacific states from geographic, environmental, cultural, political, economic and demographic perspectives. Topics covered include environments and hazards, climate change, cultural diversity, colonialism and late independence, economic development, population and migration, trade, and aid. The contribution of the most important industries of agriculture, forestry, fishing, mining and tourism are reviewed. In terms of the future, it is argued that the key challenge in the South Pacific states is that of creating sustainable development, alongside employment and growth, and coping with environmental change.

Power and politics have long been accepted as often detrimental elements of change processes. An element of the political arena that has received limited attention, however, is the inadvertent symbolism associated with the presence of an external consultant or change agent. Presents a retrospective analysis of role symbolism of two consultants during a 14‐month change project. Using concepts drawn from theories on organizational power, stages of change, and symbolism, a framework of five symbolic roles of the external consultant is presented. These roles include symbol of change‐to‐come, symbol of changing norms and values, symbol of power redistribution, symbolic wishing well, and symbol of organizational empowerment. The emergence, significance and implications of these symbolic roles during different change stages are explored. Implications are developed for researchers, change agents and external consultants in general.