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Governments have demonstrated a renewed interest in progressing gender equality for their workforces, including in Australia. This refocusing has resulted in a tranche of new gender equality policies being introduced into the Australian Public Service (APS). The purpose of this paper is to examine how New Public Management (NPM) is reflected in these gender equality policies and consider whether NPM may assist or hinder gender being “undone” or “redone” in APS organisations.

A content analysis was conducted to assess the strategies contained within the gender equality policies of all 18 Australian government departments.

The content analysis reveals that the policies strongly reflect an NPM framing, except in one important area – that of monitoring and evaluation. The lack of attention to this crucial element of NPM may hinder effective implementation of many of the policies. The authors also conclude that while good intent is evident in the policies, they may “redo” rather than “undo” gender in organisations.

The paper will assist organisations which are developing and implementing gender equality policies. Even though NPM is specific to the public sector, the research highlights the potential and pitfalls when developing such policies in an environment focused on increasing efficiencies and reducing costs.

While gender equality and public sector reforms occurred simultaneously in Australia, few researchers have examined the interactions between the two.

The purpose of this paper is to explore how human resource (HR) managers in garment factories in a Sri Lankan export processing zone (EPZ) navigated the tension between their role as stewards of employee welfare and their role to maximise firm productivity in response to time and production pressures imposed by international buyers. Relatively little attention has been paid to the role of HR managers as liaisons between firms and labour. This omission is significant, given the importance of human resource management in the recruitment and retention of labour and the role of HR managers in organisational performance and regulatory compliance.

A qualitative approach was used based on interviews with 18 HR managers, factory managers and other key informants, and 63 factory workers from 12 firms in the Katunayake EPZ. The interviews and focus groups in English were transcribed and coded into themes arising from the literature and further developed from the transcripts. Initial codes were analysed to identify common themes across the data set.

HR managers were acutely aware of the competitive pressures facing the EPZ garment factories. While examples of company welfarism were evident, HR practices such as incentive payment systems and the management of employee absences reinforced a workplace environment of long hours, work intensification and occupational injury.

This paper goes some way towards filling the gap in our understanding of the roles played by HR managers in garment factories in the Global South, raising theoretical debates regarding the potential for HR managers in developing countries to distance themselves from the negative consequences of HR practices such as individual and team reward systems.

Anonymous recruitment seeks to limit managers’ reliance on stereotypes in employment decisions, thereby reducing discrimination. This paper aims to explore how managers interpret the information embedded in anonymised job applications and how they interpret the organisational priorities driving the adoption of anonymous recruitment.

Semi-structured interviews with 30 managers in two Australian public sector organisations were analysed.

The results showed that managers used implicit signals and cues to infer the gender identities of applicants in anonymised applications, reintroducing the possibility of bias. Managers perceived that anonymous recruitment sent positive external signals to prospective employees but were sceptical about its effectiveness.

The results showed that removing applicants’ names and identifying information from applications may not be sufficient to reduce bias. In organisations where managers are sympathetic to equity and diversity issues, use of anonymous recruitment may provoke resentment if managers perceive organisational distrust or inconsistent objectives. Limitations regarding the size and nature of the sample are acknowledged.

Organisations seeking to reduce gender discrimination in recruitment may consider adopting standardised application procedures or training managers to understand how stereotypes affect evaluations. Organisations should also assess managerial support for, and understanding of, anonymous recruitment prior to implementation.

The findings add to existing knowledge regarding the effects of implicit gender signals in managers’ assessments and the effectiveness of anonymous recruitment in reducing gender bias. It also contributes to signalling theory by examining how managers interpret the signals conveyed in organisational policies.

The purpose of this paper is to explore how entrepreneur-mothers experience independence in the transition to entrepreneurship, and whether they perceive independence as an agentic, opportunity-maximisation motive or a constrained, necessity-driven response.

Adopting a qualitative and interpretive approach, the authors analysed interviews with 60 entrepreneur-mothers to refine conceptual understanding of independence.

The authors find that entrepreneur-mothers experience independence not as an opportunity, but as a functional necessity in managing the temporal and perceived moral demands of motherhood. The authors assert that there is a fundamental difference between wanting independence to pursue a more autonomous lifestyle, and needing independence to attend to family obligations, a difference that is not adequately captured in the existing conceptualisation of independence. Consequently, the authors propose the classification of “family-driven entrepreneurship” to capture the social and institutional factors that may disproportionately push women with caregiving responsibilities towards self-employment.

This paper proposes that a new category of entrepreneurial motivation be recognised to better account for the social and institutional factors affecting women’s entrepreneurship, enabling policymakers to more accurately position and support entrepreneur-mothers.

The authors challenge the existing framing of independence as an agentic opportunity-seeking motive, and seek to incorporate family dynamics into existing entrepreneurial models.

This paper delivers much-needed conceptual refinement of independence as a motivator to entrepreneurship by examining the experiences of entrepreneur-mothers, and proposes a new motivational classification, that of family-driven entrepreneurship to capture the elements of agency and constraint embedded in this transition.

This essay explores a possible anti-essentialist strategy for public administration. The argument presented is twofold. First, the concepts of objective, socially constructed, and experienced reality are explored, concluding that experienced reality is the most practical for public administration. Second, the use of cognitive dissonance to create discourse is proposed as a strategic approach. The essay also suggests that experienced reality and cognitive dissonance offer a way to finesse the control/domination problematic. The work of Michel Foucault provides the central organization of the essay, and the theories of Taylor and Follett are used as historical examples. The essay concludes with a proposed application of the strategic use of cognitive dissonance

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the debates around the topic of library fines and consider the arguments highlighted for and against.

The paper provides a reflective overview based on a discussion of the points raised both supporting and rejecting the use of library fines.

It is argued that fines are a necessary aspect of efficient library operations and to ensure collective responsibility for the collections among members. However the paper queries the reliance of some libraries on the income generated by fines, and questions whether this reliance is in opposition to the role of the library in encouraging efficient use of the stock.

The paper considers the positives and negatives of a fines culture, and may be useful background for those pondering the topic.

The paper discusses a topic that is of current professional debate as to its efficacy and should of value for those interested in the arguments for and against fines in libraries, and their impact on library usage.

The purpose of this paper is to numerically investigate the influence of corner radius on flow past a square cylinder at a Reynolds number 500.

Six models were studied, for R/D=0 (square cylinder), 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, and 0.5 (circular cylinder), where R is the corner radius and D is the characteristic dimension of the body. The transient two-dimensional (2D) laminar and large eddy simulations (LES) models were employed using finite volume code. The Strouhal number, mean drag coefficient (C_D), and root mean square (RMS) value of lift coefficient (C_L,RMS), for different R/D values, were computed and compared with experimental and other numerical results.

The computational results showed good agreement with previously published results for a Reynolds number, Re=500. It was found that the corner effect on a square cylinder greatly influences the flow characteristics around the cylinder. Results indicate that, as the corner radius ratio, R/D, increases, the Strouhal number increases rapidly for R/D=0-0.2, and then gradually rises between R/D=0.2 and 0.5. The minimum values of the mean drag coefficient and the RMS value of lift coefficient were found around R/D=0.2, which is verified by the time averaged streamwise velocity deficit profile.

On the basis of the numerical results, it is concluded that rounded corners on a square cylinder are useful in reducing the drag and lift forces generated behind a cylinder. Finally, it is suggested that with a rounded corner ratio of around R/D=0.2, the drag and oscillation of the cylinder can be greatly reduced, as compared to circular and square cylinders.

Corporate scandals at Enron, Tyco, and MCI highlight the issue of opportunistic management behavior. The US Congress responded to these scandals by passing the Sarbanes‐Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX). SOX imposes additional management responsibilities and corporate operating costs on companies trading under SEC regulations. This paper examines three options for US corporations responding to SOX: compliance with SOX, taking a company private, or moving to a non‐ SEC‐regulated exchange, such as an international exchange. The paper then examines potential corporate governance options using Transaction Cost Economics (TCE; Williamson 1985) to develop propositions regarding which options firms may select.

The Howard Shuttering Contractors case throws considerable light on the importance which the tribunals attach to warnings before dismissing an employee. In this case the tribunal took great pains to interpret the intention of the parties to the different site agreements, and it came to the conclusion that the agreed procedure was not followed. One other matter, which must be particularly noted by employers, is that where a final warning is required, this final warning must be “a warning”, and not the actual dismissal. So that where, for example, three warnings are to be given, the third must be a “warning”. It is after the employee has misconducted himself thereafter that the employer may dismiss.

Reports on total quality management at the University of Wisconsin‐Madison, as espoused by the University′s chancellor, Donna Shalala. Considers the prospects for the resurgence of the quality movement in US federal government now that Shalala is Secretary of Health and Human Resources.