Service Ecosystems Management for Collaborative Process Improvement. Australian government agencies currently explore opportunities for streamlining their business processes. A promising approach relates to the improvement of cross-agency processes based on service-enabled technologies. This project will use requirements within Queensland Government for the design of a service ecosystem and methodological and management concepts to derive a general framework for intra-organisational ecosystems. ....Service Ecosystems Management for Collaborative Process Improvement. Australian government agencies currently explore opportunities for streamlining their business processes. A promising approach relates to the improvement of cross-agency processes based on service-enabled technologies. This project will use requirements within Queensland Government for the design of a service ecosystem and methodological and management concepts to derive a general framework for intra-organisational ecosystems. Though the focus will be on government processes, the project will generalise beyond this scope for a wider uptake of service ecosystems in Australian organisations. This will lead to reduced process costs and risks and will leverage the exploration of new revenue streams, e.g. shared services and reward schemes.Read moreRead less
Socially Responsible Indicators for Policy, Practice and Benchmarking in Service Organisations. The Australian Government, while attempting to limit the spiralling costs of the welfare state, has encouraged market principles and practices in service organisations. This has raised value dilemmas and administrative tensions for education and welfare organisations who, while committed to social justice and social responsibility, have to operate efficiently and effectively. This research aims, thr ....Socially Responsible Indicators for Policy, Practice and Benchmarking in Service Organisations. The Australian Government, while attempting to limit the spiralling costs of the welfare state, has encouraged market principles and practices in service organisations. This has raised value dilemmas and administrative tensions for education and welfare organisations who, while committed to social justice and social responsibility, have to operate efficiently and effectively. This research aims, through the identification and analysis of tensions between social and economic value orientations in the workplace, to develop a values framework and key socially responsible indicators for the improvement of policy, decision making and practice within the Industry Partners and the wider service sectors.Read moreRead less
Mapping the policy advisory capacity of the Australian federal government: assessing transformations in the policy advising role of the Australian Public Service. Governmental effectiveness depends to a significant extent on the availability of high quality information, analysis and advice. This project therefore addresses a matter of crucial national importance, namely the ability of the Australian Public Service to support decision-making through its policy advising functions. The project is s ....Mapping the policy advisory capacity of the Australian federal government: assessing transformations in the policy advising role of the Australian Public Service. Governmental effectiveness depends to a significant extent on the availability of high quality information, analysis and advice. This project therefore addresses a matter of crucial national importance, namely the ability of the Australian Public Service to support decision-making through its policy advising functions. The project is significant for both its theoretical and practical contributions. Its findings will inform better understandings of the policy advising role of the public service and its relationship to decision-makers in an increasingly pluralised governance context. The project will be the Australian contribution to a larger comparative project examining policy advisory capacities in four Westminster-style governments.Read moreRead less
Collaboration as a solution to wicked public policy problems: the example of regional environmental and natural resources policy in Australia. This project contributes to the water national priority by assessing two major national programs to improve Australia's land and water management through innovative collaboration models. It examines whether new collaborations between governments and NGO stakeholders, together with the creation of numerous regional bodies, are likely to achieve better outc ....Collaboration as a solution to wicked public policy problems: the example of regional environmental and natural resources policy in Australia. This project contributes to the water national priority by assessing two major national programs to improve Australia's land and water management through innovative collaboration models. It examines whether new collaborations between governments and NGO stakeholders, together with the creation of numerous regional bodies, are likely to achieve better outcomes than the previous regulatory models. The project will enhance public policy models through analysis of the strengths and limitations of the new program approach. Problems and prospects at the national, state and regional levels will be assessed including how different forms of collaboration are linked to effective and accountable institutional arrangements. Read moreRead less
Whistling While They Work: Enhancing the Theory and Practice of Internal Witness Management in Public Sector Organisations. The protection of whistleblowers and other internal witnesses to corruption, misconduct and maladministration is a great unsolved problem in public sector governance. Involving 11 integrity institutions, this first national study of internal witness management will describe and compare organisational experience under varying public interest disclosure regimes across the Au ....Whistling While They Work: Enhancing the Theory and Practice of Internal Witness Management in Public Sector Organisations. The protection of whistleblowers and other internal witnesses to corruption, misconduct and maladministration is a great unsolved problem in public sector governance. Involving 11 integrity institutions, this first national study of internal witness management will describe and compare organisational experience under varying public interest disclosure regimes across the Australian public sector. By identifying and promoting current best practice in workplace responses to public interest whistleblowing, the project will use the experience and perceptions of internal witnesses and first- and second-level managers to identify more routine strategies for preventing, reducing and addressing reprisals and other whistleblowing-related conflicts.Read moreRead less
Westminster Transplanted and Westminster Implanted: Explanations for Political Change. Why have Westminster systems,adopted across the world, been so resilient in different environments? By exploring how different nations have adapted the core executive components of Westminster by combining local traditions with inherited practices, the project will identify what conditions provided the stability and security that often emerged. By comparing performance across nations it will explain why Westmi ....Westminster Transplanted and Westminster Implanted: Explanations for Political Change. Why have Westminster systems,adopted across the world, been so resilient in different environments? By exploring how different nations have adapted the core executive components of Westminster by combining local traditions with inherited practices, the project will identify what conditions provided the stability and security that often emerged. By comparing performance across nations it will explain why Westminster practices were so adaptable. This is the first longitudinal study seeking to explain political development in societies that inherited executive practices from the same source. It has the potential to identify how and why future constitutional transplants might succeed.Read moreRead less
InformationTechnology (IT) Audit Methodologies in the Australian Public Sector: Addressing Mandatory Requirements of International Standards. The primary benefit occurs in relation to National Research Priority 3: Frontier Technologies for Building and Transforming Australian Industries, notably Priority Goal 'Smart Information Use', as it will enable more sophisticated and accurate assessments of current IT audit methodologies. In turn, these improvements will enable more effective IT audits by ....InformationTechnology (IT) Audit Methodologies in the Australian Public Sector: Addressing Mandatory Requirements of International Standards. The primary benefit occurs in relation to National Research Priority 3: Frontier Technologies for Building and Transforming Australian Industries, notably Priority Goal 'Smart Information Use', as it will enable more sophisticated and accurate assessments of current IT audit methodologies. In turn, these improvements will enable more effective IT audits by government audit offices in Australia, bringing reduced risk and increased efficiency to organisations subject to audit, as well as increasing conformance with the new accounting and auditing standards. Furthermore, all Australian citizens, (the indirect clients of public sector audit services), will benefit from well-managed program-delivery systems.Read moreRead less
Towards Sustainable Regional Institutions: The Nature, Role and Governance Implications of Contemporary Australian Regionalism. This project is the first-ever national description of Australian regionalism, using insights from political and social science, constitutional theory and public administration. Built on successful pilots, this research will equip government, civil society, development agencies and regional policymakers with a region-by-region picture of the links between spatial varia ....Towards Sustainable Regional Institutions: The Nature, Role and Governance Implications of Contemporary Australian Regionalism. This project is the first-ever national description of Australian regionalism, using insights from political and social science, constitutional theory and public administration. Built on successful pilots, this research will equip government, civil society, development agencies and regional policymakers with a region-by-region picture of the links between spatial variations in political culture, civic trust, social capital and challenges of regional institutional design. This new picture of Australian regional attitudes, expectations and possibilities will contribute directly to national environmental sustainability, sustainable urban and regional development, revitalised regional communities and a stronger social and economic fabric.Read moreRead less
Conceiving and Implementing National Integrity Systems Assessments (NISA). Integrity and corruption are conceptually linked opposites. Integrity systems (or 'ethics regimes') are the most powerful tools for dealing with corruption. They involve a range of institutions, law, procedures, practices and attitudes which encourage integrity and discourage/sanction its absence among public servants and those who might wish to corrupt them. This project will examine the way Australian government and bus ....Conceiving and Implementing National Integrity Systems Assessments (NISA). Integrity and corruption are conceptually linked opposites. Integrity systems (or 'ethics regimes') are the most powerful tools for dealing with corruption. They involve a range of institutions, law, procedures, practices and attitudes which encourage integrity and discourage/sanction its absence among public servants and those who might wish to corrupt them. This project will examine the way Australian government and business integrity systems (some of which have received international praise for their design and conception) function in order to improve their operation in Australia and to provide examples for other countries.Read moreRead less
Investigating the Impact of Work Design on Productive Wellbeing in Mercy Health: The Modernising Third Sector. Around the world the Third Sector (TS) of the economy is coming under pressure to modernise their management. The typical approaches to modern management being imposed overseas may not be appropriate for TS organisations and therefore they need to be critically examined, especially for their impact on employees. In Australia the TS is a large (approx. $15billion), yet low-profile set of ....Investigating the Impact of Work Design on Productive Wellbeing in Mercy Health: The Modernising Third Sector. Around the world the Third Sector (TS) of the economy is coming under pressure to modernise their management. The typical approaches to modern management being imposed overseas may not be appropriate for TS organisations and therefore they need to be critically examined, especially for their impact on employees. In Australia the TS is a large (approx. $15billion), yet low-profile set of organisations, of which the health industry is central. This project will investigate the issues that make workplaces in a TS health organisation a healthier and more productive place to work. The results could directly help improve workplaces covering more than 150,000 employees.Read moreRead less