DILEMMAS OF MEASURING PERFORMANCE IN A GOVERNMENT TRADING ENTERPRISE: THE STATE BANK OF NEW SOUTH WALES

Abstract: In 1990, the State Bank of New South Wales was incorporated as a company, with a view to its eventual Privatisation (which occurred formally on 31 December 1994). Key to the Privatisation process was the attainment of improved organisational performance so that the bank would be seen as an attractive proposition by potential purchasers. Its annual reports in the period 1990-93 suggested this improvement had indeed occurred. However, a recent case in the Industrial Relations Commission of NSW, involving the bank and the Australian Bank Employees Union, has highlighted the apparent difficulty of measuring organisational and employee performance in the bank. This paper examines performance measurement in the State Bank of NSW in light of the accountability framework established by the NSW government, and highlights the dilemmas facing it and other government trading enterprises (GTEs) in the wider use of their performance data.     

AN INTERORCANIZATIONAL PERSPECTIVE ON LOCAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT

Using an open-systems model, this article discusses performance in civil defense agencies as a function of crucial environmental variables. These, in turn, are conceptualized in predicting uncertainty and dependency. Such analysis helps managers and scholars pinpoint the constraints on goal achievement. Case studies illustrate the uncertainties and dependencies induced. The model and examples, in turn, facilitate discussion of conditions affecting organizational effectiveness.     

THE ROLE OF STATE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMS IN NATIONAL INDUSTRY POLICY

A decade of economic stagnation has produced a plethora of calls for government action to stimulate economic growth in employment. Arguing that activists federal industry policy is likely not to emerge in the United States, Rasmussen and Ledebur examine the potential role of states in a "federalist industry policy." States presently administer effective programs of financial assistance to business enterprises. These efforts are "rationally parochial" in that their purpose is served equally well by cresting a new job or pirating from other jurisdictions. This paper considers how state programs can be reoriented to serve national growth and development objectives as well as those of specific jurisdictions. It concludes that a subnational industry policy offers a unique opportunity to reallocate existing state resources to achieve a much higher social return.     

Political Journals in Germany

Germany in the 18th and 19th centuries possessed a wealth of monthly political journals. The period after the Second World War saw a renaissance of monthly journals, which offered orientation to a populace disoriented by National Socialism and war. Today there is a limited number of monthly political journals and their total circulation does not exceed 100,000. But their readership constitutes the small group of citizens who take an interest in politics and in political discourse. Their quantitative influence cannot be measured, their qualitative influence cannot be overestimated. The article focuses mainly on the magazines Neue Gesellschaft/Frankfurter Hefte and Die Politische Meinung. The former is supported by the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, the latter by the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung.     

Hostage-Taking in the Context of Domestic Violence: Some Case Examples

Initial reports of domestic violence are generally made to law enforcement officers who must respond and intervene. A subset of these episodes involves cases in which the victim, and, in many instances her child(ren), have been taken hostage by her husband or partner. Moreover, there are indications that the number of such incidents is growing. The purpose of this project was twofold: (1) to provide one of the first reports on the prevalence and characteristics of these events, and (2) to more closely analyze domestic crisis (hostage) situations using actual case examples. All information was obtained from the Hostage Barricade Database System (HOBAS) of the FBIs Crisis Negotiation Unit. HOBAS is a postincident information collection tool which stores historical data from law enforcement agencies across the nation on hostage/barricade incidents. An examination of this database yielded different types of domestic hostage-taking acts and outcomes (e.g., tactical vs. negotiated resolutions, survival vs. death/injury of perpetrator and/or victim[s]). Implications of the findings, for future crisis negotiation efforts directed toward nonviolent resolution of these high-risk critical incidents, are discussed.