The Transformation of Bureaucracy? Structural Change in the Commonwealth Public Service 1983-93

Commentators have predicted bureaucratic organisations would undergo substantial change as a result of social and economic pressures. We ask whether reforms to the Australian public service over the 1983–93 period exemplify this process.
We use the methods of organisational analysis to characterise the direction of change, basing our assessment on the standard structural variables of complexity, formalisation and centralisation, together with a cultural variable. We find evidence that, overall, departments of state in the APS were becoming less bureaucratic in their structure, culture and internal function in the 1983–93 period. However, the effect was not uniform across departments, or unambiguous — formalisation, for example, increased in some respects and decreased in others. Centralisation increased overall, despite devolution of some decision-making.     

More than an analogy,less than a paradigm: The case of biopolitics and organization theory

The biopolitics and sociobiology literature has g r m substantially in the pst few years. Same of that literature has fairly direct implications for organization theory. This paper examines that bcdy of research, discusses some of the conceptual issues and concludes that at the present time it is the methods, rather than the specific findings of bioplitical research, that have the most prise for application in organization theory.     

Self-reported suicidal behavior in juvenile offenders in custody: prevalence and associated factors

Suicide rates in prisons in England and Wales are high, including those in juvenile detention centers. Previous deliberate self-harm (DSH) is the strongest predictor of suicide in the general population. There is limited information on how many juvenile offenders (15 to 18 year-olds) have a history of DSH at the time of entering custody, or on factors associated with previous DSH. We aimed to determine the prevalence of previous DSH and suicidal ideation in a population of juvenile offenders in custody and to identify factors associated with DSH and suicidal ideation. Seven out of 45 subjects (15.6%) reported an act of DSH in the past. Twelve (26.6%) reported past suicidal ideation. Peer relationship difficulties and sexual abuse were significantly associated with DSH (p < 0.05). Other factors showed a trend toward being more common among those with DSH, but the premature ending of the project by the juvenile detention center prevented full investigation of the extent of DSH and associated factors. Nevertheless, the results indicated a much higher rate of DSH in this population than in young males in the community. A larger joint project with juvenile detention centers is required to confirm the extent of previous DSH at the time young offenders are admitted, and the associated risk factors, in order to assist prevention and intervention strategies.     

Partner killing by men in cohabiting and marital relationships: a comparative, cross-national analysis of data from Australia and the United States

Using a national-level U.S. database, T. K. Shackelford (2001) calculated rates of uxoricide (the murder of a woman by her romantic partner) by relationship type (cohabiting or marital), by ages of the partners, and by the age difference between partners. Women in cohabiting relationships were 9 times more likely to be killed by their partner than were married women. Within marriages, the risk of uxoricide decreases with a woman's age. Within cohabiting relationships, middle-aged women were at greatest risk of uxoricide. The risk of uxoricide increased with greater age difference between partners. We sought to replicate the findings of Shackelford (2001) using a national-level database that includes information on more than 4,400 homicides that occurred in Australia between 1989 and 2002. Despite the higher rate of partner killing in the United States, and despite other cultural differences between the two countries, we replicated key patterns with the Australian data.     

Sustainable peace-building in the South: Experiences from Latin America

While some recent internal conflicts have attracted international attention, other long-term conflicts with high accumulative death tolls have been relatively ignored. A decontextualised and partial view of conflict and violence is further encouraged by the separation between the emergency and development sections in many Northern aid agencies. Drawing on detailed case-studies of postconflict experience in El Salvador, Peru, and Nicaragua, the author argues that conflict analysis, emergency intervention, and peace-building must be rooted within specific socio-historical contexts. The article ends with a critical reflection on the extent to which local-level capacities have in fact been able to influence the post-war situation and prospects for long-term and sustainable peace-building in these three countries.     

Haven't We Been This Way Before? Evaluation and the Impediments to Policy Learning

In this paper, we focus on a policy trial that was undertaken in a complex and controversial policy field (Indigenous community development), with the avowed objective of learning from experience in the field . We observe that despite significant implementation effort and quality evaluation, little systematic policy learning occurred. Four impediments are identified: (i) the policy environment was highly politicized and contested, (ii) the results challenged accepted ways of working, (iii) there were no systematic processes for policy learning to occur, and (iv) the learnings were distorted by inter‐agency competition and associated ‘labelling’. We suggest that, in controversial policy fields, the most useful first step in enhancing evaluation‐use is for bureaucracies to institute systematic processes for evaluation findings to be considered, with the aim of elaborating ‘what works’ into a consensual approach to change. Without change of this kind, evaluation‐use will remain a failed area of policy.