Getting The Right Mix: Unpacking Integration Meanings and Strategies

Integration has emerged as having an increasingly significant role in public policy discourse and practice in many jurisdictions across the globe. In providing a different framework for establishing relationships between service providers and citizens and government, horizontal integration arrangements offer the prospect of delivering new ways of working and providing solutions to seemingly insolvable social problems. Ways of achieving horizontal integration have been variously described by linkage terms such as cooperation, coordination, and collaboration. These terms have been typically used interchangeably to describe the coming together of individuals to work in concerted effort to achieve common goals.We argue that each of these terms, expressed as the “3Cs,” are different and consequently achieve different objectives. This paper explores the use of the “3Cs” and examines the differences highlighted by practitioners in the human services arena to extend the understanding of constructs relating to integration mechanisms. It is contended that in focusing on the experiences of integration and unpacking the use and expectations of the related “3Cs,” public administrators and practitioners will gain an enhanced understanding of each of the processes of integration as a coherent framework. As a consequence, there will be improved ability to match appropriate integration mechanisms with contexts and strategies.     

Implementing IFRS in Local Government: Institutional Isomorphism as NPM Goes Mad?

Abstract

The impact the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) has on business has been considered by various authors, such as Jones and Higgins (2006 Jones, S. H. and Higgins, A. D. 2006. Australia's switch to international financial reporting standards: a perspective from account preparers'. Accounting and Finance, 46: 629–652. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). However, there has not been the same research conducted with respect to local government. As Australia and New Zealand are leading the world by being the first to introduce IFRS into local government financial reporting, this study is timely in order todetermine the impact of compliance on local government. With the New Public Management (NPM) introduced in the late 1970s, accrual accounting and the desire to enhance transparency became embedded in financial reporting across the world. The paper adds to the growing literature on institutional theory with results of the study suggesting that a form of coercive isomorphism is present in regards to local government compliance with IFRS. It also suggests that the philosophy behind NPM – especially that espousing the benefits of public sector reporting in a private sector vein–may not be as relevant to Australian local government as the policy makers would have us believe. The thrust to implement IFRS may have finally pushed local government into a world they struggle to cope with. For example, findings indicate that there is now, more than ever, a perception in the community that the bottom line is an important indicator of a council's performance. Results reported here determined that the implementation process was time-consuming and costly with, in general, very little perceived benefit. Councils are conforming to the coercive pressure from legislative bodies, but they are not converging as part of the ‘transaction-neutral’ reporting regime.     

Policy Forum: Studying Eyewitness Investigations in the Field

This article considers methodological issues arising from recent efforts to provide field tests of eyewitness identification procedures. We focus in particular on a field study (Mecklenburg 2006) that examined the “double blind, sequential” technique, and consider the implications of an acknowledged methodological confound in the study. We explain why the confound has severe consequences for assessing the real-world implications of this study.     

STATUS OF COURT-CONNECTED PROGRAMS FOR CHILDREN WHOSE PARENTS ARE SEPARATING OR DIVORCING

This article reports on programs for children whose parents are divorcing or separating. Data were obtained from 67 courts and 81 program providers across the United States. Most court systems with children's programs used community providers and encouraged rather than required children's attendance. The average program consisted of one or two sessions, with a length of 4 to 5 1/2 hours. A partial list of commercially available curricula is provided in the appendix.     

NEGOTIATING HOUSING POLICY THE QUEENSLAND HOUSING COMMISSION AND FEDERAL, STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT, 1945–64

Abstract: An examination of a single institution and its relationships with different levels of government can be used to question commonly held interpretations. This study of the Queensland Housing Commission (QHC) indicates that there is some need to reassess the effectiveness of tied grants as a mechanism for commonwealth intervention in areas of state concern. In Queensland, at least, the state government played a much more significant role in determining both the overall direction of the housing authority and its day-to-day operations. This suggests that the assumption that statutory authorities have some autonomy from direct government intervention may not always be appropriate. The weakness of local government in Australia is acknowledged but it is important to note that state government instrumentalities have contributed significantly to this weakness. This study of the QHC provides one example of how local autonomy can be compromised.     

Exemptions from Compulsory Income Management: A Short “History of the Present”

The historical study of exemptions has focused on escape from protectionist policies designed to control and monitor Aboriginal people in Australia — restricting their freedom of movement, intruding into their family life, and reducing their ability to participate on equal terms in the labour force. In this paper, we consider a contemporary policy — income management — which primarily restricts the freedom to dispose of personal income and has targeted Aboriginal people and communities, both directly and indirectly. Provisions for individual exemptions have been incorporated inconsistently within the many iterations of income management, and Aboriginal people are significantly less likely than others to be granted an exit from this form of financial control. The study reported here is an example of mixed-methods social research, rather than an historiography. We use techniques of historical comparison to illuminate contemporary practices and identify the ongoing influence of settler-colonial governance in the lives of Aboriginal people.     

Do motor vehicle advertisements that promote vehicle performance attributes also promote undesirable driving behaviour?

• In response to concerns that motor vehicle advertising may have a negative influence on audiences' driving attitudes, many countries have adopted Codes of Ethics with respect to motor vehicle advertising. Most Codes restrict explicit depictions relating to power, speed and acceleration but do not necessarily identify when advertisements implicitly communicate these and other undesired messages about unsafe driving behaviours. We selected three motor vehicle advertisements containing depictions of vehicular behaviour such as fast driving and rapid acceleration that had been the subject of complaints to the Australian Advertising Standards Board. We exposed these advertisements to n = 463 14–55 year olds. All three advertisements were found to promote positive expectancies about undesirable driving behaviours. These data confirm the rationale for motor vehicle advertising Codes but identify faults in applying the Codes; namely that the Advertising Standards Board upheld complaints about only one of the advertisements whereas viewer perceptions indicate that all three breached the Australian Code. There is a need to include mechanisms other than simple observation to assess whether undesirable messages are being communicated in motor vehicle advertisements.

Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.