Managing Health Boards: The Difference That Women Could Make

This article looks at women's representation on trust boards and health boards in Scotland. Women are out-numbered by two to one on boards, but there is a more worrying pattern in terms of the type of posts held by women—there are four chairmen of boards for every chairwoman, and chief executives are 14 times more likely to be male. The authors show that this under-representation of women is denying the health service access to a huge reserve of talent and skills.     

The Bali Bombings: Tourism Crisis Management and Conflict Avoidance

The combination of the bombings, SARS, the Iraq War and bird flu has brought about an acute decline in tourism in Bali, but despite widespread unemployment and a collapse in living standards the island has not experienced widespread strife. Despite severe provocation from the alleged Bali bombers, all of whom are Muslim, Hindu Balinese did not seek retribution by persecuting the island’s minorities. Bali’s politicians and opinion leaders appreciated the potential volatility of the situation and called for restraint using all available media and Bali’s network of village councils and urban wards. Various cultural and religious strategies, such as inter-religious worship and village security capacity building, were adopted to help manage the crisis. Rumours of ‘ethnic cleansing’ and the forced repatriation of non-Balinese, especially Muslim Javanese, appear to be unfounded. The widespread adoption of measures designed to avoid conflict appears to have helped restore confidence in Bali’s tourism industry. Some Balinese responses to the bombings are probably culturally specific, but this example of crisis management may have wider applications within the context of tourism.     

Choosing a discount point/contract rate combination

Confronted with an array of contract rate/discount point combinations from which to choose, a mortgagor must evaluate his/her wealth with respect to each choice. The future path of the cost of mortgage capital will affect the wealth of the mortgagor to a different degree depending on which contract rate/discount point combination he/she chooses. Using the Expected Monetary Value algorithm, we show that variation of marginal income tax rates and expectations about the future path of the cost of mortgage capital across mortgagors can explain the demand for different contract rate/discount point combinations. Our results provide a rationale for a mortgagor choosing an intermediate point/contract rate combination.Paper presented at the annual meeting of the A.R.E.U.E.A., 1989, Atlanta.     

Size and effectiveness: a case study of a small union

This article challenges the conventional wisdom that increasing size is the key to effective trade union representation. We draw on case study research at the National Union of Lock and Metal Workers (NULMW), which has allowed certain assumptions about small and independent unions to be challenged and suggests some possible alternatives to concentration strategies as a response to a hostile environment     

A TEST BETWEEN STOCK‐FLOW MATCHING AND THE RANDOM MATCHING FUNCTION APPROACH*

This article tests between the standard “random matching function” approach and “stock‐flow” matching while controlling for temporal aggregation bias. Consistent with previous empirical work, the random matching function fits the matching data reasonably well. But match flows are more highly correlated with vacancy inflows than is consistent with the random matching approach. Instead the data support stock‐flow matching, where unemployed workers match directly with suitable new vacancies as such vacancies come on to the market.     

Trend Analysis of Motivation-Based Clusters at the Chilkoot Trail National Historic Site of Canada

This study combines data from three cross-sectional surveys (1993, 1998, and 2004) to explore how hikers at the Chilkoot Trail National Historic Site of Canada were affected by the introduction of several restrictive management policies. The analysis revolves around motivation-based segments defined via one single principal component and cluster analysis over all three years of data. The results document similarities and differences between the three motivation-based segments over time and as a reaction to the restrictions. Clusters also differed in the reaction to indicator variables such as advance booking time, perceived management problems, encounters, and satisfaction. Future longitudinal data collections and investigations as part of visitor monitoring protocols are suggested.     

On Constructive Technology Assessment and Limitations on Public Participation in Technology Assessment

The paper reviews selected literature on the theory and practice of constructive technology assessment (CTA), which represents a promising approach for managing technology through society. CTA emphasises the involvement and interaction of diverse participants to facilitate ‘upstream’ (or anticipatory) learning about possible impacts of technology and socially robust decision-making. The paper seeks to identify limitations of CTA, as these relate to the broadening of debate about nascent, controversial technology. In particular, it considers the relevance of CTA to the achievement of more democratic decision-making about technology. In addition, the paper directs attention towards differences in participants' discursive capacities and rhetorical skills that may affect the role and contribution of non-expert citizens in technology assessment. The paper draws upon the debate between Habermas and Foucault to suggest promising avenues for future research based on technology assessment conceptualised as discourse. It concludes that the theory and practice of CTA may be improved by addressing explicitly possible structural limitations on the broadening of debate, whilst invoking a notion of technology assessment as discourse to point up cultural, subjective or cognitive limitations on agency.     

Good Governance and Growth in Developing Countries: A Case Study of Regulatory Reforms in the Telecommunications Industry

We investigate whether good governance, measured in terms of the regulatory structure, has a positive impact on the development of the telecommunications industry in developing countries. To this end we construct a data set on a panel of developing countries with information on the number of mainlines per capita and proxies for certain aspects of regulatory structure argued in the literature to be important for optimum development. Our results indicate that if the regulator is given certain functions with which to carry out telecommunications policy, this can enhance growth, but that there is no similar evidence in terms of operational separation of the regulator from the government.