This study utilises interviews to investigate issues within a joint venture (JV) in China. The findings demonstrate that the organisational culture of this JV was dominated by its former state-owned enterprise (SOE) culture. The culture was influenced by Chinese culture, particularly by Maoist ideology. This organisational culture appeared not to be compatible with the liberalist ideology of the capitalist market economy. This incompatibility had contributed to management difficulties and financial losses for the JV. Discontent existed between the Chinese staff/workers and Western expatriates. Changing the organisational culture by changing staff may assist the JV to survive in the market economy.
China has one of the most powerful military forces in the world. However, a little over 100 years ago, the Chinese military was repeatedly defeated by Western colonial powers and Japan. These defeats motivated the Chinese to make dramatic changes to their military forces.
It would appear that as Singapore entered the 21st century that have been marked improvements in its women's education attainment, labour force participation and related remuneration. Singaporean women are financially much more independent and are politically and socially more influential. Singaporean families are becoming smaller; women commit to marriage and give birth to their first child much later than previous generations. These changes have raised concerns about sustainability of the future Singaporean labour force for economic development and support for an aging population. ; C1
This study investigated five Chinese higher education institutions in relation to management of academic staff. The study compared these practices with those used in three Australian universities. The results demonstrated that the Chinese universities provide more freedom to academic staff in terms of how staff spend their time at the university. However, there are more strict measures to control teaching staff's punctuality in attending their classes and to have detailed planning and teaching documentation. There are also additional teaching evaluations at both school and university levels, together with student evaluation. Chinese higher education staff management places greater emphasis on extrinsic financial rewards to improve staff performance than do their Australian counterparts. The income of Chinese academic staff is performance based and closely connected to their teaching, supervision, research and management workload. This approach initially came from the West and is now adopted by Chinese higher education management, reflecting Chinese socialist principles regarding income distribution. This measure of distribution is a very important motivational factor designed to enhance staff performance. This study provides an understanding as to the reasons why differences exist in management practices in China and Australia and offers some explanations from historical, political and social culture perspectives. This research identifies both positive and negative aspects of the two systems and suggests that learning good management practices from each other may bring positive changes to the productivity of higher education in both countries. ; C1
Objectives. We determined whether physical education (PE) taught by specialists contributed to academic development and prevention of obesity in elementary school children. Methods. Our 2-year longitudinal study involved 620 boys and girls initially in grade 3 in Australia, all receiving 150 minutes per week of PE. One group (specialist-taught PE; n=312) included 90 minutes per week of PE from visiting specialists; the other (common-practice PE; n=308) received all PE from generalist classroom teachers. Measurements included percentage of body fat (measured by dual-emission x-ray absorptiometry) and writing, numeracy, and reading proficiency (by government tests). Results. Compared with common-practice PE, specialist-taught PE was associated with a smaller increase in age-related percentage of body fat (P=.02). Specialist-taught PE was also associated with greater improvements in numeracy (P<.03) and writing (P=.13) scores. There was no evidence of a reading effect. Conclusions. The attenuated age-related increases in percentage of body fat and enhanced numeracy development among elementary school children receiving PE from specialists provides support for the role of PE in both preventive medicine and academic development.
Objectives. We determined whether physical education (PE) taught by specialists contributed to academic development and prevention of obesity in elementary school children. Methods. Our 2-year longitudinal study involved 620 boys and girls initially in grade 3 in Australia, all receiving 150 minutes per week of PE. One group (specialist-taught PE; n=312) included 90 minutes per week of PE from visiting specialists; the other (common-practice PE; n=308) received all PE from generalist classroom teachers. Measurements included percentage of body fat (measured by dual-emission x-ray absorptiometry) and writing, numeracy, and reading proficiency (by government tests). Results. Compared with common-practice PE, specialist-taught PE was associated with a smaller increase in age-related percentage of body fat (P=.02). Specialist-taught PE was also associated with greater improvements in numeracy (P<.03) and writing (P=.13) scores. There was no evidence of a reading effect. Conclusions. The attenuated age-related increases in percentage of body fat and enhanced numeracy development among elementary school children receiving PE from specialists provides support for the role of PE in both preventive medicine and academic development.
