Suchergebnisse

Economic and labour historians have thus far shown little interest in analysing the operation and impact of variable, performance‐based payment systems in Australia. This is particularly so of collective forms of performance‐based remuneration such as profit‐sharing. This article assesses the operation and impact of Australia's oldest continuous profit‐sharing scheme, the Broken Hill 'lead bonus'. Outcomes are assessed against three broad sets of management objectives: economic, cultural/ideological, and industrial. The study argues that whilst the bonus effectively cushioned company labour costs during periods of depressed market demand and metal prices, outcomes at a microeconomic level were negative. Prior to the advent of sustained high inflation, high bonus earnings served to negate the productive potential of the industry's system of small‐group payment by results. Productivity growth emanated mainly from management‐driven changes in mining techniques and technology, the intensity of which was related inversely to the lead price and, hence, bonus payments. The study concludes that management's continued adherence to the bonus system was motivated less by microeconomic or cultural/ideological considerations than by its perceived value as a counter to major industrial disruption.

Front cover -- Title page -- Copyright -- Table of contents -- Preface -- Contributors -- Editors -- Introduction -- Chapter 1 -- Chapter 2 -- Chapter 3 -- Chapter 4 -- Chapter 5 -- Chapter 6 -- Chapter 7 -- Chapter 8 -- Chapter 9 -- Chapter 10 -- Chapter 11 -- Chapter 12 -- Chapter 13 -- Chapter 14 -- Chapter 15 -- Chapter 16 -- Glossary -- Index -- Back cover.

Social impact bonds (SIBs) are spreading worldwide in the absence of public debate and proof that they improve social outcomes, despite claims to advance evidence-based policymaking and transparency in government. A critical policy reading of SIBs elucidates this conundrum. We argue that SIBs are part of a neoliberal political project that uses austerity as an economic and moral symbol to manufacture consent for social service reform. The intent of this research provocation is to identify future avenues for empirical research on SIBs to further assess how the tool reconfigures social policy in a profoundly neoliberal direction.

AbstractThis paper explores the role of nonprofit organizations in the immigrant settlement and integration sector in the public policy process in three Canadian provinces. Drawing on thirty one (31) semi-structured interviews with nonprofit and mid-level policy officials (working for a provincial government) in three provinces (Ontario, British Columbia and Saskatchewan), the place of nonprofit agencies in providing input and voice to policy issues in the area of settlement and integration services is presented. Issues regarding the willingness to use advocacy/voice with government funders, the usefulness of government consultations, strategies used in approaching government, the role of research in making evidence-based cases regarding policy and program change, among other considerations are examined. The assessments provided by key nonprofit actors and government policy officials are used to bring better understanding of the perceived roles of nonprofit organizations in the daily work of policy.

The politics of austerity has pushed the third sector to the centre of attention as governments turn to non-governmental institutions to pick up the social deficits created by economic recession and the state's retreat from social provision. Some governments have begun supporting alternative service funding through such innovations as social impact bonds (SIBs), a financial product used to encourage the upfront investment of project-oriented service delivery. This paper provides a clearer understanding of what SIBs are and traces their emergence within Canada while linking them to their cross national origins. SIBs are situated conceptually within broader contemporary developments within the non-profit sector, particularly the agenda of public sector reform and third sector marketization. The analysis focuses on the potential impact of SIBs on non-profit policy voice and capacity to represent and meet diverse community needs as it is this function that to a significant degree defines the third sector's ability to be innovative.