Browsing by Author "Long, Warrick R."
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Item Accounting Academic Workloads in the Higher Education Sector: Balancing Workload Creep to Avoid Depreciation(2018-12-01) Williams, Anthony; Northcote, Maria T.; Long, Warrick R.; Barnes, LisaAccounting Academics according to the literature are subject to external influences such as preparing graduates for future workplaces, bridging the gap between industry and academia and development of pathways to becoming professional accountants for their student cohort. Add to this the internal influences of delivery methods for student engagement, work integrated learning and casualization of the workforce, the accounting academic is at capacity in terms of how these influences impact on workload. Using the “lived experience”, this research delves further into the academic themselves to find that they categorise their workload into four themes of Teaching, Research, Accounting academic administration and development of Curricula, deemed the TRAC Framework for this study. Using this workload TRAC framework, accounting academics identified five factors they believe will influence their future roles. These include growth in international students, that student success will be a shared responsibility, that student engagement will be critical, that curricula design will involve stakeholder input and that expectations around research will change. These additional impact factors when added to the already at capacity workload model for accounting academics, will create a type of workload creep. The workload impact factor (WIF) model is created for this research to demonstrate just how these additional factors will be absorbed by accounting academics, ballooning their workload. This workload creep can be described as an increase in academic wear and tear, almost like depreciation on capital assets, a recognition of a diminution in economic benefit or value. Accounting academics must be careful to balance their future workload so as to not become commercially obsolete.
Item Accounting Academic Workloads: Balancing Workload Creep to Avoid Depreciation in the Higher Education Sector(2020-06-27) Williams, Anthony; Northcote, Maria T.; Barnes, Lisa; Long, Warrick R.Accounting academics are subject to external influences such as preparing graduates for future workplaces, bridging the gap between industry and academia and development of pathways to becoming professional accountants. Add to this the internal influences of delivery methods for student engagement, work integrated learning and casualisation of the workforce, the accounting academic is at capacity in terms of how these influences impact on workload. Using the “lived experience”, this research delves into the academic themselves to find that they categorize their workload into four themes of Teaching, Research, Accounting academic workload and development of Curricula, deemed the TRAC Framework for this study. Using this workload TRAC framework, accounting academics identified five factors they believe will influence their future roles. These include growth in international students that student success will be a shared responsibility that student engagement will be critical, that curricula design will involve stakeholder input and that expectations around research will change. These additional impact factors when added to the already at capacity workload model for accounting academics, will create a type of workload creep. This workload creep can be described as an increase in academic wear and tear, almost like depreciation on capital assets.
Publication Anytime Email and Work-Life Balance: An Exploration into the Views of Adventist Schools Australia Employees(Avondale Academic Press, 2014-01-01) Morey, Peter; Long, Warrick R.; Williams, PeterEmail has extended its reach beyond the traditional workplace into the non-work hours of employees, disrupting the work-life balance. What was once ‘anywhere any time’ has become ‘everywhere all the time’ (Mazmanian, Orlikowski, & Yates, 2013).
This study examines the effects of email intrusion on work-life balance from the perspective of a Christian faith-based organisation, which has the additional dimension of espousing a ‘healthy’ balance between work and life. A survey of 500 employees of such an organisation, attracting 208 respondents, found that nearly all employees owned mobile devices that enable them to access work email outside work time,and that they frequently use these devices when not at work to access work emails.
The employees perceived that anytime work emails have provided them with increased flexibility, but at the same time generated greater and frequently unrealistic expectations of them, by parents, students and to a minor degree school administrators. These employees also often felt that these anytime emails led them to working longer hours, generated a sense of being overloaded, contrary to the espoused values of a work and life balance and the importance of family.
For these employees the solution to the anytime work email intrusion and resulting stress is not some external control. To most of these employees external control would be much too restrictive and teaching was perceived to be and has always been more than just an 8.30am to 3.30pm responsibility.
Item Are They Ready? Accounting Academics' Perspectives of the Preparedness of New Student Cohorts(2018-06-01) Northcote, Maria T.; Williams, Anthony; Barnes, Lisa; Long, Warrick R.The research reported here has as its central question of how do Australian accounting academics perceive the preparedness of students to study accounting at university. The research looks at how well prepared new cohorts of accountancy students are to engage. The research found that accounting academics identified four success factors required for students to study accounting at first year university level, identifying those needing to be addressed prior to beginning study, and others within the course of study itself. These four success factors included the ability to participate in the course with an apropos level of English language proficiency, to commence with a certain level of assumed knowledge which is then further extended, to develop and utilise higher order thinking skills, and finally to effectively communicate thoughts and ideas through written and verbal means.
The findings, of the study reported here, provide insight into what students need as preparation to study accounting at university, using the Success Factor Timeline (SFT). The SFT bring together disparate concepts into one framework for consideration of student selection procedures and course design. It also provides appropriate scaffolding for first year students to better enable them for success, based on attributes they need to possess before commencing university studies, and attributes they can learn whilst at university.
Item Australian University Accounting Academics: The Lived Experience(2018-12-01) Long, Warrick R.The Australian University Accounting Academic (AUAA) is located in an environment which is undergoing constant change and impacts AUAAs in a variety of ways. These create pressure points that AUAAs experience and which they value, are challenged by, or affects their outlook. AUAAs are frequently not fully informed about these changes, and may not fully understand them and, as a consequence of not having the power to hold back these changes, AUAAs have little option other than to adapt. These changes challenge the traditional perception of a university accounting academic, which can cause role conflict for those AUAAs who hold onto that perception of the traditional academic role, which may not align with the expectations of the role held by other parties (e.g., university administrators or students). Where this perception is not in conflict with the changing requirements of the AUAA’s role, there is enjoyment and satisfaction.
This study considers the context of AUAAs and the impact this context has on the work of AUAAs, using a lived experience study to understand how the changing environment is effecting these academics. A hermeneutic phenomenological methodology was utilised so as to more fully understand the lived experience of AUAAs, using a multi-methods qualitaitve research approach. Role theory was used as a theoretical framework for considering the lived experience of AUAAs, and noted the role strain from potential role conflicts and role ambiguity arising from the AUAAs’ perceptions of what their role includes, and what they perceive students and university administrators expect of them, through the development of the TRAC framework of expectations.
The aspects of their work AUAAs value most are students who are well prepared for studying accounting at university and are engaged in their learning. They also value fair and manageable workloads and having freedom to research topics of personal interest. Alternatively, AUAAs encounter some challenges such as changing modes of teaching, research expectations, students’ ‘consumer/customer’ perspective and limited publishing opportunities. The projected outlook of AUAAs include continued growth in international student numbers, having to adapt their means of engaging with students and ongoing dissatisfaction with workload and research expectations.
The original contribution of this study is in adding to the knowledge around role theory by using a lived experience methodology and situating it within the university discipline of accounting. The study describes the AUAAs’ lived experience by giving them voice to share their outlook, and the issues that they value and are challenged by, rather than merely reporting their views on predetermined issues and topics.
AUAAs, like most academics in the Australian university system, are confronting an ever-changing landscape. This study demonstrates the need for the AUAA to adapt to the new vista that is the environment of the lived experience of AUAAs.
Item Here for Good: Christian Leadership(2019-05-17) Long, Warrick R.Here For Good is a podcast series from leading researchers at Avondale College of Higher Education. In this episode Leadership Postgraduate Course Convenor and Lecturer Dr Warrick Long from the Avondale Business School in conversation with Associate Dean (Research) Dr Carolyn Rickett reflects on his journey into academia, the Avondale Business School’s commitment to connecting their students to real-world practice, and he offers tips on effective Christian leadership.
Item Is Role Conflict Creating the Nocebo Effect on Accounting Educators?(2020-07-01) Williams, Anthony; Northcote, Maria T.; Barnes, Lisa; Long, Warrick R.Opposite to the placebo effect is the nocebo effect (Colagiuri 2019), where negative expectations can create poor results. In this research, workloads of Accounting Educators are reviewed using the Role theory lens to determine if heavy workloads causing role conflict are also causing a negative imbalance in life/work balance (nocebo effect) and overall performance. Like academics in most other disciplines, the Australian University Accounting Educators work in a context that is constantly changing with multiple challenges. Some aspects of their lived experience have been reported elsewhere, but the study reported here aimed to gain an understanding of the Accounting Educators lived experience as a whole, using the lens of role theory. The findings of this study have given a voice to the Accounting Educators and suggest recommendations for how Accounting Educators can adapt to the ever-changing environment of the Australian university system while also finding value and enjoyment in their role. The TRAC (Teaching, Research, Accounting Educator Workload, Curricula) frame work of expectations was developed to document the various expectations that impact on the role of the Accounting Educator, to prevent the negative expectations that create the nocebo effect so detrimental to Accounting Educators performance. Recommendations from the research suggest that Accounting Educators engage with university administrators to find solutions to re-balance the workload model to turn the nocebo effect around by creating positive expectations of workloads and performance, to attract and retain the Accounting Educators of the future.
Item Leading Change Without Formal Authority: The ICC Model for the 21st Century(2021-11-25) Long, Warrick R.; Barnes, Lisa; Freeman, HomaChange seems to be a constant feature of the 21st century workplace. Successful organisations embrace change and make sure the personnel are valued, and that they remain engaged and motivated. Employers do not require to formally be in charge of a group of people to be called leader, but demonstrating leadership is an important feature for employees at every level of an organization. Women face a diverse range of difficulties in today’s workplace, and therefore this study aims to focus on the phenomenon of leading change without formal authority and develop a model for women to bring about change within their working climate. This conceptual research aims to identify novel connections between the concepts of leadership and feminism and in consideration of the features of the 21st century workplace. Reviewing the relevant literature particularly around the leadership qualities (drive, motivation, honesty, self-confidence, cognitive ability, and knowledge of the business) this study proposes dedication, political skill and sincerity as qualities of leadership without formal authority. Since, male and female personalities appear to be different in a number of aspects, the basic five personality qualities (known as the Big Five) are reviewed: neuroticism, extraversion, openness, agreeableness, and conscientiousness. Reviewing models of change as well as females’ qualities, this study suggests a model for leading change without formal authority including Identifying gaps, Connecting with emotions, and Committing to change (ICC model).
Publication Learning Thresholds: A Journey in Online Learning and Teaching(Avondale Academic Press, 2017-07-01) Northcote, Maria T.; Long, Warrick R.; Williams, Peter; Wilson, David P.Three tertiary business educators transitioned their teaching from a just face-to-face mode of content delivery into online/blended content delivery formats. It was found there were three dominant domains of learning thresholds for these educators, which involved the course, student engagement and the teacher. The course domain considered alternative approaches to teaching and course design. The student domain focussed on student engagement and feedback. The teacher domain addressed teacher identity and interactions. Challenges faced by the educators included adopting a new paradigm of teaching, benchmarking efforts, and adequate resourcing. The positive transformative experience involved the educators gaining increased self-assurance in becoming effective online educators.
Item Model of Mitigation: Strategies to Utilise Unique Insider Research Opportunities(2021-08-26) Long, Warrick R.; Barnes, Lisa; Dever, NerolieInsider research has in the past challenged researchers in terms of blurred lines, objectivity, bias confidentiality and maintaining professional working relationships. The opportunities it presents however, include access to information, trust in the data collection, insider and intimate knowledge, and the ability for rich inside data collection. This paper discusses these opportunities and challenges, then makes recommendations for ten strategies to assist in data collection by an insider researcher. These strategies include communication, mixed methods, reflections, debrief, distance, confidentiality, interview technique, social network, voluntary and objectivity. The research concludes with the creation of a Model of Mitigation, which posits the ten mitigation strategies along with the four opportunities to assist insider researchers to overcome obstacles when conducting insider research, as insider research has been shown to collect rich data and enable organisations to reflect on the research findings and to implement recommendations made on an individual but organisation wide basis.
Item Purpose Built Offices Replaced by Work From Home (WFH) in a Time of Business Disruption: Hybrid Office Model (HOM)(2021-06-02) Williams, Peter; Long, Warrick R.; Barnes, LisaWith the pandemic of COVID-19 came a time of significant business disruption, particularly in relation to social distancing rules that effectively shut down organisations physical office spaces, and moved employees to work from home (WFH) in a very short space of time. This research looks at the current office space that employees use in a Higher Education Provider, and compares it to the WFH space, while discussing the challenges and opportunities of WFH. The question of the ability to collaborate with colleagues was also researched prior to and during the lock down. The results showed that employees valued their physical office space, but that open plan or shared offices were often noisy and lacked privacy. Most described their office space as personal, comfortable and conducive to productivity. The move to WFH was both swift and unplanned, but most employees felt that they had a good space, were comfortable, had the equipment they needed to do their job and used technology such as Zoom to keep in contact with colleagues and students.
The challenges of WFH included the lack of collegiality, communication issues, equipment/connectivity, community, mental health, work-life-balance and increased workload. Interestingly, of the seven challenges identified, six were also listed as opportunities, these included: collegiality, communication issues, equipment/connectivity, community, mental health and work-life-balance. Three additional opportunities were identified as flexibility, productivity and innovation.
In relation to the ability to work collaboratively with others, the majority of respondents stated this happened in their current office space (87%), and with the move to WFH, 76% stated that they were still able to work collaboratively. The results demonstrate that although there can be challenges in WFH, that there can be advantages to both employees and employers. Employees will no longer need to commute to work, can spend more time perusing personal plans and feel more productive when WFH. For employers, they now have access to a wider pool of talent, can enjoy cost savings and decrease their carbon footprint. The office of the future will be a hybrid model, a combination of people WFH, working in the office and doing both, otherwise known as the Hybrid Office Model (HOM).
Item Role Conflict in the Work of Accounting Academics in Australia: Changes, Challenges and Opportunities(2019-07-01) Williams, Anthony; Barnes, Lisa; Northcote, Maria T.; Long, Warrick R.BACKGROUND/CONTEXT
Like academics in most other disciplines, accounting academics work in a context that is constantly changing with multiple challenges. Some aspects of their lived experience have been reported elsewhere (e.g., Cappelletto, 2010; Guthrie, Evans, & Burritt, 2014; Pop-Vasileva, Baird, & Blair, 2014) but the study reported in this Showcase aimed to gain an understanding of the accounting academic’s lived experience as a whole, using the lens of role theory.
THE INITIATIVE/PRACTICE
Through a consideration of accounting academics’ lived experiences as well as the expectations placed upon them by students and university administrators, role theory (Bess & Dee, 2007; Schulz, 2013) was used as the theoretical framework of this study which guided the examination of how role strain from role conflict and role ambiguity may arise from the accounting academics’ perceptions of the requirements of their role.
METHOD(S) OF EVALUATIVE DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS
Using a phenomenological methodological design to investigate the lived experiences of accounting academics, a multi-methods approach was used that primarily used qualitative methods. Interviews and questionnaires were administered to eight Australian University Accounting Academics from five universities in Australia.
THE ISSUE
This paper reports on the particular phenomenon of role strain that was identified in the project’s findings which affected the accounting academics, specifically in terms of role conflict and role ambiguity.
INTENDED OUTCOME
The findings of this study have given a voice to accounting academics and suggest recommendations for how they can adapt to the ever-changing environment of the Australian university system while also finding value and enjoyment in their role. Academic staff from other disciplines may also find these recommendations relevant to their context. The TRAC (Teaching, Research, Workload, Curricula) framework of expectations was developed to document the various expectations that impact on the role of the accounting academic.
Item Role-Playing: A Smorgasbord of Learning Types(2015-12-01) de Berg, Kevin C.; Long, Warrick R.; Petrie, Kevin; Hinze, Jason; Kilgour, Peter W.One tertiary institution sought to research the perceptions that tertiary students have of role-plays as a means of learning. Role-plays were used across a range of disciplines at that institution including: teacher training, business and chemistry. Each of these disciplines used a role-play in their classes and then collected opinions from the students on the usefulness of the activity. It was discovered that students value role-plays as a means to challenge preconceived ideas, encourage creative thinking, assist students in applying theory to practice, make lessons fun and provide active learning experiences that increase student learning and engagement.
Item Should Pastors Be Available All the Time?(2016-05-01) Williams, Peter; Long, Warrick R.New technology in the form of 24/7 email brings with it increased expectations of begin available, adding to the pressures of work-life balance for employees. Few studies have explored this from the perspective of the Christian pastor, and none within the Seventh-day Adventist Church (SDA) pastoral context. We extend the literature in this area by examining the impact of increased work-email on the work-life balance of SDA local church pastors. Based on responses from Australian SDA local church pastors we find that while pastors find there are some advantages in the flexibility offered by 24/7 work email, it also increases the work pressures on them, impacting on stress and relationships. Effective work-life balance is becoming more difficult for the SDA local church pastor to achieve.
Item The Challenges of Being an Accounting Academic: What we Can Learn from the Literature Bricolage(2019-07-01) Williams, Anthony; Northcote, Maria T.; Barnes, Lisa; Long, Warrick R.This study specifically targets research done in the area of the Accounting Academic. A search of the literature has shown that there are many challenges faced by Accounting Academics in this environment of change. These challenges have been narrowed down into the top four most discussed themes of teaching, research, workload and curricula design. The University Accounting Academic environment is not unlike an ecosystem of interacting organisms or stakeholders which impacts in a variety of ways. These create pressure points that Accounting Academics experience and which they value, are challenged by, or affects their outlook. Accounting Academics are frequently not fully informed about these changes, and may not fully understand them and, as a consequence of not having the power to hold back these changes, Accounting Academics have little option other than to adapt. These changes challenge the traditional perception of a university accounting academic, which can cause role conflict. The traditional accounting academic role then may not align with the expectations of the role held by other parties such as university administrators, accrediting bodies or students. A review of the literature suggests that Accounting Academics are under much pressure from stakeholders to produce quality research, teach larger classes with up to date curriculum all the while trying to balance workload. The challenge ahead is how Universities will manage these workloads of Accounting Academics in the University of the future.
Item The Disruptive Changing Accounting University Environment: How Accounting Academics Have Been Gazumped(2018-07-01) Northcote, Maria T.; Barnes, Lisa; Williams, Anthony; Long, Warrick R.Continual reforms in the Australian Higher Education Sector result in ongoing significant changes to the experiences of the Australian academic. As a result, massification, internationalisation and corporatization form the landscape of academia in Australia. The Australian University Accounting Academic (AUAA) faces ongoing challenges and opportunities within this dynamic academic environment, and this study explores these challenges in relation to teaching themed issues that confront the AUAA. By using a questionnaire and interviews with AUAAs, three themes emerged, being curriculum, teaching workload, and the impact of online teaching. The “ASSET” support framework is developed from these conversations with the AUAA’s to help them become an “asset” to the university during these times of disruptive change instead of allowing the system to “gazump” them.
Item What Employers in Christian-based Organisations Desire in Graduates from a Christian Business School(2020-12-01) Louwen, Craig; Williams, Peter; Long, Warrick R.; Barnes, LisaEmployers of Christian-based organisations have expectations of the attributes of business school graduates, and of particular interest is whether there are different and/or additional skills for graduates from a Christian Business School. The purpose of this study is to engage with various Christian-based employers of business school graduates to discover views, requirements and expectations of graduates from a Christian Business School. An initial review of the literature reveals no published works on the graduate attributes expected by Christian employers of Christian business school graduates. This study seeks to add knowledge given the gap that exists in this literature.
The needs of employers change over time, and academics are well advised to ensure the curricula of the courses they teach keep pace with these changing needs. This research was completed during 2019 by staff at the Avondale Business School, part of Avondale University College. Avondale was established in 1897, by the Seventh-day Adventist Church, and is a Christian based University College. One way that Christian business school academics can maintain awareness of employers’ preferred graduate attributes is to consult with a range of employers. This study will utilise both qualitative and quantitative approaches to address the research aims of finding out if there are different and/or additional requirements by Christian-based organisations, from graduates who attend a Christian business school. The participants are employees from Christian organisations, who commonly employ these new graduates.
Item What? You Want Me to Write?!(2018-05-01) Long, Warrick R.; Barnes, Lisa; Howson, Keith1. Purpose. This paper sets out to report on and evaluate the writing skills of a cohort of accounting and business students.
2. Design/methodology/approach. Students were asked to write an essay describing their learning experience in an introductory accounting class. These essays were then evaluated by experienced teachers of English.
3. Findings. Major weaknesses are that: there is inadequate engagement with the assignment question; there is a paucity of content; writing is diffuse rather than succinct; there are faults with sentence structure and other errors of English expression.
4. Implications. The research brings to the fore the poor writing ability of university accounting students and lays stress on the need to train and more clearly guide the development of these business related skills. Training may require curriculum adjustment to accommodate additional courses of study.
5. Originality. There is a paucity of material related to the writing skills of accounting and business students and this paper attempts to address this gap.
6. Limitations. The cohort studied came from a private Southern California university and the results may not necessarily reflect the writing skills of other university students. The study needs to be replicated in other settings.
Item When Business and Business Schools Unite to Create Uniqueness: Stakeholder Relationships in Business Hubs Embedded in Higher Education Business Institutions(2020-04-01) Sormin, Velan; Poulton, Erin; Wilson, David; Williams, Peter; Long, Warrick R.; Barnes, LisaThis research is conducted on a smart hub embedded in a business school, in a regional location, of a higher education institution. The two themes that emerged from this research are that the smart hub increased work satisfaction (theme 1) and also personal satisfaction (theme 2). The results show there arethree distinctly unique factors that smart hub employees experienced by being in a business school, these included (1) external interactions with the institute’s personnel (staff and students), (2) mutual benefits of engagement with smart hub employees and finally (3) the natural environment and facilities provided by the institution. Using the two themes of work and personal satisfaction, as well as the 3 unique factors, the research identified the “Unique Mutual Alliance Factors” (UMAF) to summarise the outcomes of embedding a smart hub within a higher education Business school.
Item Writing - The Development of a Necessary Professional Skill(2019-05-01) Long, Warrick R.; Barnes, Lisa; Howson, Keith
- Purpose. This paper sets out to further evaluate the ability of university level students to write and to suggest some strategies to address this area.
- Design/methodology/approach. An online questionnaire was circulated to 808 accounting academics in Australian universities of which 162 useable responses were received. These responses were followed up with semi-structured interviews of a smaller group of eight academics from five different universities to further explore key issues raised in the questionnaire.
- Findings. Accounting academics believe that students are not prepared to study accounting at university level with deficiencies in several areas, where writing and communication is one such shortfall.
- Implications. The research brings to the fore the poor writing ability of university accounting students and lays stress on the need to train and more clearly guide the development of these business related skills. Training may require curriculum adjustment to accommodate additional courses of study.
- Originality. There is a paucity of material related to the writing skills of accounting and business students and this paper attempts to assist in bridging this gap.
- Limitations. The study needs to be replicated in other settings.