Business

Based on archival resources, this study examines how accountability and internal auditing practices emerged and evolved within the distinctive setting of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church. Traditionally, this organisation was reluctant to account to its constituents in conventional financial terms. The Church administration prioritised notions of righteous accountability, while the general members of the church were concerned primarily with their own eternal accountability. That is, and reflecting its religious character, an emphasis on accountability relationships at a higher plane permeated the organisation: the Church with carrying out the mission it believed it had been entrusted with, and individual members with their own religious salvation. However, reservations over a perceived lack of monetary stewardship subsequently came to the fore. This precipitated an increased emphasis on financial accountability, with the adoption of an internal auditing function identified as a key outcome of this change.

A leading factor in reshaping boundaries between participatory design and co-creation is the power of crowd-sourcing; however crowd sourced design often produces less innovative results than smaller expert design teams. In design, representation plays a fundamental role whilst in crowd sourced design the collective interaction with representations is restricted. We propose more effective design in collective intelligence lies in the crowd’s ability to generate meaningful contributions via the content of shared representations. In order to investigate this, the current paper examines how meanings are generated through the use of visual representations. We introduce a semiotic framework to understand the mechanisms of how signs convey con-textual information in a collective design task, and illustrate the framework by applying it in an analysis of the signs used by the crowd engaging in an openly shared design task.

This paper surfaces and describes the “green” population—those who, by their attitudes and/or personal behaviours, align with a sustainable social agenda. It reveals their expectations in relation to sustainable retail environments. The literature is used to identify dimensions that influence individual attitudes and consequent behaviours, in relation to environmental issues, particularly in relation to home and retail environments. These are then used to inform the conduct of eight focus groups of consumers in two tightly defined geographical areas, containing a mix of retail centre types, which are subsequently subjected to telephone surveys. Each investigation is analysed using appropriate qualitative or quantitative techniques and the results thereafter triangulated. It was found that the concept of the “green” shopper is an oversimplification, with various shades of green existing. These variations arise as a consequence of age, gender, household income, occupation, and level of education and are reflected in personal attitudes and beliefs, as well as behaviours at home and expectations of sustainable retail spaces. The designs for environmentally sustainable retail spaces are only economically sustainable if they are socially acceptable. Understanding the individual nature of the ‘green’ shopper, and the size of the ‘green’ shopper population, is central to decision-making in this regard. This research is believed to be the first critical analysis of what constitutes the ‘green’ population in terms of retail environments.

Although individual designers can successfully implement a multi-dimensional approach, large and complex design projects also invariably require collaborative work among designers. This paper considers the question of collaboration in large design projects and, more specifically, the concept of Multi Disciplinary Design Teams (MDDTs) and the communication strategies employed to achieve shared understanding. The paper reports on the findings of a research project that analyses the design processes of professional design practitioners in the workplace environment, using a range of established ethnographic research methods. The research reveals some significant anomalies that challenge our two main measures of performance: expertise and success. The research identified various success profiles of successful communication, which is distinct from conventional concepts of design expertise and differs according to the designers’ ability to articulate their design thinking to other members of the team. The project monitored team members of a MDDT, drawn from a range of design disciplines including engineers, architects, urban planners and industrial designers, and considered success in communicating design concepts within this context.

This paper identifies and describes shoppers’ attitudes and behaviours in relation to retail environments. It maps the profiles of shoppers, identifying significant changes, including the growth of mixed development and ‘green’ retailing. The literature is used to identify and define the attitudes and behaviours that characterise shoppers' interaction with Australian shopping malls. These are then used to inform the design and conduct of research involving eight focus groups of consumers in two tightly defined geographical areas. Each investigation is analysed using appropriate qualitative or quantitative techniques and the results thereafter interpreted and explained. Results show that there are significant differences in shoppers' attitudes to retail experiences and the spaces in which they occur. These vary according to gender, age, level of household income, occupation and level of education. Moreover, these differences are interrelated, rendering their implications for retailers similarly complex. This paper proposes that designs of retail spaces are only economically justifiable if they provide an acceptable mix of experiences for the full range of consumers using them. Understanding the complex interplay between the expectations of the various consumer groups and their consequent requirements is central to decision-making in this regard. This research is part of a larger study, believed to be the first critical analysis of Australian consumer attitudes towards retail spaces in terms of demographic groups. The ideas presented in this study could have wide-reaching possibilities for empirical studies on the socio-cultural role of malls, outside of Australia.

Accounting: Information for Business Decisions is designed to lead students through the real-world business cycle and how accounting information informs the decision making process throughout this cycle. Students will learn how to base these decisions on two kinds of accounting information – managerial and financial. Departing from the traditional approach introductory accounting textbooks take, students are called on to apply both the managerial and financial approaches throughout the topic coverage of each chapter, instead of focusing on each aspect in isolation of the other. The conversational approach of the writing engages students in the theoretical content and how it applies to contemporary real-world scenarios. [from publisher's website].

Many accreditation bodies and universities require the graduate attribute of “an ability to work in teams” or to “effectively collaborate”. Students invariably dislike working in groups maintaining that “malingerers ride on the back” of those students who work hard and contribute effectively to the outcomes of the group or team. This is the context in which an ALTC/OLT project was established, the project is to consider ways of enhancing group-work in Architecture and design related disciplines. The project has identified the issues associated with group-work, from the perspective of student and lecturer, and has begun to develop strategies to overcome the issues. This paper reports on an assessment intervention made in a subject that involved significant levels of group-work, the initiative gained interesting responses from the students involved. Interestingly the class was multi-disciplinary and with a large percentage of international students. The students articulated during the focus group at the end of the experience were positive about the the experience of having to collaborate. This paper reports on the assessment initiative as well as providing some insights into the students’ experiences of working in groups.

Professional, organisational and educational institutions have started to adopt BIM software tools and adapt their existing delivery systems to satisfy evolving market requirements. To enable individuals within these organisations to develop their BIM abilities, it is important to identify the BIM competencies that need to be learned, applied on the job, and measured for the purposes of performance improvement. Expanding upon previous research, this paper focuses on individual BIM competencies, the building blocks of organisational capability. The paper first introduces several taxonomies and conceptual models to clarify how individual competencies may be filtered, classified, and aggregated into a seed competency inventory. Competency items are then fed into a specialised knowledge engine to generate flexible assessment tools, learning modules and process workflows. Finally, the paper discusses the many benefits this competency-based approach brings to industry and academia, and explores future conceptual and tool development efforts to enable industry-wide BIM performance assessment and improvement.