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Assessing the impact of cultures and structures on team and organisational capability
This research activity will review broad ranging literature on organisational culture and organisational structures in order to identify strategies and models for managing organisational culture and adapting structures. It will also analyse current practices and approaches of a range of RTOs to assess the impacts of culture and structure on the performance of organisations.
Check the details of this activity:
Meet the team
| Leader:
| Ms Berwyn Clayton is Director of the Centre Undertaking Research in Vocational Education (CURVE) at the Canberra Institute of Technology. She is also one of the three program directors of the Research Consortium. She is a Fellow of the Australian College of Educators (ACE) and Immediate Past President of the Australian Vocational Education and Training Research Association (AVETRA).
Berwyn’s research interests are competency-based training and assessment, skills recognition, VET pedagogy and the changing roles and ongoing development of VET practitioners. Her recent research project publications and conference papers can be accessed at: http://www.cit.act.edu.au/curve/.
| | | Team member: Andrea Bateman of Bateman & Giles Pty Ltd is one of Australian VET’s leaders in the field of assessment. She specialises in providing educational organizations with advice on complex assessment and auditing issues.
As the sole, lead or joint author of a range of seminal national reports on assessment, she has provided clear frameworks for both policy makers and practitioners. She has extensive experience as an auditor and Training Recognition Consultant for the OTTE (Victoria), as well as experience as a curriculum advisor within the scope of the VQA’s curriculum accreditation processes.
She actively researches new and challenging aspects of the following core VET topics: competency based assessment, graded assessment, professional judgement and quality assurance systems. Sample recent consultancies include the development of the Credit Matrix model; cross-sectoral review of aspects of the National Code (ESOS Act); Current Policy and Practice in Higher Education Institutions on Assessment in VET; National Consistency in VET in Schools: The Assessment of VET in Schools subjects, as well as its joint project the Terminology & Assessment for Tertiary Entrance.
Her current consultancies include a review of the AQF Guidelines, the cross-sectoral review of off-shore quality systems and the identification of critical issues in teaching, learning and assessment.
| | | Team member:
| Dr Mike Brown, of the University of Ballarat, has 30 years of experience of the VET system as student, teacher, curriculum and projects officer, teacher educator and researcher. He currently supervises higher degree research.
His recent RMIT research has been in a Reframing the Future project on articulation between VET and higher education, and also in the recognition of professional projects for academic credit. Other research interests have been in the work and learning of VET teachers, ACE clusters in Victoria, and private VET provision.
| | | Team member:
| Professor Roger Harris is the Director of the Centre for Research in Education, Equity and Work (CREEW), and Professor in Adult and Vocational Education at the University of South Australia. He is also one of the three program directors of the Research Consortium.
His professional activities include research and consultancy, teaching and supervision, journal editing and review, and national executive responsibilities. His career interest in research has gradually evolved after fulfilling roles in teaching, course coordination, acting headship of the former School of Human Resource Studies and several international consultancies for the university. A particular concern is the dissemination of research.
Research interests include: Adult and vocational education generally, Australian training reform, Workplace learning, Competency-based approaches, competency standards, VET professional development and Needs analyses and evaluations. His publication list can be viewed at: http://www.unisa.edu.au/creew/.
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Research questions
- To what extent and in what ways do the cultures within RTOs influence team and organisational capability?
- In what ways and for what purposes are RTO adapting their organisational structures to enhance team and organisational capability?
Rationale
Organisations today face new ways of working, globalisation, increased competition and technological change. These changes have created a greater need for strategic innovation, coordination and integration across organisations in order to improve efficiency, deliver high quality services and meet the expectations of increasingly more sophisticated clients.
A key is to meeting these demands is to identify and manage the varying cultures that exist within organisations, to develop synergies between them and where possible, and prevent them from conflicting with each other.
Within this complex context, participating RTOS will benefit from this research into organisational culture and structure by:
- identifying the culture and sub-cultures which exist in their organisations
- having a greater understanding of the impact of cultures and structures on their organisational capability
- having access to working models and processes with the potential to enhance organisational capability
Methodology
- Individual and group interviews
- The study of documents
- Participant observation
- Sample to include TAFE, private enterprise and community RTOs, both metropolitan and regional in three states and one territory
Timeline
August 2005 - September 2006
Products
Taking part
You can become a committed and active participant in this broad research program in many ways:
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