Carmel McCarthy

Towards a learning organization? Employee perceptions

Purpose – The purpose of this research is to explore employee perceptions of the development of a learning culture in a medium‐sized manufacturing company that was aspiring to become a learning organization.Design/methodology/approach – The research comprised an extended interview with the companys Organizational Development Manager, a validated questionnaire on the learning organization with a cross‐section of 80 staff, and semi‐structured interviews with a stratified sample of 20 employees.Findings – The company was using learning to develop its competitive edge, and employees were at various stages of understanding and acceptance of the need for learning and competence development on the job to sustain and develop the company. A tension was detected between the companys objectives and the aspirations of some employees, but the majority appeared to accept the overt learning policy as good for them and the company.Research limitations/implications – Through circumstances, the sample of employees includ...

Patrons' views about smoking in outdoor areas of licensed premises in South Australia: a pilot study.

Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health 491

Using the Health Hardware Method to Measure Poverty in Indigenous Australia

Abstract Two issues confront researchers concerned with the relationship between poverty and health. The first deals with the problem of an accurate measure of poverty. The second deals with revealing for policy makers the pathway between poverty and health status. This is an arena where research is still very much embryonic despite the strong evidence that poverty is a social determinant of health. This paper outlines a method used with four remote Aboriginal communities in South Australia to establish a correlation between poverty and health. Drawing on Tregenza and Tregenza’s adaptations to the Cost of Living methodology we incorporated a wide range of health hardware, health consumables and food into poverty predictions for four Aboriginal communities. While the method cannot generalize findings to larger population groups it does provide clear evidence to the participants and policy makers of the impact of poverty on well-being.