Melissa Conley Tyler

Benchmarking in the non‐profit sector in Australia

Purpose – This paper aims to examine the use of benchmarking as a management technique in the Australian non‐profit sector. Benchmarking has great potential benefit for the non‐profit sector, particularly given the reliance of non‐profit enterprises on effectively utilizing human capital; thus it might be expected that they would be enthusiastic about techniques such as benchmarking that can assist them in improving their performance. The non‐profit sector is a large and important part of the economy in the developed world.Design/methodology/approach – To determine the use of benchmarking in the Australian non‐profit sector, the following methods were used: a review of published industry surveys and case studies; interviews with 15 non‐profit sector experts; and a review of more than 50 works on non‐profit management.Findings – Research showed that benchmarking has been little used by non‐profit organizations in Australia to date. This seems to mirror the experience of non‐profits in other countries.Resea...

Online Dispute Resolution and Family Disputes

This paper explores the potential role of online dispute resolution (ODR) in family disputes. Following recent reforms in family law in Australia, primary dispute resolution processes (PDR) such as mediation have become the default process for the majority of cases in which there are disputes over parenting or property. PDR processes can potentially be enhanced by the use of information and communication technology. But despite potential benefits for some categories of disputants, the application of ODR to family disputes has been little explored. We identify and classify nine ODR systems that have relevance to family disputes. While further research and system development is needed, we conclude that ODR remains an interesting if not yet fully developed new tool for family dispute resolution practitioners. As the increased use of information and communication technology and the Internet influence the way in which services are delivered, practitioners and providers of dispute resolution services would do well to anticipate that some clients will want ODR offered as an option for facilitating family disputes.

Peace Education in Higher Education: Using Internships to Promote Peace

This paper discusses the role of praxis in peace education at the university level. An internship program is described as an example of how a program that integrates theory and practice might be implemented within a university context. Analysis of the program points to the potential of practical programs for maximizing student learning but also highlights the problems that arise from the lack of isomorphism between the disciplinary organization of a university and the holistic and applied goals of peace education.

Developing a peace education curriculum for Vietnamese primary schools: A case study of participatory action research in cross-cultural design

In 2003, the International Conflict Resolution Centre at the University of Melbourne, Australia, produced a primary school teaching manual for UNESCO Vietnam. The finished manual included lesson plans and materials for a five year, 50 lesson peace education course. The manual is one of the first examples of a systematic core national curriculum in peace education worldwide. Development of the Teaching Manual posed a number of challenges including differences in language, culture, government and education system. To meet these challenges, a participatory action research approach was central in the projects development and curriculum design. This case study is offered as a model for effective cross-cultural curriculum development of peace education materials. In particular, the use of games and reflective materials and the use of UNESCOs peace keys are outlined as innovative outcomes of the project.

Online Dispute Resolution

Every community - whether physical or virtual - will inevitably experience conflict. New ways of interacting through information and communications technology lead to new conflicts, such as domain name or e-commerce disputes. At the same time, governments need to deal with the entire range of disputes in society, whether crimes, neighborhood disputes, ethnic conflict or disputes with its own employees. A key role for government and for e-governance is providing mechanisms to help resolve these disputes. The emerging area of online dispute resolution (ODR) potentially offers a useful set of tools and techniques for resolving disputes. Capable of being used for both online and offline disputes, ODR has already proved that it can provide effective resolution for at least some disputes: more than 1.5 million cases had been successfully resolved online to July 2004 (Conley Tyler, 2005). Governments and e-governance institutions around the world are adopting or considering the applicability of ODR as a tool for digital government.