Welcome to the Institutional Repository at Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand
This repository contains theses, research outputs and digital collections created by staff and students.
The aim of this repository is to collect and preserve research outputs and digitised content from Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington. For publicly accessible research outputs please see Open Access Victoria University of Wellington—Te Herenga Waka. To deposit your thesis consult the library website and use the self-deposit service.
Communities in DSpace
Select a community to browse its collections.
- Past exam papers accessible to staff and students.
- Research papers authored by University staff and students.
- Restricted papers and theses from University staff and students.
- Audio recordings from the Stout Literary Archive.
Recent Submissions
Unions and Union Membership in New Zealand: Annual Review for 2004
(2004) Blackwood, Leda; Feinberg-Danieli, Goldie; Lafferty, George
This paper reports the results of Victoria University's Industrial Relations Centre's annual survey of trade union membership in New Zealand for 2004. The survey has been conducted since 1991, when the Employment Contracts Act 1991 (ECA) ended the practice of union registration and the collection of official data. This year we report changes in union membership, composition, and density from December 2003 to December 2004, taking an historical perspective to compare the industrial relations periods framed by the ECA and the Employment Relations Act 2000 (ERA).
Discussion paper: mental health services in Northland
(2008) O'Neil, Paul; Bryson, Jane; Cutforth, Tricia; Minogue, Gill
This case study of mental health services in Northland has proved particularly formative in broadening our understanding of developing human capability in New Zealand organisations. It widens the meaning of developing human capability beyond the dominant interpretation of workplace skills to do the job, to include social arrangements which through work also expand people’s opportunities and positive freedom of choice to lead lives they value. The case highlights the strong influence of institutional or system wide arrangements in the mental health sector on the development of human capability. For example, a national mental health strategy has shifted focus to communities and has shaped mental health occupations; the health sector contracting environment and specifically contracts for mental health services which require investment in formal up-skilling of staff; a stair-cased industry training system which is able to capture those who have missed out on other educational experiences; through to the capability development power of the management culture of organisations expressed in balanced work teams sharing expertise and knowledge. However, while factors such as these provide the environment for capability development, they also contain constraints – many of which are discussed in this paper. In particular this case also illustrates the issues for Maori mental health workers in pursuit of defining and developing their capability.
Discussion paper: overview of findings on developing human capability
(2008) Bryson, Jane; O'Neil, Paul
This is the final discussion paper on investigations seeking to identify the conditions for the optimal development of human capability in New Zealand workplaces. The research has specifically examined influences at three levels: institutional, organisational and individual. The principal purpose of this paper is to present a framework for examining arrangements for human capability development in workplaces. In this paper we start by revisiting our original research objectives, and the background policy environment that gave rise to interest in human capability. We then go on to review a selection of literature addressing organisational practices which impact workers and capability. We present a very brief summary of relevant themes from the vast literatures addressing learning organisation, human resource development, human resource management (HRM), workplace learning and adult education. This is followed by a more detailed discussion of wider debate centred in the literature on high performance management in workplaces. In particular, through all these literatures, we demonstrate the inherently narrow instrumental assumptions of many management and HRM practices in the pursuit of organisational goals and competitive advantage. We propose human capability as a prescriptive device facilitating a more holistic view of organisations and workers, and favouring relatively ‘benign’ forms of HRM as the optimal route towards improved organisational performance. The paper then briefly reprises the research activities of this project (which have been previously reported), including over 200 interviews with managers, workers, and other industry stakeholders in the case study sectors of wine production, furniture manufacture, mental health services, and Maori organisations. Themes emerging across all the case studies are reported. We discuss the meaning of human capability that emerged from the case studies, and further develop this notion of human capability by drawing on the work of economist Amartya Sen. In his work human capability is characterised by people having the substantive freedom to achieve ‘beings and doings’ that they value, leading a life of value to them. Applied to an employment setting this focuses attention on the social arrangements that lead to the ability of people to achieve things they value. The paper reports on our design of a framework which is aimed to be of assistance to workplace practitioners in developing social arrangements which develop human capability. The design combines a human rights base for capability with how workers want this manifested in a job, and consequent supporting workplace characteristics. This is complemented by a list of drivers and barriers to developing human capability. Subsequent testing of the framework with a series of targeted focus groups formed the final phase of the research. A summary of the consolidated findings in the form of the revised framework is presented. We conclude with a discussion of the implications of the framework for practitioners and policy makers. This may serve to improve the role of organisations as capability enhancing institutions in society through the provision of good quality jobs and work environments which are essential to the development of human capability.
Discussion paper: Māori research strand
(2008) O'Neil, Paul; Bryson, Jane; Lomax, Helen
Developing capability with a talented, highly skilled and innovative workforce is seen as a path to global competitiveness, wealth creation, economic prosperity and well-being. The aim of the Developing Human Capability research programme is to identify the conditions for the optimal development of human capability in New Zealand organisations. We conducted exploratory case studies of human capability in a number of New Zealand industries with the perspectives of employers and employees within organisations, as well as key personnel in industry and training organisations, contributing to our understanding. Within the overall research the Māori Research Strand gained the perspectives of Māori and iwi organisations across a range of industries. As we completed and reflected upon the industry case studies we refined the meaning of ‘developing human capability’. With the project firmly placed within the broader context of the State wishing to transform the New Zealand economy towards a ‘high-wage, high-skill’ trajectory, it is not surprising that initial tendencies interpreted developing human capability as economic instruments reflecting both managerialist views and lack of consensus in literature on a definition. A focus on 'skills for the job' leading to the role and opportunities for skills training, whilst important, did not fully capture the fact that the subjects of enquiry were social beings. As such the subjects’ social spheres also developed their human capability. We have been drawn to the theoretical works on human capability of Nobel laureate, Amartya Sen. From Sen’s perspective, human capability is about ‘the ability of human beings to live lives they have reason to value’ (Sen, 1997, p. 1959). The key idea that emerges from this perspective is that social arrangements should ‘aim to expand people’s capabilities, their freedom to promote or achieve valuable beings and doings’ (Bryson, 2007, p. 180). The idea of developing human capability as social arrangements which expand people’s opportunities and positive freedom of choice between different functionings or states of existence, resonates strongly within the cases in this Māori research strand. At institutional levels the State and Māori organisations have partnered to create innovative systems and arrangements that: provide a wealth base and income base for Māori organisations from which to engage in economic activity that is of benefit to Māori, both culturally and economically; build processes through which Māori in Māori organisations have the opportunity to participate in decision-making and to have a voice and influence; and facilitate the self-respect to live and be Māori in the land to which Māori are indigenous. The organisational perspective within the Māori research strand highlights how human capability is not solely about the capability to serve the ends of the organisation. This is because of the inalienable character of labour power: labour power that is of use to employers is not separable from its owner and labour power is largely reproduced in the social sphere. Māori organisations largely understand this and make use of Māori social relations within wage-labour relations. Developing human capability for Māori in this context thus includes developing those extra-social relations which are part of the reproduction of Māori social relations in general. For a number of Māori organisations another driver is the extent of resources available to the organisation to pay for or facilitate training and the availability of relevant industry training which has been customised or developed to meet the unique needs of Māori organisations. From the Māori research strand case studies, similar to findings for the general population, differences in development opportunities within organisations are driven by the status or hierarchical level of the individual in the organisation. However, regardless of the level and the opportunity, a common theme was the willingness of individuals in Māori organisations to be proactive in seeking and taking advantage of opportunities when it was opportune. The weight of expectations placed by family and the emancipation through education were common themes in driving this individual proactivity.
Discussion paper: furniture manufacturing industry
(2006) Blackwood, Leda; Bryson, Jane; Merritt, Kiri
The aim of the Developing Human Capability research programme is to identify the conditions for the optimal development of human capability in New Zealand organisations. To this end, we are investigating how organisations develop the skills and capability of employees, and the influences on this (e.g. organisational performance, government policy, vocational training systems, skill shortages, etc). We are also investigating what individual employees think about their skills and capabilities, how they have developed them, and what has influenced that development (e.g., job opportunities or lack of them, affordability or access to training, etc). Exploratory case studies of human capability development are being conducted in a number of New Zealand industries with the perspectives of employers and employees within organisations, as well as key personnel in industry and training organisations, contributing to our understanding. This discussion paper for the furniture manufacturing industry is based on interviews with seven owner-employers, and 22 employees from seven, geographically spread, furniture-making organisations.