Reassessing a Theory of Professional Expertise: A Cross-National Investigation of Expert Mental Health Social Workers

This paper presents the findings from a cross-national studyof expert mental health social workers in Melbourne, Australiaand San Jose, California, USA. In this study, expert socialworkers were selected based on a peer-nomination process andthey were invited to participate in two-hour focus group interviewsin which they described memorable practice situations. Detailedaccounts of these practice situations were gathered from nineteenAustralian and American expert practitioners employed in community-basedmental health settings. The study findings corroborate manyof the dimensions that are explicated in a theory of professionalexpertise developed by Fook et al. (2000). Further, the findingsdescribe the skilful and ethical comportment of these socialworkers in the context of often complex and challenging practicesituations. Narrative accounts are used to demonstrate the distinguishingdimensions and features of expert practice described by Fookand her colleagues, especially when providing services to peoplewith chronic mental illness. In-depth articulation of practiceexpertise using cross-national data enhances social work researchand pedagogy by providing important exemplars that inform morefully the development of empirically based practice theories.     

Policy Development for the Reduction of Alcohol and Other Drug Problems at an Australian University

Universities, as with other workplaces, experience problems related to alcohol and other drug use by staff and students. There is little published information about the prevalence of these problems among students in the university setting in Australia as compared with the availability of information from the USA. Curtin University of Technology's experience with alcohol-related problems seems to be documented better than most other Australian institutions, and the available evidence indicates that the level of student alcohol consumption and reported alcohol-related problems is cause for concern. However, this is not to say that Curtin's problems may be any greater than those of any other Australian university with alcohol available on the premises. Many years of involvement in health promotion teaching and research, combined with identification of alcohol and drug related problems on campus, were thought to be the primary factors preceding the university's decision to begin the process of formulating comprehensive alcohol and other drug policy for staff and students. The absence of clear and consistent alcohol and other drug policy can lead to 1) undermining of the educational environment, 2) confusion about appropriate behaviour, 3) dealing with drug-related problems by inaction or arbitrary and inappropriate action. Alcohol and other drug policy has two main goals: problem reduction and better management of problems.     

Flexibility in manufacturing systems

Considerable interest is now being shown in the concept of flexible manufacturing systems. This paper reviews the early experience of a number of UK users and examines the range of choice now opening up for firms engaged in batch manufacturing operations. Although the potential benefits of flexible manufacturing (such as reduced lead times or inventory levels) are significant, achieving these in practice depends on successfully resolving a number of problem issues. In particular, the question of integration—both technological (hardware/software) and organisational—needs to be addressed. The paper discusses progress made in the firms studied in dealing with these issues and identifies a number of dimensions along which other organisations considering the implementation of flexible manufacturing systems will need to adapt.     

AN INTEGRATED WORK SHIFT SCHEDULING SYSTEM

An integrated work shift scheduling system is developed and applied in the scheduling of 2600 telephone operators in 43 locations of the General Telephone Company of California. The system involves the forecasting of calls on a half-hourly basis, the conversion to operator requirements, the scheduling of tours by a heuristic algorithm, the assignment of operators to tours, and the operation of the system.