Most valuable stakeholders: The impact of employee orientation on corporate financial performance

In sports, the most valuable player award goes to the individual or group of players who have contributed most to the success of the team. This paper presents the results of two Australian empirical studies conducted six years apart, which suggest that, in business, employees are the most valuable stakeholder group. In particular, we find evidence to support the proposition that employee orientation contributes more to corporate financial performance (CFP) than orientation towards any other individual primary stakeholder group, including customers, communities, suppliers and shareholders. These findings have practical implications for corporate level strategy and the prioritization of budgetary resources by communication managers. From a theoretical perspective, the paper contributes to the debate on the best way to conceptualize employee orientation.     

The state of Australian public relations: Professionalisation and paradox

It is almost a decade since the last empirical study of Australian public relations appeared in the academic literature. This paper reports on a survey conducted immediately prior to the onset of the global financial crisis aimed at revealing the state of public relations in Australia. In particular, the study investigated levels of professionalisation in terms of such criteria as the strategic orientation of public relations, its position within organisational hierarchies, and the importance placed on ethics and professional development. The findings show Australian PR professionals to be highly educated, comparatively well paid and frequently in positions of influence with their CEOs. Paradoxically despite these strengths, the profession in Australia does not seem to have outgrown public relations’ pervasive identity crisis.     

Personal resilience and identity capital among young people leaving care: enhancing identity formation and life chances through involvement in volunteering and social action

This study explored identity capital and personal resilience among care leavers and young people in care engaging in social activities through volunteering. Care leavers and young people in care are disadvantaged developmentally by lack of identity resources and an accelerated transition to independence. This study analysed material from semi-structured interviews to explore the Identity Capital Model and theories of individualisation, agentic identity development and resilience in explaining the identity resources of young people transitioning out of care. The analysis identified links between the exploration opportunities of volunteering with the development of agentic individualisation and enhanced identity capital. The findings indicate that developmental processes may be enhanced through supported and personalised volunteering opportunities to aid vulnerable young people transitioning out of care. Young people leaving care can make substantial gains particularly in social capital, personal resilience and identity capital. This study indicates that volunteering opportunities for this group of vulnerable young people may assist in compensating for the lack of resources often experienced by care leavers when transitioning to adulthood.     

Developing family-based care: complexities in implementing the UN Guidelines for the Alternative Care of Children

In response to immense challenges facing children in out-of-home care in all parts of the world, there is a growing international trend towards the development of family-based placements for children in out-of-home care, away from large-scale institutions. This development of family-based care within a range of care options is recommended within the international Guidelines for the Alternative Care of Children (the Guidelines), which were welcomed unanimously by the United Nations General Assembly in 2009. This paper offers an overview of these guidelines’ key principles, and considers the complexities that arise in efforts towards their implementation. Drawing on the literature, supported by research that informed Moving forward (the implementation handbook on the Guidelines) and illustrated by practice examples from across global regions, the authors examine three fundamental challenges in States’ efforts to implement the Guidelines’ ‘suitability’ principle, namely: de-institutionalising the care system; financing suitable family-based care and supporting the suitability of kinship care. The paper critically reflects on de-institutionalised systems and practices, and the cross-cultural assumptions about suitable foster and kinship care that emerge in efforts towards de-institutionalisation; it aims to spark new thinking on strategic ways in which alternative care is planned and delivered, to impact on future practice.     

Social care stakeholders' perceptions of the recruitment of international practitioners in the United Kingdom—a qualitative study

Mobility of labour is common within Europe and globally, particularly in social and health care. This article examines the findings from a qualitative study of 15 expert or stakeholder views that explored supply and demand factors in international social care staff recruitment to the United Kingdom (UK). Findings are that international social care workers have a better reputation and are perceived as being harder workers, more productive, more reliable, more focused and more likely to stay in a post longer than local workers. However, there is also the perception that employment in social care is a stepping-stone into other forms of employment both in the UK and when returning to home countries, through access to training, experience and improved job opportunities. The impact of migration policies on the composition of international workers is further noted because greater numbers of social care staff are coming to the UK from the European Union and fewer from Commonwealth states. Changes in the profile of international workers are discussed, with a need identified to address cultural and language differences to ensure good outcomes for service users.     

Outcome Evaluation of Therapeutic Effectiveness

Evaluation need not be a boring exercise, carried out under sufferance simply to please the demands of administration. Nor need it be so complicated that a research officer is required to undertake it. This article reports on an evaluation of therapeutic outcomes conducted by the Manly Warringah Adolescent Service. Apart from offering general evidence of therapeutic effectiveness, an evaluation of this kind has the potential for answering some of the more interesting questions posed by clinicians. It was discovered, for example, that there was a significant, positive association between the therapist's assessment of problem resolution at termination of therapy, and client's independent assessment made three months later. Support was also found for the practice of involving the family in therapy, with such an approach offering favourable results in fewer sessions and carrying with it the additional benefits of improved family relationships.     

Eliciting Information from Experts on the Likelihood of Rapid Climate Change

The threat of so‐called rapid or abrupt climate change has generated considerable public interest because of its potentially significant impacts. The collapse of the North Atlantic Thermohaline Circulation or the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, for example, would have potentially catastrophic effects on temperatures and sea level, respectively. But how likely are such extreme climatic changes? Is it possible actually to estimate likelihoods? This article reviews the societal demand for the likelihoods of rapid or abrupt climate change, and different methods for estimating likelihoods: past experience, model simulation, or through the elicitation of expert judgments. The article describes a survey to estimate the likelihoods of two characterizations of rapid climate change, and explores the issues associated with such surveys and the value of information produced. The surveys were based on key scientists chosen for their expertise in the climate science of abrupt climate change. Most survey respondents ascribed low likelihoods to rapid climate change, due either to the collapse of the Thermohaline Circulation or increased positive feedbacks. In each case one assessment was an order of magnitude higher than the others. We explore a high rate of refusal to participate in this expert survey: many scientists prefer to rely on output from future climate model simulations.