title: The impact of reliance on incentive-based compensation schemes, information asymmetry and organisational commitment on managerial performance

authors: Chong, Vincent

subjects: reliance on incentive-based compensation schemes

abstract: This study examines the effects of information asymmetry and organisational commitment on the relation between the extent of reliance on incentive-based compensation schemes and managerial performance. The responses of 109 managers, drawn from a cross-section of Australian manufacturing companies, to a questionnaire survey, were analysed by using a multiple regression technique. The results provide evidence of higher managerial performance for managers with low organisational commitment and a high reliance on incentive-based compensation schemes in high information asymmetry situations. On the other hand, the results show that the performance level of managers with high organisational commitment is unaffected regardless of the degree of information asymmetry and the extent of reliance on incentive-based compensation schemes.

text: The impact of reliance on incentive-based compensation schemes, information asymmetry and organisational commitment on managerial performance This study examines the effects of information asymmetry and organisational commitment on the relation between the extent of reliance on incentive-based compensation schemes and managerial performance. The responses of 109 managers, drawn from a cross-section of Australian manufacturing companies, to a questionnaire survey, were analysed by using a multiple regression technique. The results provide evidence of higher managerial performance for managers with low organisational commitment and a high reliance on incentive-based compensation schemes in high information asymmetry situations. On the other hand, the results show that the performance level of managers with high organisational commitment is unaffected regardless of the degree of information asymmetry and the extent of reliance on incentive-based compensation schemes.

year: 2007

title: Spatial and temporal variation of coastal Ross Sea macrozoobenthos

authors: Mackenzie, Kyle

abstract: Antarctic shallow-water communities are projected to undergo considerable changes in the coming decades due to the impacts of climate change on the prevailing environmental conditions. A clear understanding of these communities’ vulnerability to change requires that the current relationships between environmental conditions and species assemblages be well understood. The benthic environment of the Ross Sea is subject to constant changes, including but not limited to changes in ice formations, salinity, light intensity, food types and food availability. The aim of this study was to quantify the temporal and spatial differences in macrozoobenthos between four coastal sites within the Ross Sea and determine the impact these abiotic factors could have on macrozoobenthic ecology.

The macrozoobenthic communities in four Ross Sea coastal sites (Cape Armitage and Cape Evans within the McMurdo Sound, and two sites within Terra Nova Bay, designated as Gondwana and Mario Zucchelli) were investigated, with multiple video transects taken from each site over the space of several years. Transects were taken at depths of 19 to 23 m, between late December and early January. 15 quadrats were selected at random for each of the transects, scaled to a size of 0.25 m². 

Cape Armitage had the highest species diversity (Simpson’s Diversity Index), while Mario Zucchelli had the lowest. Cape Evans and Gondwana shared a similar diversity. Cape Armitage was the most ecologically diverse, with most macrozoobenthos visible through the Cinachyra barbata spicule mat in evenly spaced clusters of diverse species. Cnidaria was the dominant phylum at Cape Armitage, while the remaining three sites were dominated numerically by two Echinoderms Odantaster validus and Sterechinus neumayeri, which were mainly observed on gravel and cobble substrates.

Macrozoobenthos species composition varied significantly between all four locations (One-way PERMANOVA p >0.001). A SIMPER analysis showed that Echinodermata (S. neumayeri and O. validus) and Cnidaria (Alcyonium antarcticum and Artemidactis victrix) were the main drivers of these differences. Only the Mario Zucchelli site showed a significant temporal difference over time, and there the change was marginal (p = 0.048). The change was largely due to an increase/decrease in the density of the main urchin species (S. neumayeri) between sequential year sampling. When data from all sites were combined, the species composition varied significantly across substrates (Two-way PERMANOVA, p >0.001), though it was hard to determine the underlying substrate in Cape Armitage due to spicule mats.

This research highlights the diverse benthic biota within the Ross Sea, and supports previous conclusions that assemblages are site-specific but rather stable over time. In terms of ongoing conservation and monitoring of the Ross Sea benthic environment, it points to the need for increased understanding of ecology in the Ross Sea for maintaining the diverse faunal communities found within the Southern Ocean.

text: Spatial and temporal variation of coastal Ross Sea macrozoobenthos Antarctic shallow-water communities are projected to undergo considerable changes in the coming decades due to the impacts of climate change on the prevailing environmental conditions. A clear understanding of these communities’ vulnerability to change requires that the current relationships between environmental conditions and species assemblages be well understood. The benthic environment of the Ross Sea is subject to constant changes, including but not limited to changes in ice formations, salinity, light intensity, food types and food availability. The aim of this study was to quantify the temporal and spatial differences in macrozoobenthos between four coastal sites within the Ross Sea and determine the impact these abiotic factors could have on macrozoobenthic ecology.

The macrozoobenthic communities in four Ross Sea coastal sites (Cape Armitage and Cape Evans within the McMurdo Sound, and two sites within Terra Nova Bay, designated as Gondwana and Mario Zucchelli) were investigated, with multiple video transects taken from each site over the space of several years. Transects were taken at depths of 19 to 23 m, between late December and early January. 15 quadrats were selected at random for each of the transects, scaled to a size of 0.25 m². 

Cape Armitage had the highest species diversity (Simpson’s Diversity Index), while Mario Zucchelli had the lowest. Cape Evans and Gondwana shared a similar diversity. Cape Armitage was the most ecologically diverse, with most macrozoobenthos visible through the Cinachyra barbata spicule mat in evenly spaced clusters of diverse species. Cnidaria was the dominant phylum at Cape Armitage, while the remaining three sites were dominated numerically by two Echinoderms Odantaster validus and Sterechinus neumayeri, which were mainly observed on gravel and cobble substrates.

Macrozoobenthos species composition varied significantly between all four locations (One-way PERMANOVA p >0.001). A SIMPER analysis showed that Echinodermata (S. neumayeri and O. validus) and Cnidaria (Alcyonium antarcticum and Artemidactis victrix) were the main drivers of these differences. Only the Mario Zucchelli site showed a significant temporal difference over time, and there the change was marginal (p = 0.048). The change was largely due to an increase/decrease in the density of the main urchin species (S. neumayeri) between sequential year sampling. When data from all sites were combined, the species composition varied significantly across substrates (Two-way PERMANOVA, p >0.001), though it was hard to determine the underlying substrate in Cape Armitage due to spicule mats.

This research highlights the diverse benthic biota within the Ross Sea, and supports previous conclusions that assemblages are site-specific but rather stable over time. In terms of ongoing conservation and monitoring of the Ross Sea benthic environment, it points to the need for increased understanding of ecology in the Ross Sea for maintaining the diverse faunal communities found within the Southern Ocean.

year: 2020

title: Bringing home the body: Bi/multi racial Maori women's hybridity in Aotearoa/New Zealand

authors: Moeke-Maxwell, Tess

abstract: This thesis examines the exclusion of bi/multi racial Maori women from dominant representations of Maori women's identity. As such, it engages with a new articulation of Maori women's difference through a narrative of cultural hybridity. Presented in two parts, Part One engages with a theoretical overview of the formation of the New Zealand nation, the social construction of Maori and Pakeha cultural groups and the race relations that developed through the discursive practices of colonialism Through a study of key texts on the history of New Zealand and dominant articulations describing Maori nationalists' efforts to invoke equality for New Zealand's indigenous people during the 1970s - 1980s, I exemplify how an essentialist Maori women's identity was promoted within Maori nationalist appeals to bicultural nationalism This textual research indicates that an exclusive and traditional narrative of Maori women's identity emerged to exclude the specificities of bi/multi racial Maori women. As such, their experiences are ignored within dominant academic, feminist and Maori articulations of what constitutes Maori women's cultural identity. Current articulations of Maori women's identity do not include an analysis of race, gender and class, nor the way they operate simultaneously to position the bi/multi racial woman discursively in the nation today. 
In order to extend a narrative of Maori women's identity to include bi/multi racial women, Part Two engages with a qualitative research methodology. The social construction and 'performance' of Maori women's cultural hybridity is identified. Twenty women who position themselves as bi/multi racial were interviewed using a 'Kaupapa Bi/multi Racial Research' methodology, which was developed using a feminist oriented 'life-history' approach, sensitised to Maori research cultural specificities. Interviews allowed the participants' unique experiences to emerge, permitting an examination of Maori women's cultural hybridity. These narratives, when grounded in the theoretical ideas outlined in Part One, provide the experiential evidence needed to support an articulation of bi/multi racial identity. My research insists that the raced and gendered body must be reinstated within articulations of Maori women's identity through situating corporeal difference within discussions on their subjectivity and related marginalisation. Until then, the materiality of the raced and gendered body will remain detached and suspended from bi/multi racial women's cultural and material existence.

text: Bringing home the body: Bi/multi racial Maori women's hybridity in Aotearoa/New Zealand This thesis examines the exclusion of bi/multi racial Maori women from dominant representations of Maori women's identity. As such, it engages with a new articulation of Maori women's difference through a narrative of cultural hybridity. Presented in two parts, Part One engages with a theoretical overview of the formation of the New Zealand nation, the social construction of Maori and Pakeha cultural groups and the race relations that developed through the discursive practices of colonialism Through a study of key texts on the history of New Zealand and dominant articulations describing Maori nationalists' efforts to invoke equality for New Zealand's indigenous people during the 1970s - 1980s, I exemplify how an essentialist Maori women's identity was promoted within Maori nationalist appeals to bicultural nationalism This textual research indicates that an exclusive and traditional narrative of Maori women's identity emerged to exclude the specificities of bi/multi racial Maori women. As such, their experiences are ignored within dominant academic, feminist and Maori articulations of what constitutes Maori women's cultural identity. Current articulations of Maori women's identity do not include an analysis of race, gender and class, nor the way they operate simultaneously to position the bi/multi racial woman discursively in the nation today. 
In order to extend a narrative of Maori women's identity to include bi/multi racial women, Part Two engages with a qualitative research methodology. The social construction and 'performance' of Maori women's cultural hybridity is identified. Twenty women who position themselves as bi/multi racial were interviewed using a 'Kaupapa Bi/multi Racial Research' methodology, which was developed using a feminist oriented 'life-history' approach, sensitised to Maori research cultural specificities. Interviews allowed the participants' unique experiences to emerge, permitting an examination of Maori women's cultural hybridity. These narratives, when grounded in the theoretical ideas outlined in Part One, provide the experiential evidence needed to support an articulation of bi/multi racial identity. My research insists that the raced and gendered body must be reinstated within articulations of Maori women's identity through situating corporeal difference within discussions on their subjectivity and related marginalisation. Until then, the materiality of the raced and gendered body will remain detached and suspended from bi/multi racial women's cultural and material existence.

year: 2003