title: Young male and female perceptions and experiences of physical activity in Apia, Samoa

authors: Tuagalu, Taauso Clark

subjects: young people

abstract: The purpose of the study was to investigate young people's perceptions and experiences of physical activity in Apia, Samoa.  Physical inactivity is one of the main risk factors contributing to the prevalence of obesity in Samoa.  Obesity and its health-related diseases are now the major causes of death in Samoa.  
Focus group interviews and a survey were adopted for this study and the findings were based on the data collected from young people between 16 and 24 years of age.  The findings indicated that a majority of young people have a positive attitude towards physical activity and recognize the link between physical activity and health.  A high percentage of young people indicated that physical activity is important to improve health including getting fit and losing weight.  However, there appears to be a significant portion of the respondents in the survey who think they are physically active while the reality is that they do not achieve the recommended national physical activity guidelines of 30 minutes a day over 5 or more days a week.  A key aspect that emerged in the study was the importance of daily living tasks in young people's physical activity.  Although not addressed in the survey, because it was based on a Western understanding of physical activity and daily life, the focus groups revealed that young people are regularly physically active through duties at home such as feeding the pigs, cooking meals on an earth oven and plantation work.  This finding suggests the importance of conducting research focused on a Pacific perspective and taking into account the specific national contexts in which young people live.
The study identified constraints on the ability of young people to be physically active.  A majority of the respondents cited cultural, environmental and discomfort factors related to physical activity as the main barriers.  For instance, the respondents indicated that family duties, lack of footpaths, troublesome dogs and boredom were barriers to physical activity.  
The evidence suggests that many young Samoans want to be more active and lose weight but they need help.  The findings show that young people could be more active if their sources of encouragement such as friends, school, church and village are involved in physical activity promotion campaigns.  A coordinated response engaging all health sector partners to establish and support youth physical activity and health initiatives is recommended.  More importantly, the Government of Samoa could play a key leadership role in coordinating the sector to ensure that everyone accepts the responsibility of preventing and controlling the prevalence of obesity and lifestyle diseases by encouraging more people to be active.

text: Young male and female perceptions and experiences of physical activity in Apia, Samoa The purpose of the study was to investigate young people's perceptions and experiences of physical activity in Apia, Samoa.  Physical inactivity is one of the main risk factors contributing to the prevalence of obesity in Samoa.  Obesity and its health-related diseases are now the major causes of death in Samoa.  
Focus group interviews and a survey were adopted for this study and the findings were based on the data collected from young people between 16 and 24 years of age.  The findings indicated that a majority of young people have a positive attitude towards physical activity and recognize the link between physical activity and health.  A high percentage of young people indicated that physical activity is important to improve health including getting fit and losing weight.  However, there appears to be a significant portion of the respondents in the survey who think they are physically active while the reality is that they do not achieve the recommended national physical activity guidelines of 30 minutes a day over 5 or more days a week.  A key aspect that emerged in the study was the importance of daily living tasks in young people's physical activity.  Although not addressed in the survey, because it was based on a Western understanding of physical activity and daily life, the focus groups revealed that young people are regularly physically active through duties at home such as feeding the pigs, cooking meals on an earth oven and plantation work.  This finding suggests the importance of conducting research focused on a Pacific perspective and taking into account the specific national contexts in which young people live.
The study identified constraints on the ability of young people to be physically active.  A majority of the respondents cited cultural, environmental and discomfort factors related to physical activity as the main barriers.  For instance, the respondents indicated that family duties, lack of footpaths, troublesome dogs and boredom were barriers to physical activity.  
The evidence suggests that many young Samoans want to be more active and lose weight but they need help.  The findings show that young people could be more active if their sources of encouragement such as friends, school, church and village are involved in physical activity promotion campaigns.  A coordinated response engaging all health sector partners to establish and support youth physical activity and health initiatives is recommended.  More importantly, the Government of Samoa could play a key leadership role in coordinating the sector to ensure that everyone accepts the responsibility of preventing and controlling the prevalence of obesity and lifestyle diseases by encouraging more people to be active.

year: 2009

title: Discretion in Decision Making: The Fonterra Case

authors: De Witt, Marlize

subjects: Discretion

abstract: Management literature adopt the definition of discretion as “latitude of action” and it is typically researched as freedom of decision making associated with positions in the upper echelons of organisations. This is a narrow view of discretion which underestimates the exercise of discretion irrespective of organisational prescription. The aim of this study was to examine the exercise of discretion across organisational levels, guided by the overarching question: “How do employees use discretion in the workplace?” Valuable insight about the use of discretion by all employees was gained. In addition, the study contributed to a better understanding of the role of personal belief systems in discretionary decision making – an existing gap in the current research on discretion in the management field.

Discretion is about individuals’ freedom of choice, based on their internal beliefs, values and principles. The best way to understand this individual social process was to examine it from the point of view of the decision maker, and therefore a subjectivist research position was adopted. A phenomenological approach allowed the examination of participants’ concepts and pursuits of discretion in their work environment, accessed through face-to-face interaction. Fonterra was chosen as an ideal case for this study since it was representative of other large businesses, but also unique due to the company’s different struggles within the dairy industry. The data was coded and analysed in Atlas.ti. to identify major themes as it emerged from the experiences shared by participants. 

Results supported the notion of discretion as a bilateral phenomenon in the form of intrinsic and extrinsic discretion, exercised across organisational levels. It was found that interpersonal factors such as management style and collaboration with colleagues in the judgement phase of decision making encouraged employees to engage in discretionary decision making. Certain organisational factors were found to discourage the use of discretion. Factors associated with internal and external organisational good (as theorised by MacIntyre) were however experienced differently: employees felt positive about restrictions on their discretion if it was associated with the internal good of the organisation; but negative about restrictions associated with the external good of the organisation. It was determined that employees strongly identified with organisational values, which seemed to act as surrogate values in the absence of clearly defined personal values. 

Conclusions drawn from this study were that discretion was not only an allocated level of leeway associated with organisational positions, but was associated with individuals who occupy those positions. This was clear from the examples of important discretionary decisions made by employees on lower organisational levels. Organisations need to be aware of the significant role that management style and employee collaboration play in the willingness of employees to use their discretion. Organisations will also benefit from the knowledge that employee dissatisfaction ensues from restrictions on their use of discretion due to external but less so from internal organisational practices; and to take note of the importance of articulating the values on which employees could later base their discretionary decisions.

text: Discretion in Decision Making: The Fonterra Case Management literature adopt the definition of discretion as “latitude of action” and it is typically researched as freedom of decision making associated with positions in the upper echelons of organisations. This is a narrow view of discretion which underestimates the exercise of discretion irrespective of organisational prescription. The aim of this study was to examine the exercise of discretion across organisational levels, guided by the overarching question: “How do employees use discretion in the workplace?” Valuable insight about the use of discretion by all employees was gained. In addition, the study contributed to a better understanding of the role of personal belief systems in discretionary decision making – an existing gap in the current research on discretion in the management field.

Discretion is about individuals’ freedom of choice, based on their internal beliefs, values and principles. The best way to understand this individual social process was to examine it from the point of view of the decision maker, and therefore a subjectivist research position was adopted. A phenomenological approach allowed the examination of participants’ concepts and pursuits of discretion in their work environment, accessed through face-to-face interaction. Fonterra was chosen as an ideal case for this study since it was representative of other large businesses, but also unique due to the company’s different struggles within the dairy industry. The data was coded and analysed in Atlas.ti. to identify major themes as it emerged from the experiences shared by participants. 

Results supported the notion of discretion as a bilateral phenomenon in the form of intrinsic and extrinsic discretion, exercised across organisational levels. It was found that interpersonal factors such as management style and collaboration with colleagues in the judgement phase of decision making encouraged employees to engage in discretionary decision making. Certain organisational factors were found to discourage the use of discretion. Factors associated with internal and external organisational good (as theorised by MacIntyre) were however experienced differently: employees felt positive about restrictions on their discretion if it was associated with the internal good of the organisation; but negative about restrictions associated with the external good of the organisation. It was determined that employees strongly identified with organisational values, which seemed to act as surrogate values in the absence of clearly defined personal values. 

Conclusions drawn from this study were that discretion was not only an allocated level of leeway associated with organisational positions, but was associated with individuals who occupy those positions. This was clear from the examples of important discretionary decisions made by employees on lower organisational levels. Organisations need to be aware of the significant role that management style and employee collaboration play in the willingness of employees to use their discretion. Organisations will also benefit from the knowledge that employee dissatisfaction ensues from restrictions on their use of discretion due to external but less so from internal organisational practices; and to take note of the importance of articulating the values on which employees could later base their discretionary decisions.

year: 2017

title: A cohort history of mortality in New Zealand

authors: Pool, Ian

abstract: This paper uses the generational life tables to track historical mortality experience for New Zealand Pakeha and Māori. The key research questions we seek to explore concern with why was Pakeha life expectation so high so early, and why did this survival advantage disappeared by the mid 20th century and what has happened since? For the Māori population what was the impact of contact on Māori mortality, what were the changes that have occurred and why, and what has happened to Māori mortality recently? A key finding from the cohort mortality analysis is that gains in survivorship have momentum effects that propel this advantage forward as survivors move up through the age-groups. That said, however, periods of gain may be followed later by cohort deterioration occurring among the same generations later in their life cycle, and even by further cycles of reprise and deterioration. These cycles of gain, deterioration, reprise etc are more evident for males, and particularly for Māori. Policy implications of these findings are discussed.

text: A cohort history of mortality in New Zealand This paper uses the generational life tables to track historical mortality experience for New Zealand Pakeha and Māori. The key research questions we seek to explore concern with why was Pakeha life expectation so high so early, and why did this survival advantage disappeared by the mid 20th century and what has happened since? For the Māori population what was the impact of contact on Māori mortality, what were the changes that have occurred and why, and what has happened to Māori mortality recently? A key finding from the cohort mortality analysis is that gains in survivorship have momentum effects that propel this advantage forward as survivors move up through the age-groups. That said, however, periods of gain may be followed later by cohort deterioration occurring among the same generations later in their life cycle, and even by further cycles of reprise and deterioration. These cycles of gain, deterioration, reprise etc are more evident for males, and particularly for Māori. Policy implications of these findings are discussed.

year: 2003