title: Power, accommodation and resistance: A Foucauldian perspective on how internal management  controls are compromised in Chinese hotels

authors: Wang, Jing

abstract: Purpose
The purpose of the thesis is to consider elements of internal management controls employed in hotels in China, specifically with respect to accounting and behavioural control. Accounting and behavioural controls involve mechanisms used to motivate, monitor, measure and sanction the actions of managers and other employees.  Internal management control is part of a system of integrated elements (people, structures, processes and procedures) acting together to provide reasonable assurance that an organisation achieves its business goals. The thesis concentrates on internal management control. Accounting controls, being a subset of internal management controls, suit tasks that are routine, familiar and certain; where few exceptions are likely to challenge routines. Examples of mechanisms studied involve highly standardised production models where: costing, budgeting and targeted performance outputs are applied. In contrast, behavioural controls are used to target similar objectives, except those which require tasks that are transparent in terms of input-output, familiarity and routine. The essential difference between accounting and behavioural controls being timeliness; behavioural controls are to be preferred where tasks are to be monitored in real-time rather than after the event. The latter being the territory for accounting controls. 
 While research shows culture effects control few researchers have adopted a qualitative Foucauldian approach. This thesis employs a Foucauldian approach to investigate how internal management controls have developed within the Chinese hospitality industry. 
Method
Two approaches are employed to investigate the research question: ethnographic observations and interviews with staff. The decision to employ an ethnographic approach arose because the researcher had previously worked in the hospitality industry where she was trained as a manager. Interviewees were staff who worked in the hotel industry in China. 
Findings
The thesis details incidents involving various forms of accommodation with managers that resulted in breaches of internal management controls. Such accommodation may simply be a means to preserve job security, reduce work load, or obtain a promotion; in all these cases its effect is to compromise internal management controls. 
Contributions
This study makes a contribution by applying Foucauldian theory in a Chinese hotel organisational context. The findings disclose not so much overt resistance to controls, but rather resistance by means of accommodation.
Second, the thesis explains how internal management controls may be compromised in spite of the use of disciplinary techniques, such as surveillance, enclosure, discourse, and examination. The thesis illustrates accounting’s evaluating and disciplinary aspects. 
The thesis tries to acquaint the reader with an environment of subjugation and control where accommodation with superiors becomes a necessity. Workers seek to please their supervisors and managers through gift-giving and favours, but in so doing they corrupt the control and performance standards that the managers should protect.

text: Power, accommodation and resistance: A Foucauldian perspective on how internal management  controls are compromised in Chinese hotels Purpose
The purpose of the thesis is to consider elements of internal management controls employed in hotels in China, specifically with respect to accounting and behavioural control. Accounting and behavioural controls involve mechanisms used to motivate, monitor, measure and sanction the actions of managers and other employees.  Internal management control is part of a system of integrated elements (people, structures, processes and procedures) acting together to provide reasonable assurance that an organisation achieves its business goals. The thesis concentrates on internal management control. Accounting controls, being a subset of internal management controls, suit tasks that are routine, familiar and certain; where few exceptions are likely to challenge routines. Examples of mechanisms studied involve highly standardised production models where: costing, budgeting and targeted performance outputs are applied. In contrast, behavioural controls are used to target similar objectives, except those which require tasks that are transparent in terms of input-output, familiarity and routine. The essential difference between accounting and behavioural controls being timeliness; behavioural controls are to be preferred where tasks are to be monitored in real-time rather than after the event. The latter being the territory for accounting controls. 
 While research shows culture effects control few researchers have adopted a qualitative Foucauldian approach. This thesis employs a Foucauldian approach to investigate how internal management controls have developed within the Chinese hospitality industry. 
Method
Two approaches are employed to investigate the research question: ethnographic observations and interviews with staff. The decision to employ an ethnographic approach arose because the researcher had previously worked in the hospitality industry where she was trained as a manager. Interviewees were staff who worked in the hotel industry in China. 
Findings
The thesis details incidents involving various forms of accommodation with managers that resulted in breaches of internal management controls. Such accommodation may simply be a means to preserve job security, reduce work load, or obtain a promotion; in all these cases its effect is to compromise internal management controls. 
Contributions
This study makes a contribution by applying Foucauldian theory in a Chinese hotel organisational context. The findings disclose not so much overt resistance to controls, but rather resistance by means of accommodation.
Second, the thesis explains how internal management controls may be compromised in spite of the use of disciplinary techniques, such as surveillance, enclosure, discourse, and examination. The thesis illustrates accounting’s evaluating and disciplinary aspects. 
The thesis tries to acquaint the reader with an environment of subjugation and control where accommodation with superiors becomes a necessity. Workers seek to please their supervisors and managers through gift-giving and favours, but in so doing they corrupt the control and performance standards that the managers should protect.

year: 2018

title: Diversity and the early years

authors: Peters, Sally

abstract: Aotearoa New Zealand's early childhood education and care (ECEC) sector is characterised by diversity: diversity in settings and in the backgrounds of the children and teachers. Sociocultural theories have long held promise for pedagogy in culturally diverse contexts (see, for example, John-Steiner & Mahn, 1996), and the early childhood curriculum, Te Whiiriki (Ministry of Education, 1996), is underpinned by a sociocultural approach to learning (Carr & May, 1993). This chapter considers the changing landscape of ECEC, and, drawing on the sociocultural foundations of this book, considers some implications for working with children in the early years. We discuss the potential that the principles of Te Whiiriki offer for embracing diversity, and while we celebrate the sense of growing cultural responsiveness in ECEC, we acknowledge some of the complexities involved.

text: Diversity and the early years Aotearoa New Zealand's early childhood education and care (ECEC) sector is characterised by diversity: diversity in settings and in the backgrounds of the children and teachers. Sociocultural theories have long held promise for pedagogy in culturally diverse contexts (see, for example, John-Steiner & Mahn, 1996), and the early childhood curriculum, Te Whiiriki (Ministry of Education, 1996), is underpinned by a sociocultural approach to learning (Carr & May, 1993). This chapter considers the changing landscape of ECEC, and, drawing on the sociocultural foundations of this book, considers some implications for working with children in the early years. We discuss the potential that the principles of Te Whiiriki offer for embracing diversity, and while we celebrate the sense of growing cultural responsiveness in ECEC, we acknowledge some of the complexities involved.

year: 2015

title: Supervision of Maori doctoral students: A descriptive report

authors: McKinley, Elizabeth

subjects: Maori education

abstract: This report follows up a previous paper that outlined the goals and plans of a research project that focused on both theoretical and cultural questions regarding the supervisory process for Māori doctoral students (McKinley, Grant, Middleton, Irwin, & Williams, 2007). The major goal of the project is to enhance understanding of the teaching and learning process of supervision for students and supervisors, particularly around issues of culture that arise in research methodologies and practices. This paper reports on the completed project by providing further operational background, design features, the nature of the student and supervisor samples and a summary of interview findings. The results show that there are indeed distinctive issues arising within the supervision of Māori doctoral students. Some of these are to do with both pleasures and challenges found in the supervision relationship, while others relate to the kinds of projects the students undertake. Many projects for example, push at the disciplinary boundaries of Western knowledge and are often rooted in a political desire to enhance the everyday lives of Māori. Yet others are connected to identity formation processes that concern many Māori during their years as doctoral students. A central message for supervisors from this work is that the supervision of Māori doctoral students may require unfamiliar forms of engagement but that these are likely to be deeply rewarding in many different ways.

text: Supervision of Maori doctoral students: A descriptive report This report follows up a previous paper that outlined the goals and plans of a research project that focused on both theoretical and cultural questions regarding the supervisory process for Māori doctoral students (McKinley, Grant, Middleton, Irwin, & Williams, 2007). The major goal of the project is to enhance understanding of the teaching and learning process of supervision for students and supervisors, particularly around issues of culture that arise in research methodologies and practices. This paper reports on the completed project by providing further operational background, design features, the nature of the student and supervisor samples and a summary of interview findings. The results show that there are indeed distinctive issues arising within the supervision of Māori doctoral students. Some of these are to do with both pleasures and challenges found in the supervision relationship, while others relate to the kinds of projects the students undertake. Many projects for example, push at the disciplinary boundaries of Western knowledge and are often rooted in a political desire to enhance the everyday lives of Māori. Yet others are connected to identity formation processes that concern many Māori during their years as doctoral students. A central message for supervisors from this work is that the supervision of Māori doctoral students may require unfamiliar forms of engagement but that these are likely to be deeply rewarding in many different ways.

year: 2009