title: Accounting for total quality management

authors: Lord, Beverley Rae

abstract: This thesis examines changes to the culture of three manufacturing organisations, two of which had implemented total quality management (TQM), and one in which a TQM implementation was unsuccessful. The effects of this organisational change on accounting systems and accountants were also examined. 

Ethnographic research was carried out in the three organisations, using several methods of evidence gathering: semi-formal and informal interviews and conversations, analysis of documents (such as internal accounting reports, newsletters, non-financial performance measures, production records, and newspaper, magazine and journal articles), and non-participant observation at meetings and in the factories. 

The evidence was viewed from three different perspectives, as promoted by Martin & Meyerson (1988), looking at integration, differentiation and ambiguity. Content themes characteristic of TQM and documented changes to management accounting systems subsequent to TQM implementation were identified in the literature. The practices and artifacts in each organisation were then compared with each other and with the content themes. 

The integration perspective highlights consensus between content themes, practices and artifacts, and between organisational actors. It assumes a unitary culture with a powerful change agent effecting the organisational change. Seen from this perspective, two of the organisations had made cultural changes consistent with TQM characteristics, and had also made many of the changes to accounting systems predicted in the literature. 

However, looking at the evidence from the differentiation perspective uncovered many examples of lack of consensus and conflict both between content themes themselves and between content themes, practices and artifacts. One of the “successful” organisations had made few changes to its accounting systems and had several subcultures which resisted change. 

The simultaneous existence of both harmony and conflict, and consensus and lack of it results in ambiguity for the organisational members. People differ in the way in which they deal with ambiguity, ranging from action paralysis through to using it as a motivation for innovation. The presence of ambiguity provides an explanation for the lack of success in implementing TQM in the third organisation, and for the lack of accounting change in one of the organisations which had successfully changed to TQM. 
This research contributes to knowledge in two ways. Firstly, it uses all three of Martin & Meyerson’s (1988) paradigms to look at TQM environments. This model has not been used in this setting before. Secondly, in using ambiguity to explain cultural and accounting change (or the lack of it), it provides an alternative viewpoint to the literature to date, which has been exclusively integrative and differentiating.

text: Accounting for total quality management This thesis examines changes to the culture of three manufacturing organisations, two of which had implemented total quality management (TQM), and one in which a TQM implementation was unsuccessful. The effects of this organisational change on accounting systems and accountants were also examined. 

Ethnographic research was carried out in the three organisations, using several methods of evidence gathering: semi-formal and informal interviews and conversations, analysis of documents (such as internal accounting reports, newsletters, non-financial performance measures, production records, and newspaper, magazine and journal articles), and non-participant observation at meetings and in the factories. 

The evidence was viewed from three different perspectives, as promoted by Martin & Meyerson (1988), looking at integration, differentiation and ambiguity. Content themes characteristic of TQM and documented changes to management accounting systems subsequent to TQM implementation were identified in the literature. The practices and artifacts in each organisation were then compared with each other and with the content themes. 

The integration perspective highlights consensus between content themes, practices and artifacts, and between organisational actors. It assumes a unitary culture with a powerful change agent effecting the organisational change. Seen from this perspective, two of the organisations had made cultural changes consistent with TQM characteristics, and had also made many of the changes to accounting systems predicted in the literature. 

However, looking at the evidence from the differentiation perspective uncovered many examples of lack of consensus and conflict both between content themes themselves and between content themes, practices and artifacts. One of the “successful” organisations had made few changes to its accounting systems and had several subcultures which resisted change. 

The simultaneous existence of both harmony and conflict, and consensus and lack of it results in ambiguity for the organisational members. People differ in the way in which they deal with ambiguity, ranging from action paralysis through to using it as a motivation for innovation. The presence of ambiguity provides an explanation for the lack of success in implementing TQM in the third organisation, and for the lack of accounting change in one of the organisations which had successfully changed to TQM. 
This research contributes to knowledge in two ways. Firstly, it uses all three of Martin & Meyerson’s (1988) paradigms to look at TQM environments. This model has not been used in this setting before. Secondly, in using ambiguity to explain cultural and accounting change (or the lack of it), it provides an alternative viewpoint to the literature to date, which has been exclusively integrative and differentiating.

year: 2000

title: Distribution of tetrodotoxin in the New Zealand clam, Paphies australis, established using immunohistochemistry and liquid chromatography-tandem quadrupole mass spectrometry

authors: Biessy, Laura

subjects: biotoxin

abstract: Tetrodotoxin (TTX) is one of the most potent neurotoxins known. It was originally thought to only occur in puffer fish but has now been identified in twelve different classes of freshwater and marine organisms, including bivalves. Despite being one of the world’s most studied biotoxins, its origin remains uncertain. There is contradictory evidence regarding the source of TTX and its pathway through food webs. To date, the distribution of TTX has not been examined in bivalves. In the present study, 48 Paphies australis, a TTX-containing clam species endemic to New Zealand, were collected. Thirty clams were dissected, and organs and tissues pooled into five categories (siphons, digestive gland, adductor muscles, and the ‘rest’) and analyzed for TTX using liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS). The micro-distribution of TTX was visualized in the remaining 18 individuals using an immunohistological technique incorporating a TTX-specific monoclonal antibody. The LC-MS analysis revealed that siphons contained the highest concentrations of TTX (mean 403.8 µg/kg). Immunohistochemistry analysis showed TTX in the outer cells of the siphons, but also in the digestive system, foot, and gill tissue. Observing TTX in organs involved in feeding provides initial evidence to support the hypothesis of an exogenous source in P. australis.

text: Distribution of tetrodotoxin in the New Zealand clam, Paphies australis, established using immunohistochemistry and liquid chromatography-tandem quadrupole mass spectrometry Tetrodotoxin (TTX) is one of the most potent neurotoxins known. It was originally thought to only occur in puffer fish but has now been identified in twelve different classes of freshwater and marine organisms, including bivalves. Despite being one of the world’s most studied biotoxins, its origin remains uncertain. There is contradictory evidence regarding the source of TTX and its pathway through food webs. To date, the distribution of TTX has not been examined in bivalves. In the present study, 48 Paphies australis, a TTX-containing clam species endemic to New Zealand, were collected. Thirty clams were dissected, and organs and tissues pooled into five categories (siphons, digestive gland, adductor muscles, and the ‘rest’) and analyzed for TTX using liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS). The micro-distribution of TTX was visualized in the remaining 18 individuals using an immunohistological technique incorporating a TTX-specific monoclonal antibody. The LC-MS analysis revealed that siphons contained the highest concentrations of TTX (mean 403.8 µg/kg). Immunohistochemistry analysis showed TTX in the outer cells of the siphons, but also in the digestive system, foot, and gill tissue. Observing TTX in organs involved in feeding provides initial evidence to support the hypothesis of an exogenous source in P. australis.

year: 2018

title: How learning stories shape understandings of children’s learning identities in one community of practice: A narrative inquiry

authors: Sands, Lorraine May

subjects: Narrative inquiry

abstract: Mā te mahi, ka mōhio; mā te mōhio, ka mārama; mā te mārama, ka mātau; mā te mātau, ka ora.
From hard work comes knowledge; from that knowledge comes understanding; from that understanding comes strength; from that strength comes wellbeing and life.
This thesis is a listening, dialogic investigation into ways the community of learners at Greerton Early Learning Centre considers learning stories have affected their children’s learning identities—that is, how they view themselves as learners. Aotearoa New Zealand’s early childhood curriculum, Te Whāriki, focuses on responsive, reciprocal relationships wrapped around the uniqueness and mana of each child. Learning stories—a research-based sociocultural narrative assessment approach—have been used in Aotearoa New Zealand early learning settings for over two decades to capture children’s learning while honouring the intent of Te Whāriki to nurture children’s languages, cultures, and identities. In the current climate of privatisation and neoliberalism, however, the value of learning stories is increasingly contested. This study refutes such discourses and instead navigates the value of multiple ways of knowing, meaningfully embedded in the lived experiences of children in relational communities.

This study was embedded in a narrative inquiry paradigm that sees reality as a socially mediated construction contained within stories that are told and retold across times, social contexts, and places. The study aimed to understand and document how storying children’s lived experience makes a meaningful difference to ways children view themselves as learners. Six children, their families, and their teachers were invited to reengage with selected learning stories from the children’s learning portfolios and then to rethink and retell how these learning stories contributed to their views of children’s learning identities.

The study found that learning stories have powerful effects on the ways children see themselves and on the ways those around them see the children as learners. It was clear from the data that children’s learning identities are embedded in the complex social and cultural contexts that surround them. The teachers’ long-term whanaungatanga relationships with mokopuna and whānau enabled kaiako to write learning stories that connected meaningfully with children’s wider historical, social, and cultural contexts. Insights into children’s learning from the learning stories were actively taken up by the parents and shaped the ways they saw and interacted with their children as learners. Likewise, teachers listened to stories shared from home (whether in a written learning story form or simply in the course of conversations), and these contributed to the teachers’ understandings of the children as agentic learners within sociocultural contexts. The physical folders of learning stories offered children powerful ways to maintain connections and a sense of pride in their learning achievements, linked to the people and places that surrounded those achievements.

Learning stories also enabled children to review their learning growth over time, including times when they had set goals, been supported in pursuing those goals by those around them, and had their achievements and dispositions honoured through documentation as a learning story. The process of robust engagement with crafting and reviewing their own and their colleagues’ learning stories played an important role in teachers’ ongoing professional learning. Finally, it was clear that across the whole community of practice—spanning mokopuna, whānau, and kaiako—learning stories played an important role in developing and reinforcing a shared language of learning as well as a shared understanding of the importance of children’s dispositions and working theories as the most highly valued forms of learning.

Although centred in one community, this research stands on the shoulders of many and may have resonance and implications for those in broader contexts. At a time when the usefulness and appropriateness of learning stories are increasingly contested, this study provides an important demonstration of the power of thoughtfully written learning stories and the alignment of this assessment approach with the vision and values of Te Whāriki. Further, with limited past research looking at the intersection of learning stories and children’s learning identities, this study’s rich account of this interaction in one community of practice provides a valuable contribution to the literature.

text: How learning stories shape understandings of children’s learning identities in one community of practice: A narrative inquiry Mā te mahi, ka mōhio; mā te mōhio, ka mārama; mā te mārama, ka mātau; mā te mātau, ka ora.
From hard work comes knowledge; from that knowledge comes understanding; from that understanding comes strength; from that strength comes wellbeing and life.
This thesis is a listening, dialogic investigation into ways the community of learners at Greerton Early Learning Centre considers learning stories have affected their children’s learning identities—that is, how they view themselves as learners. Aotearoa New Zealand’s early childhood curriculum, Te Whāriki, focuses on responsive, reciprocal relationships wrapped around the uniqueness and mana of each child. Learning stories—a research-based sociocultural narrative assessment approach—have been used in Aotearoa New Zealand early learning settings for over two decades to capture children’s learning while honouring the intent of Te Whāriki to nurture children’s languages, cultures, and identities. In the current climate of privatisation and neoliberalism, however, the value of learning stories is increasingly contested. This study refutes such discourses and instead navigates the value of multiple ways of knowing, meaningfully embedded in the lived experiences of children in relational communities.

This study was embedded in a narrative inquiry paradigm that sees reality as a socially mediated construction contained within stories that are told and retold across times, social contexts, and places. The study aimed to understand and document how storying children’s lived experience makes a meaningful difference to ways children view themselves as learners. Six children, their families, and their teachers were invited to reengage with selected learning stories from the children’s learning portfolios and then to rethink and retell how these learning stories contributed to their views of children’s learning identities.

The study found that learning stories have powerful effects on the ways children see themselves and on the ways those around them see the children as learners. It was clear from the data that children’s learning identities are embedded in the complex social and cultural contexts that surround them. The teachers’ long-term whanaungatanga relationships with mokopuna and whānau enabled kaiako to write learning stories that connected meaningfully with children’s wider historical, social, and cultural contexts. Insights into children’s learning from the learning stories were actively taken up by the parents and shaped the ways they saw and interacted with their children as learners. Likewise, teachers listened to stories shared from home (whether in a written learning story form or simply in the course of conversations), and these contributed to the teachers’ understandings of the children as agentic learners within sociocultural contexts. The physical folders of learning stories offered children powerful ways to maintain connections and a sense of pride in their learning achievements, linked to the people and places that surrounded those achievements.

Learning stories also enabled children to review their learning growth over time, including times when they had set goals, been supported in pursuing those goals by those around them, and had their achievements and dispositions honoured through documentation as a learning story. The process of robust engagement with crafting and reviewing their own and their colleagues’ learning stories played an important role in teachers’ ongoing professional learning. Finally, it was clear that across the whole community of practice—spanning mokopuna, whānau, and kaiako—learning stories played an important role in developing and reinforcing a shared language of learning as well as a shared understanding of the importance of children’s dispositions and working theories as the most highly valued forms of learning.

Although centred in one community, this research stands on the shoulders of many and may have resonance and implications for those in broader contexts. At a time when the usefulness and appropriateness of learning stories are increasingly contested, this study provides an important demonstration of the power of thoughtfully written learning stories and the alignment of this assessment approach with the vision and values of Te Whāriki. Further, with limited past research looking at the intersection of learning stories and children’s learning identities, this study’s rich account of this interaction in one community of practice provides a valuable contribution to the literature.

year: 2022