Department Relationships Research Articles

From contradictions to complementarities: a social realist analysis of the evolution of academic development within a department

Academic development is a recent project in the university, intended to enable the university to respond to the needs of a more diverse student body. In South Africa, such work arose during late apartheid, and has now moved to a more central institutional position advocating responsiveness in the light of the educational disparities that are the legacy of apartheid. The present study uses a social realist perspective to analyse the 25-year evolution of an academic development project within an engineering department at a South African university. The findings show that while academic development initially posed a contradictory logic to the department, the response was to reform the nature of this project into one that suited the other commitments of the department: a logic of complementarity. The department's relationships with industry were shown to have played a key role in fostering this form of change.

Healthcare in Exile: ANC Health Policy and Health Care Provision in MK Camps, 1964 to 1989

The ANC's early health provisions that in 1977 culminated in a bureaucratised Department of Health were critical for the survival of Umkhonto weSizwe (MK) cadres and the ANC's exile movement more generally. This article examines how the relationship between the medical sector and the military changed throughout the time that the ANC and MK were in exile while indicating instances where they influenced each other. While the Health Department's relationship with the military was never severed, the strength of the relationship fluctuated considerably from the early formation of the medical sector to the greater establishment of an institutionalised Health Department.

Water and power

An interview with Ron Nichols, director of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power surveys the past, present, and future of the Los Angeles Aqueduct, the department's relationship with Owens Valley, restoration of Owens Lake, the role of the department and its unions in city politics, climate change and the challenges ahead.

Linking Public Relations Processes and Organizational Effectoveness at a State Health Department

This qualitative case study explored a state health department's relationships with strategic constituencies from a public relations perspective. The relationships were explored within the theoretical framework of the Excellence Theory, the dominant paradigm in public research. Findings indicate application of the Excellence Theory has the potential to increase organizational effectiveness at public health entities. With respect to the case investigated, findings indicate that the state health department could increase its organizational effectiveness through the adoption of recommendations based on the Excellence Theory.

Reforming the U.S. Department of Transportation: Challenges and Opportunities of the Government Performance and Results Act for Federal-State Relations

This article examines attempts during 1993-1999 to reform the U.S. Department of Transportation to hold it accountable for achieving improved program results through performance measures. These attempts affected the department's relationships with Congress and the states. The political context, institutional structure, federal system, and separation of powers into which these reforms were introduced limited the course and outcomes of the reforms. For the reforms to succeed, changes need to take place in the behavior of state transportation departments and members of Congress. However, there are no clear incentives for either constituency to change its behavior. Instead, the states' political interests in maintaining their flexibilities and the electoral concerns of members of Congress create incentives that undermine rather than enforce reform. Copyright 2002, Oxford University Press.

John Hirsch and the Critical Mass: Alternative Theatre on CBC Television in the 1970s

This article examines John Hirsch's attempts to bring Canadian theatre artists and stage plays to television during his tenure, as Head of CBC English Language Television Drama in the 1970s. When the CBC appointed John Hirsch, they gave him a strong mandate to strengthen the drama department's relationship with Canadian theatre by bringing some of the best plays and performances to television, and by recruiting new talent from the theatre. To fulfill this mandate, Hirsch initiated a bold, comprehensive strategy; yet a series of historical forces, ranging from financial and economic to cultural and aesthetic, made the full realization of his strategy very difficult. By examining the problems that confronted Hirsch's theatre projects, this article will show how historical circumstances specific to the 1970s impeded the success of the projects, and will further suggest that more recent technological, structural and cultural developments related to television production and reception may have generated an environment more conducive to the achievement of successful collaborations between theatre and television.