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Complex Challenges (complex + challenge)
Selected AbstractsFrom subordination to parity: an international comparison of equity securities law claims in insolvency proceedingsINTERNATIONAL INSOLVENCY REVIEW, Issue 3 2007Janis Sarra Securities law claims in insolvency proceedings raise important questions of allocation of risk and remedies. In the ordinary course of business, equity claims come last in the hierarchy of claims during insolvency. What is less clear is whether this should encompass claims arising from the violation of public statutes designed to protect equity investors. Discerning the optimal allocation of risk is a complex challenge if one is trying to maximize the simultaneous advancement of securities law and insolvency law public policy goals. From a securities law perspective, there must be confidence in meaningful remedies for capital markets violations if investors are to continue to invest. From an insolvency perspective, creditors make their pricing and credit availability choices based on certainty regarding their claims and shifting those priorities may affect the availability of credit. The critical question is the nature of the claim advanced by the securities holder and whether subordination of securities law claims gives rise to inappropriate incentives for corporate officers within the insolvency law regime. A comparative analysis reveals that the U.S. has provided a limited statutory exception to complete subordination through the fair funds provision of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act by allowing SEC claims for penalties and disgorgement to rank equally with unsecured claims even though the funds are distributed to shareholders. The U.K. and Australian schemes permit shareholders to claim directly as unsecured creditors for fraudulent acts and misrepresentation by the issuer. In contrast, Canadian law is underdeveloped in its treatment of such claims. The paper canvasses the policy options available to reconcile securities law and insolvency law claims, including a discussion of the appropriate gatekeeping role for regulatory authorities and the courts, and the need for a framework that offers fair and expeditious resolution of such claims. If the public policy goal of both securities law and insolvency law is to foster efficient and cost-effective capital markets, it seems that the systems need to be better reconciled than currently. The paper also examines the codified response to the time and resources consumed in various common law tracing claims by customers in a securities firm insolvency. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Achieving positive change in people's lives through the National Learning Disability Strategy: an invitation to partnership between higher education and the world of practiceBRITISH JOURNAL OF LEARNING DISABILITIES, Issue 4 2000David Towell Summary The launch of the National Learning Disability Strategy (NLDS) in England (and parallel initiatives in Scotland and Wales) provides the best opportunity for a generation to close the huge gap between the aspirations of people with learning disabilities and their families for a full life, and most people's current experience. The implementation of the NLDS is a complex challenge, requiring new forms of partnership among a wide range of stakeholders to deliver sustainable change. The present paper describes an enhanced role for universities as champions of local progress, promoting, supporting and evaluating informed change through a range of functions which go well beyond the traditional focus on research and teaching. It is also an invitation to relevant centres, or coalitions of centres on a regional basis, to explore with people, families and public agencies the optimum form of their contribution to these new partnerships. [source] Partitioned Nature, Privileged Knowledge: Community-based Conservation in TanzaniaDEVELOPMENT AND CHANGE, Issue 5 2003Mara Goldman Community Based Conservation (CBC) has become the catch,all solution to the social and ecological problems plaguing traditional top,down, protectionist conservation approaches. CBC has been particularly popular throughout Africa as a way to gain local support for wildlife conservation measures that have previously excluded local people and their development needs. This article shows that, despite the rhetoric of devolution and participation associated with new CBC models, conservation planning in Tanzania remains a top,down endeavour, with communities and their specialized socio,ecological knowledge delegated to the margins. In addition to the difficulties associated with the transfer of power from state to community hands, CBC also poses complex challenges to the culture or institution of conservation. Using the example of the Tarangire,Manyara ecosystem, the author shows how local knowledge and the complexities of ecological processes challenge the conventional zone,based conservation models, and argues that the insights of local Maasai knowledge claims could better reflect the ecological and social goals of the new CBC rhetoric. [source] Conservation biogeography , foundations, concepts and challengesDIVERSITY AND DISTRIBUTIONS, Issue 3 2010David M. Richardson Abstract Conservation biogeography involves the application of biogeographical principles, theories, and analyses to problems regarding biodiversity conservation. The field was formally defined in 2005, and considerable research has been conducted in the ensuing 5 years. This editorial sets the context for 16 contributions in a special issue of Diversity and Distributions on developments and challenges in conservation biogeography. Papers are grouped into the following main themes: species distribution modelling; data requirements; approaches for assigning conservation priorities; approaches for integrating information from numerous disparate sources; special challenges involving invasive species; and the crucial issue of determining how elements of biodiversity are likely to respond to rapid climate change. One paper provides a synthesis of requirements for a robust conservation biogeography for freshwater ecosystems. Conservation biogeography is well poised to make a significant contribution to the process of providing policy makers with objectively formulated scenarios and options for the effective management of biodiversity. The editorial, and the papers in the special issue, deliberate on many of the exciting developments in play in the field, and the many complex challenges that lie ahead. [source] Changing patterns of human resource management in contemporary China: WTO accession and enterprise responsesINDUSTRIAL RELATIONS JOURNAL, Issue 4 2004Ying Zhu ABSTRACT This study examines the increasingly complex challenges facing human resource management (HRM) in China following the country's accession to the WTO and, consequently, the implications for further reform of government policy and enterprise-level HRM practices. The article concludes that current HR practices among enterprises vary depending on ownership, industrial sector, location and history. The direction of future changes may depend on the level of involvement from external forces as well as internal strategies adopted by Chinese enterprises to survive. [source] Surviving the paradoxes of virtual teamworkINFORMATION SYSTEMS JOURNAL, Issue 1 2009Line Dubé Abstract Despite the potential benefits of virtual teams, current literature suggests that virtual teamwork is rife with complex challenges. We frame some of these challenges as paradoxes inherent in the concept of virtual teamwork. Based on interviews with 42 leaders and members of virtual teams, we identify five paradoxes: (1) virtual teams require physical presence; (2) flexibility of virtual teamwork is aided by structure; (3) interdependent work in virtual teams is accomplished by members' independent contributions; (4) task-oriented virtual teamwork succeeds through social interactions; and (5) mistrust is instrumental to establishing trust among virtual team members. In addition, we identify strategies that respondents used to cope with, or ,survive' the paradoxes of virtual teamwork. [source] High-yielding capacity building in irrigation system management: targeting managers and operators,,IRRIGATION AND DRAINAGE, Issue 3 2008Thierry Facon développement des capacités; gestion du système; Asie Abstract Irrigation management is facing complex challenges evolving with the transformation of agriculture, competition over resources, environmental concerns, without forgetting the critical objective of food production. Managers are ill prepared to meet these challenges and the FAO called for and initiated a massive retraining programme of engineers and managers on irrigation system modernization to address these issues, starting in Asia. Results from this first generation of interventions confirmed the lack of success of many investments and institutional reforms, gaps in capacity and training and the potential for achieving significant improvements at minimal cost by focusing on system operation. The FAO prepared new guidelines for improving system operation and management (MASSCOTE) based on service-oriented management concepts, tested them through training workshops in Nepal, India and China and is disseminating them through a second-generation training programme building on first- generation knowledge synthesis. This paper presents the FAO's strategic approach to capacity building on service-oriented management. It builds on the major lessons drawn from past programmes and is based on three interrelated thrusts: at the system, state and regional/global levels. Concepts, methodologies, lessons learned on upscaling to policy and long-term investment planning, limitations and conditions for success and future programme development are discussed. Copyright © 2008 Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. La gestion de l'irrigation est confrontée à des défis complexes en évolution avec la transformation de l'agriculture, la concurrence sur les ressources, les préoccupations environnementales, sans oublier l'objectif critique de la production alimentaire. Les gestionnaires sont mal préparés pour répondre à ces défis et la FAO a lancé un vaste programme de nouvelle formation des ingénieurs et cadres sur la modernisation des systèmes d'irrigation pour traiter ces questions, en commençant par l'Asie. Les résultats de cette première génération d'interventions ont confirmé le manque de succès de beaucoup d'investissements et de réformes institutionnelles, les lacunes dans les capacités et la formation et les possibilités de parvenir à des améliorations significatives à peu de frais en se concentrant sur le fonctionnement du système. La FAO a élaboré de nouveaux guides pour améliorer l'exploitation et la gestion des systèmes (MASSCOTE) basés sur les concepts de service, les a testés par des ateliers de formation au Népal, en Inde et en Chine et les a diffusés par une deuxième génération de programmes de formation s'appuyant sur la synthèse des connaissances de première génération. Cet article présente l'approche stratégique de la FAO pour le renforcement des capacités de gestion orientée sur le service. Il s'appuie sur les principaux enseignements tirés des précédents programmes et repose sur trois axes étroitement liés: au niveau du système, de l'état et régional/mondial. Les concepts, les méthodes, les leçons apprises sur les politiques et la planification des investissements à long terme, les limites et les conditions du succès, et le développement des programmes futurs sont discutés. Copyright © 2008 Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] People with intellectual disability as neighbours: Towards understanding the mundane aspects of social integrationJOURNAL OF COMMUNITY & APPLIED SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 5 2010Laura M. van Alphen Abstract Although people with intellectual disabilities (ID) are increasingly expected to relocate from traditional institutional care to ,regular' neighbourhood housing facilities and socially integrate in these neighbourhoods, little is known about how they are perceived and appreciated as neighbours. This paper reports on interviews carried out with 30 neighbours without ID who were neighbours of small-scale care facilities for people with ID. Interviews addressed the neighbours' everyday experiences of neighbouring in general, and neighbouring people with ID in particular. Neighbouring, for these informants, called for a fine balance between friendliness without over-involvement. While they were generally positive about their interactions with their neighbours with ID, it emerged that the formal nature of the care facility and the interaction style of some of the neighbours with ID often contravened informants' assumptions about neighbouring. Informants expressed concern about a possible lack of appropriate distance, reciprocity and accountability among their neighbours with ID. The nature of the care facility, with paid staff, often group activities, formal means of achieving the everyday small tasks which neighbours sometimes do for each other, and a high turnover of residents, all undermined the possibility of a typical neighbourly relationship. In conclusion, we suggest that integration of people with ID into everyday neighbouring relationships raises complex challenges for care organizations that need to find a balance between supporting the needs of people with ID they care for, adequate support and mediation for other neighbours when necessary, and all the while avoid becoming overly involved in neighbouring as a formal partner. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] American Federalism and the Search for Models of ManagementPUBLIC ADMINISTRATION REVIEW, Issue 6 2001Robert Agranoff Changes in the United States federal system mean that managers must operate by taking into account multiple interacting governments and nongovernmental organizations; dealing with numerous programs emanating from Washington and state capitols; and engaging in multiple intergovernmental transactions with an expanding number of intergovernmental instruments. Four models of management within this changing system are identified. The top-down model emphasizes executive-branch control and is embedded in enforcement and exchange related to the laws, regulations, funding rules, program standards, and guidelines associated with federal/state grant, procurement, and regulation programs. The donor-recipient model emphasizes mutual dependence or shared program administration, where two-party bargaining or reciprocal interactions among government officials is the norm. The jurisdiction-based model is defined by the initiated actions of local officials and managers who seek out program adjustments and other actors and resources to serve the strategic aims of their governments. The network model highlights the actions of multiple interdependent government and nongovernmental organizations pursuing joint action and intergovernmental adjustment. Although the first two models are long-standing and the latter two are emergent, all appear to be alive and well on the intergovernmental scene, posing complex challenges for public managers. [source] | ||||||||||