A call has gone out for 20 councils to volunteer as pathfinders for delivering services electronically. They will share in a 25 million pound budget. Successful bidders will be expected to develop e-government initiatives and to be centres of expertise from which all local government can learn.Councils bidding for pathfinder status will have to show that they have the track record and capacity to deliver significantly enhanced electronic service delivery is such areas as internet access and email free to all citizens at their local library; use of smart cards for public transport passes or to pay for school meals, and authentication of transactions such as on-line voting. They will also have to demonstrate that their services are joined up with other councils, central government or the voluntary sector. Exemplars will also be needed in the use of digital TV and mobile phone formats.
Funding is to be provided to make it easier for young people to go on to university from areas where there is no tradition of higher education. The Excellence Challenge initiative, launched in September 2000, currently supports the move to higher education for young people in some inner city and urban areas. The new proposal will extend Excellence Challenge to secondary schools and further education colleges in Education Action Zones.The new funding will help to provide resources for schools, more support for young people and better information about the route to higher education. Opportunity Bursaries worth 2,000 pounds over 3 years will be aimed at bright students from disadvantaged backgrounds, where there is little or no family history of higher education. The Bursaries are intended to help with the initial costs of starting a university course with such expenses as books, equipment and deposits for accommodation, as well as giving the students the necessary financial confidence to complete their studies.
Terziovski M, Howell A, Sohal A, Morrison MThe Learning Organization, (UK), 2000 Vol 7 No 1
Start page: 23. No of pages: 9
Reviews the literature on learning organizations and total quality management (TQM), particularly the work of Senge on learning organizations and Garvin on the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, to test the proposition that the principles and concepts of total quality management underpin the evolution of the learning organization. Having shown the theoretical link between total quality management and learning organizations in areas such as leadership, vision, information processing, employee development and strategic thinking, presents five case studies of Australian organizations to find out if these links can be demonstrated in practice. Concludes that the five case studies confirm the proposed link between total quality management and the learning organization, and argues for more research to test this further.
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