Universal fast broadband is currently being implemented by the Australian government. It is the largest single project in Australia’s history. Represented as a nation-building exercise by the government and many public and private promoters, it is vilified by others as a massive waste of taxpayers’ money. Ultimately the target of successful universal availability will require that metropolitan installations subsidize rural adoption. The take-up of these facilities, particularly in regional and remote areas, constitutes a complex, multi-factorial scenario in which political, personal, and organizational decisions are shaped by physical, cultural, economic, and ideological elements. Critical realism is proposed here as an aid for examining the complex reality of rural adoption for communities and small businesses in the regions. This article highlights the importance of considering individual reflexivity in explaining the adoption decision and potential adoption barriers.

A quasi-experimental design was used to study the long-term effects of implementation of autonomous workgroups in a manufacturing environment. Results indicated a substantial and lasting effect on employees' intrinsic job satisfaction, a more temporary effect on extrinsic job satisfaction, and no consequences for work motivation or performance. At an organizational level, however, improvements in productivity were made possible through elimination of supervisory positions; and contrary to prediction, labor turnover increased.

It is widely argued that modern manufacturing settings require employees to adopt a customer-focused strategic orientation and a broad and proactive role orientation. Yet empirical investigation of this issue is lacking. We describe the development of measures of both types of work orientation and present two field studies that examine how these orientations change. Findings suggest that, although the implementation of new production practices can in itself lead to the development of a strategic orientation appropriate to modern manufacturing, change toward a more flexible role orientation additionally requires the introduction of autonomous forms of working.