Sister Are You out of Place on Top?: Indigenous Perspectives on Women in Top-Management from New Zealand and South Africa

<p><b>This thesis examines the interactions between issues of race and gender as they affect top-management positions. Specifically, it asks how these issues affect access to top jobs and experiences in those positions for ethnic „minority‟ women. In response to this question, I conducted empirical research with Māori and Black indigenous women in two former British settler States, New Zealand and the Republic of South Africa. I investigated issues, lessons and strategies for indigenous women entering top-management roles. I investigated the experiences and perceptions of these women within their own historical and political contexts to interpret my findings.</b></p> <p>I drew on the management literature which theorises issues of race and gender for women in top-management positions. In the broad context of theorising the interactions of race and gender in top-management, I focused in particular on studies which developed the metaphor of the „concrete ceiling‟ to explore the issues facing ethnic „minority‟ women trying to reach top-management roles and to succeed in them. To carry out this research in a way that was culturally appropriate, I developed a combination of methodologies, which drew on Māori and African cultural protocols, as well as western paradigms. I explored the experiences of 15 Māori women (10 in the public sector and 5 in the private sector) in New Zealand, and 12 Black women in the private sector in South Africa through qualitative interviews.</p> <p>My findings added new perspectives to the „concrete-ceiling‟ literature, while also confirming some familiar themes. The „concrete-ceiling‟ theory focuses on barriers to accessing top positions, but, by contrast, the women in my study were actively recruited. In my findings I discuss how my participants used strategies, such as mentoring, which are familiar in the literature, from new perspectives based on their cultural and political backgrounds. The lives of the women I interviewed were part of a historical and political moment of change in both countries, where political struggles led to new opportunities for indigenous women. These changes included the post-apartheid Broad-Based Economic Programmes (BEE) in South Africa and the ratification of the Treaty of Waitangi as well as Government sponsored Equal Employment Opportunities (EEO) programmes in New Zealand. The effects of these policies were that my participants were „head-hunted‟ in South Africa and „shoulder-tapped‟ in New Zealand without actively seeking new roles. My participants entered their initial top-management roles through these initiatives and they believed that they were perceived as tokens by their organisations, upon initial entry. They encountered familiar „concrete-ceiling‟ challenges based on negative stereotyping in terms of „racialised-gender‟. But in most cases my participants were able to go beyond token positions to become genuinely influential as top managers.</p> <p>My project contributes primarily to studies focusing on ethnic „minority‟ women in top-management. The existing literature is based mainly on studies conducted in the United States of America and Europe. These studies therefore embed historical and political contexts of issues such as slavery and migration, present in these countries. In contrast, by studying indigenous women in Settler States, my project provides different perspectives and also highlights the importance of local context for any such research.</p>

Sister Are You out of Place on Top?: Indigenous Perspectives on Women in Top-Management from New Zealand and South Africa

<p><b>This thesis examines the interactions between issues of race and gender as they affect top-management positions. Specifically, it asks how these issues affect access to top jobs and experiences in those positions for ethnic „minority‟ women. In response to this question, I conducted empirical research with Māori and Black indigenous women in two former British settler States, New Zealand and the Republic of South Africa. I investigated issues, lessons and strategies for indigenous women entering top-management roles. I investigated the experiences and perceptions of these women within their own historical and political contexts to interpret my findings.</b></p> <p>I drew on the management literature which theorises issues of race and gender for women in top-management positions. In the broad context of theorising the interactions of race and gender in top-management, I focused in particular on studies which developed the metaphor of the „concrete ceiling‟ to explore the issues facing ethnic „minority‟ women trying to reach top-management roles and to succeed in them. To carry out this research in a way that was culturally appropriate, I developed a combination of methodologies, which drew on Māori and African cultural protocols, as well as western paradigms. I explored the experiences of 15 Māori women (10 in the public sector and 5 in the private sector) in New Zealand, and 12 Black women in the private sector in South Africa through qualitative interviews.</p> <p>My findings added new perspectives to the „concrete-ceiling‟ literature, while also confirming some familiar themes. The „concrete-ceiling‟ theory focuses on barriers to accessing top positions, but, by contrast, the women in my study were actively recruited. In my findings I discuss how my participants used strategies, such as mentoring, which are familiar in the literature, from new perspectives based on their cultural and political backgrounds. The lives of the women I interviewed were part of a historical and political moment of change in both countries, where political struggles led to new opportunities for indigenous women. These changes included the post-apartheid Broad-Based Economic Programmes (BEE) in South Africa and the ratification of the Treaty of Waitangi as well as Government sponsored Equal Employment Opportunities (EEO) programmes in New Zealand. The effects of these policies were that my participants were „head-hunted‟ in South Africa and „shoulder-tapped‟ in New Zealand without actively seeking new roles. My participants entered their initial top-management roles through these initiatives and they believed that they were perceived as tokens by their organisations, upon initial entry. They encountered familiar „concrete-ceiling‟ challenges based on negative stereotyping in terms of „racialised-gender‟. But in most cases my participants were able to go beyond token positions to become genuinely influential as top managers.</p> <p>My project contributes primarily to studies focusing on ethnic „minority‟ women in top-management. The existing literature is based mainly on studies conducted in the United States of America and Europe. These studies therefore embed historical and political contexts of issues such as slavery and migration, present in these countries. In contrast, by studying indigenous women in Settler States, my project provides different perspectives and also highlights the importance of local context for any such research.</p>

The Curing of Concrete Samples with Water - Experimental Verification of the Concrete Properties

The process of producing a monolithic concrete structure on site is constructed out under different climatic conditions, which can often be unsuitable for setting and hardening of concrete. The necessary conditions for setting and hardening of concrete are ensured by various ways of its curing. In practice, concrete curing is carried out in most cases by water spraying. It is used mostly in reinforced concrete ceiling slabs, which are further discussed in the work. A common procedure is to cure the upper surface of reinforced concrete ceiling slabs. This work therefore deals with the effect of curing of a reinforced concrete slab, on its strength properties. Long-term curing would yield higher values of compressive strength, but it is also necessary to consider how effective it is. As a pilot research in this work is investigating the properties of concrete cubes in various curing. It further develops theoretical possibilities for continuing research.

Design and construction of the thin vault for the reinforced concrete ceiling of the Public Hall of the Cassa di Risparmio Bank headquarters in L’Aquila

The present article wants to report on the technological and constructive aspects related to the realization of the thin reinforced concrete vault for the reinforced concrete ceiling of the Cassa di Risparmio Bank Public Hall of L'Aquila; this work was carried out in the early 1950s on the occasion of the enlargement of the bank headquarters, built in the nineteenth-century . The intervention is seen peculiar because it can be considered representative of the application of the reinforced concrete technique to realize a small structural thickness reinforced concrete ceiling. In particular, the use of complex-shaped vaulted systems in reinforced concrete, in the post-war Italian period, was substantially reserved for the construction of road bridges in the post-war reconstruction context of the infrastructure system, less used in civil construction. The application of such construction systems, in architectural works, refers to buildings with a predominantly tertiary use, such as offices and exhibition halls. Among these, although of minor importance, there is the Public hall of the Cassa di Risparmio of L'Aquila which testifies that some reinforced concrete works, demanding from the constructive point of view, were carried out in the peripheral territorial areas as well, like the provincial ones. In particular, from the analysis of the archive sources, the re-enactement of the project phases as well as the construction ones, confirms the use of a building technique, which in that particular historical period, saw the transition from the structural calculation theories to the construction site practice and, its application not only in large Italian cities, but also in minor contexts.

Development of Milutin Milankovic's patented construction system of the reinforced concrete ceiling as an illustration of Laza Kostic’s philosophical principle of the intercrossing

Milutin Milankovic was the first who invented, patented and intro?duced the technology of building reinforced concrete ceiling with an integrated thermal and sound insulation into engineering practice. This technology, known as the Milankovic - Kreutz building system, made the Serbian scientist a glorious inventor. Considering that the intercrossing is a fundamental principle of all forms in nature, from ancient to modern philosophers, in this paper Milutin Milankovic?s top achievements in engineering practice are explained by the application of this principle, which basics were in detail described by Laza Kostic. Application of the principle of intercrossing in the Milankovic - Kreutz construction system contributes to the understanding of basics of technical practice and development phases of Milankovic?s construction system - from initial idea to feasibility study, and the realization of patent protection as precondition for exclusive industrial application. It also contributes to a general understanding of the theory of in?tercrossing by Laza Kostic, as well as the possibilities of its application in various creative endeavors.

Causes of damage and methods of repairing floor made on polystyrene concrete

The paper describes damages, tests and repair of the floor made on existing ceiling and expanded polystyrene concrete underlay. The floor was built on a reinforced concrete ceiling with an area of about 1050 m2. Significant damage in the form of cracks, detachments and unevenness was found in the floor. In order to determine the causes of damage, in situ tests and laboratory tests were carried out. It was found that the damage was caused by numerous performance errors. A test repair of the damage (4.7x6.0 m) was carried out, and then the repair method was applied on the entire floor surface.