Massey University wishes to congratulate all of the student athletes who competed in the recent Commonwealth Games in Australia. More than 30 current students and alumni qualified for the Games and a number went on to win medals, including Graduate Diploma in Arts student Alana Barber who won silver in the 20 kilometre walk and Bachelor of Business Studies graduate and rower-turned-cyclist Hamish Bond who won bronze in the men’s individual time trial.

Massey was also well represented in team sports. Bachelor of Science graduate Samantha Charlton, along with her team mates and current students Ella Gunson, Tessa Jopp, Olivia Merry, Kelsey Smith and Elizabeth Thompson, won gold in the women’s hockey. While business graduate Hugo Inglis, sport and exercise graduate Dane Lett, business alumni Arun Panchia, and current students Harry Miskimmin, Hayden Phillips and Nic Wood won silver medals in the men’s hockey final.

Dr Rachel Batty from the School of Sport, Exercise and Nutrition was working at the Games, as part of the athletic events presentation team. She says it was an exciting experience to be part of the crew. “I was lucky enough to work at the Currumbin Beach Front where the race walks were held and was able to watch Alana Barber cross the finish line and receive her silver medal. The marathon was also a fantastic experience – especially the atmosphere at the start and finish line, and I worked closely with some of the athletes towards the end, helping in the recovery area.”

Overall, Massey students and alumni won 23 medals at the Games; eight gold, nine silver and six bronze.

Hockey – Womens

Samantha Charlton – Gold

Olivia Merry – Gold

Kelsey Smith – Gold

Elizabeth Thompson – Gold

Ella Gunson – Gold

Sevens Rugby – Mens

Scott Curry – Gold

Sevens Rugby – Womens

Sarah Goss – Gold

Tyla Nathan-Wong – Gold

Athletics

Alana Barber – 20km walk – Silver

Hockey – Mens

Hugo Inglis – Silver

Dane Lett – Silver

Harry Miskimmin – Silver

Arun Panchia – Silver

Hayden Phillips – Silver

Nic Woods – Silver

Cycling

Rushlee Buchanan – Silver

Kirstie James – Silver

Hamish Bond – Bronze

Basketball – Mens

Tom Abercrombie – Bronze

Mika Vukona – Bronze

Basketball – Womens

Deena Franklin – Bronze

Triathlon

Tayler Reid – mixed team relay – Bronze

Nicole Van der Kaay – mixed team relay – Bronze

A book on race relations in 19th century King Country has won historian Professor Michael Belgrave the prestigious 2018 Ernest Scott Prize for the best Australasian history publication.

Titlled Dancing with the King: The rise and fall of the King Country, 1864-1885(Auckland University Press, 2017), his book brings to light the little-known story of informal peace-making encounters over a 20-year period between the Crown and the second Māori King who governed the region as an independent state.

Professor Belgrave, who was awarded the prize last Thursday at the University of Melbourne, discovered stories and records featured in the book while he was working with South Waikato-based iwi Raukawa on their Treaty settlement a decade ago.

“I came across some extraordinary events, where thousands of people met over many days trying to make peace following the calamity of the Waikato War of 1863 and 1864,” he says. “At these large meetings, native ministers and even the premier, Sir George Grey, were engaged in high-level diplomacy with King Tawhiao and other Māori leaders in attempts to reach a settlement. 

“While this was happening, peace-making was also taking place at a much more personal level, with soldiers from both sides coming together and recounting their different experiences of the fighting. This was too good a story not to be told.”

The AUD$13,000 prize for the most distinguished contribution to the history of Australia or New Zealand, or to the history of colonisation, published in the previous year was founded by Emily Scott. It was first awarded in 1943 in memory of her husband Emeritus Professor Ernest Scott, a history professor at the University of Melbourne from 1913 to 1936. 

Professor Belgrave, who lectures in in the School of Humanities at Massey’s Auckland campus, says he is “stunned” by being chosen for the prize, awarded by the history programme in the University of Melbourne’s School of Historical and Philosophical Studies. 

His book, also a finalist in New Zealand’s 2018 Ockham Book Awards for General Non-Fiction, centres on the aftermath of the battle of Orakau in 1864 and the end of the war in the Waikato, when Tāwhiao and his supporters were forced into an armed isolation in the Rohe Pōtae, the King Country. For the following two decades, the King Country operated as an independent state – a land governed by the Māori King where settlers and the Crown entered at risk of their lives. 

Ernest Scott Prize a rare accolade

Only a handful of New Zealanders have been awarded the Ernest Scott Prize, including Professor James Belich (2002), Professor Anne Salmond (1998) and Dr Keith Sinclair (1958 and 1959).  

“When I look at the list of earlier recipients of the Ernest Scott Prize, I see the names of many of those historians whose work inspired and fascinated me as a student in the 1970s,” Professor Belgrave says. “They were storytellers whose histories marked key moments in Australia’s and New Zealand’s understanding of their separate and shared pasts.”

Other finalists in this year’s Ernest Scott Prize are: Shaunnagh Dorsett, Juridical Encounters: Māori and the Colonial Courts, 1840-1852 (Auckland University Press); Tim Rowse, Indigenous and Other Australians since 1901 (NewSouth); and Paul Irish, Hidden in Plain View: The Aboriginal People of Coastal Sydney (NewSouth).

“I’d like to think that this year’s finalists, with their focus on indigenous histories and their relationship with colonisation, marks a recognition of the importance of these histories to both societies today,” Professor Belgrave says.

Professor Belgrave’s previous books includeHistorical Frictions: Māori Claims and Reinvented Histories(Auckland University Press, 2005) and From Empire’s Servant to Global Citizen: A History of Massey University (Massey University Press, 2016), co-author of Social policy in Aotearoa New Zealand(Oxford University Press, 2008) and co-editor of The Treaty on the Ground: where we are headed, and why it matters(Massey University Press, 2017).

Read more about the Ernest Scott Prize.

Almost 75 per cent of older adults involved in a recent Massey University study were at risk of malnourishment, or were malnourished, when they were admitted to hospital.

The study, led by Associate Professor Carol Wham from the College of Health, aimed to investigate malnutrition risk in older adults at the point of hospital admission. It follows an earlier pilot study which showed 23 per cent of respondents were malnourished and 35 per cent were at high risk of malnourishment at hospital admission. The average age of the 234 participants involved in the latest study was 84. The research was undertaken in Auckland within the Waitemata District Health Board region, between July 2014 and September 2015.

“Malnutrition is preceded by a state of malnutrition risk and is associated with poor health outcomes. In many cases it can be prevented or the trajectory slowed by identifying and addressing risk factors,” Dr Wham says.

The study used a validated screening tool, the Mini Nutritional Assessment Short Form (MNA®-SF), which provides a simple and rapid method to identify those at high risk, by assessing appetite, weight loss, mobility, psychological stress or acute disease, depression and body mass index

“Nearly half [46.6 per cent] were identified at malnutrition risk and just over a quarter [26.9 per cent] malnourished. This means, almost three-quarters were malnourished or at malnutrition risk,” Dr Wham says.

Significant predictors of malnutrition risk at hospital admission were dysphagia risk (problems with swallowing), low body mass index (BMI), low muscle strength and poor cognition. Some level of cognitive impairment was indicated in 62 per cent of the participants

Dr Wham says two-thirds of the participants required daily help with various tasks such as cooking, cleaning, showering and dressing. “This may suggest loss of physical function among the participants and may relate to the low muscle strength observed. Eighty-eight per cent of participants were admitted from the community, so their own homes rather than rest homes or care facilities. This suggests the high prevalence of hospital malnutrition may be a result of unrecognised community malnutrition.”

If we are to address malnourishment that is occurring in the community before an older adult reaches crisis point and hospitalisation, screening in GP medical centres is needed, Dr Wham says.

“Malnutrition in community-living older adults is often attributed to long-standing inadequate intake. Making screening of the most vulnerable part of the routine in primary care is important to identify those at risk. Screening needs to be followed by referral to a dietitian, who are the experts in nutrition assessment and treatment, to ensure the right people are receiving the right care at the right time.”

Dysphagia risk, low muscle strength and poor cognition predict malnutrition risk in older adults at hospital admission was recently published in BMC Geriatrics. The paper was co-authored by Idah Chatindiara (PhD student, Massey University), Dr Jacqueline Allen (University of Auckland), Amy Popman (Master of Science [nutrition and dietetics] student, Massey University), Darshan Patel (Master of Science [nutrition and dietetics] student, Massey University), Dr Marilize Richter (Massey University), Professor Marlena Kruger (Massey University) and Dr Carol Wham (Massey University).

The Business Boot Camp programme includes visits to some of Auckland’s most innovative companies, like this tour of film production company 90 Seconds at GridAkl.

---

Building relationships and broadening horizons

Dr Stangl says Business Boot Camp aims to broaden the horizons of bright students at a time when many are thinking about their future careers.

“Today’s young people will have many different careers in their working lives, so they don’t need to be stressed if they don’t have a clear idea of what that looks like yet,” he says. “But they do need to be adaptable critical thinkers who remain open to new ideas.

“Boot camp is about exposing students to a wide range of career options and giving them an opportunity to connect with mentors and peers. Every cohort for the past five years has established networks at boot camp that will benefit them for the rest of their careers.” 

Some of New Zealand’s most successful organisations open their doors for Business Boot Camp, including McDonald’s, Vodafone, HP, Xero, Fonterra, Air New Zealand, MYOB, NZX, Snowplanet, The Warehouse Group and Colliers International. The students also spend time at Massey’s business incubator, the ecentre, and GridAkl to get a better understanding of Auckland’s innovation ecosystem.

Representatives of sponsors – McDonald’s, Vodafone, HP, Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand, and Jucy – will visit Massey’s Auckland campus to share their personal stories about how their own careers developed over time. During the week-long residential programme, the students also participate in a range of workshops designed to develop all-important soft skills like communication, critical thinking and collaboration.

For her PhD research Dr Wendy Holley-Boen, who lectures at Massey’s Institute of Education, followed 14 practising specialist teachers over their two-year study in the Specialist Teaching Programme – a boutique postgraduate programme jointly offered by Massey University and the University of Canterbury. 

The programme aims to advance inclusive education by preparing educators transitioning to specialist teaching roles in areas such as autism spectrum disorder, blind and low vision, learning and behaviour, gifted and talented, deaf and hard of hearing, early intervention, and complex educational needs.

Dr Holley-Boen, who graduated yesterday, has developed a new framework to explore fulfilment and wellbeing mean for specialist teachers, and to accommodate the complex demands and issues they face.

Through individual interviews and group discussions, study participants explored their changing perspectives on identity, practice and wellbeing.  

What resulted from these conversations is what Dr Holley-Boen calls ‘practising fiercely’ – a framework for finding fulfilment through a strong personal and professional stance that is enacted in one’s practice. “It’s about living our values, giving and getting support across settings and having a long-term, intentional approach to maintaining our stamina,” she says. 

For example, a specialist teacher might advocate to spend more time building relationships with families because of their deep commitment to partnership, even if this is at odds with official job requirements to meet “efficiency” goals. 

“The difficult conversation with a line manager, and the additional work that teacher takes on, might seem contrary to the ways some people imagine protecting their wellbeing. But working in ways that fit with our individual and collective values actually supports personal and professional fulfilment,” she says. 

“You might come home tired that day, but you can say, ‘I did a good job today. I fought the good fight and practised in ways that were true to me and the people I’m supporting.’” 

Findings from the study informed the development of a framework for the fulfilment of teachers, but hopefully with relevance to other groups as well, she adds. The framework identifies and builds on the connections across identity, practice and wellbeing by incorporating the value of such things as knowing oneself; conceptualising practice as relational, ecological, contextualised and challenging; and embracing lifelong learning.

Managing rewards and tensions of specialist teaching

“It’s a great time to be a teacher and it’s a hard time to be a teacher ­– this is also true for specialist teachers who are working one layer out from teachers, whānau and other professionals to support all learners,” Dr Holley-Boen says. 

“Being an educator can be a deeply rewarding profession, but it can pose threats to personal wellbeing. As with so many of us, the teachers in this research worked to integrate further study with already complex lives involving the care of young children, elderly parents, and a range of other enablers and barriers.  

“I wanted to see if there were ways to lift wellbeing by tackling some of the deeper issues like finding meaning in our work, creating networks of support and crafting our jobs to align with our values” Dr Holley-Boen says. 

“This research is timely as it investigates an emerging group of professionals, specialist teachers in Aotearoa New Zealand, who integrate postgraduate study with new professional roles and other facets of their lives.”

A registered educational psychologist, originally from California, Dr Holley-Boen came to Massey in 2012 after working as an educational psychologist at the Ministry of Education here, and overseas.

“I came to Massey specifically to work on this programme because it’s the only one of its kind, and I came to New Zealand because of the promise of inclusive education here. I want to learn from and contribute to the sector any way I can. 

“I also wanted to do my PhD here because I knew I’d be able to integrate my study with my own practice, have the freedom to make it my own, and be supported by my amazing team who would make it possible for me to do all I needed to do.”

The Specialist Teaching programme comprises the Postgraduate Certificate, Postgraduate Diploma, and Master’s degree.

Set within the Kaga Domain in the Edo Period in Japan, the Funaki family have swapped swords for kitchen knives in 2013 film A Tale of Samurai Cooking.

Mr Funaki laid the foundations for Kaga clan cuisine as a “kitchen samurai” who prepared food for the nobility. Discovering the amazing cooking abilities of Haru, he arranges for her to marry his son Yasunobu – heir to the Funaki family, who craves to be a samurai warrior and has no interest in becoming a chef. The unlikely love story starts to take shape and, with the help of her new mother-in-law, Haru begins to teach Yasunobu the ways of the culinary arts.

The film, based on a true story, features meals made according to the Funaki family’s recipe collection and recreates the workings of samurai family kitchens at the time.

A Tale of Samurai Cooking will screen at Massey University’s Auckland campus at Albany on Wednesday May 2. The monthly Japanese films play on the first Wednesday of the month, at 6.15pm. Preceding the main feature is a short documentary on life and culture in Japan, which starts at 6pm. Unless specified, the films are screened in the Atrium Round Room on the ground floor of the Atrium Building. There is free parking available on campus.

A Tale of Samurai Cooking is rated PG – parental guidance recommended for younger viewers

Director: Yuzo Asahara

Running time: 121 minutes

For more information on the Japanese films visit the Consulate-General of Japan in Auckland website here.

Dr Ralph Bathurst.

---

When corporations replaced religion

Perhaps the most important and enduring leadership text was written in 1842 by Thomas Carlyle. It was Carlyle who introduced the great-man-as-leader into our consciousness, advocating the leader as a hero figure who would be admired (Carlyle uses the word “worshipped”) by followers and who would bring transformation. Carlyle was trying to find ways to achieve social cohesion through secular, non-religious means. He believed that society still needed heroes, men with strength of character who could guide organisations and nations.

Since Carlyle’s time, religious institutions in the West have gradually declined in importance, and the corporation has filled the vacuum. Business organisations provide a similar sense of identity and belonging that the church used to offer, adopting the familiar forms that characterised faith-based groups. As with religious affiliations, enterprises offer a sense of family to staff, replacing loyalty to a divine being with another higher power, the firm. It is not surprising, then, that business is resistant to alternative leadership practices that supersede those old religious structures.

Why strong leaders can lead to weak organistions

Indeed, most of today’s leadership theories are versions of Carlyle’s ideas, defaulting to a strong, determined and visionary person at the top of a hierarchy. Despite fashionable flavours like ‘transformational’, ‘authentic’ and even ‘servant’ leadership, these theories are still rooted in Victorian ideas and attempt to solve problems from that perspective.

However, a strong leader atop a hierarchy is actually weak because, regardless of their bluster, their vision is limited and constrained, and people beneath them are hamstrung. One way through this dysfunction is by co-leadership, where two people together as equals share responsibility for the firm. Before you argue back and say, “That’s impossible; it simply won’t work!” let’s take a closer examination of Harvey and Mike from Suits and see if there might be useful clues towards effective co-leading. 

In this series of articles, I will explore co-leadership from a variety of perspectives, using Suits, and Harvey Specter and Mike Ross as exemplars. Sure, they are fictional characters but that serves our analytic purposes; they help us detach from, and then to look back on, our real-life worlds. In taking this approach, we will explore the zeitgeist of our times and use insights from the fictional world of Pearson Hardman to examine the issues we struggle with in our age, beyond the Victorian traditions that have stifled leadership thinking.

Learn about the Master of Advanced Leadership Practice