The Depriving Face of Control in Urban Animal Management

Brendan Bartlett

Abstract

In administering legislation which attempts to make for an equitable and proper line between the ownership of animals and its associated benefits and responsibilities, field officers and supporting staff in urban animal control often encounter reaction and hostility from members of the communities they serve. Such encounters can be distressing and perplexing in the sense that officers are confused by an array of confronted hopes and expectations that the public are understanding and supportive of their work, that individual owners will see the necessity of their actions when these are taken, and, that their own support staff - their bosses and colleagues in other sections of the administration - are knowing and caring about the difficulties under which they work. But, the rules of work are rarely Marquis de Queensbury and, coupled with uncertainties about their own approaches to the administering work, any such confusions will lead to job-dissatisfaction and challenges to personal esteem for animal control officers. In this paper, a framework is proposed from which confrontations may be better explained and preventative action considered.

About the author

Brendan Bartlett PhD MA BA DipTeach DipPsych
Faculty of Education
Griffith University
NATHAN
AUSTRALIA 4111
Phone (07)875 5770
Fax (07)875 5910

Dr Brendan Bartlett is a researcher and writer in the area of human memory, particularly about how people make their worlds sensible through the organisational webs they weave about information they receive and transmit. He is a psychologist and an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Education at Griffith University, Brisbane, a consultant on communications to Queensland Rail, and psychological consultant to the Gold Coast Rollers' Basketball Club.

Brendan is a UNICEF Fellow (1989). In 1991, he chaired the UNESCO International Experts' Meeting on the Improvement of Textbooks, Curricula and Other Materials. This followed his representation of the position of the University and Literacy at the UNESCO Experts' Roundtable at the 42nd International Conference on Education in Geneva. His work in international education continues with Brendan being the delegate of Australia at the UNESCO Workshop on International Education in Bandung, Indonesia, in August 1992.

His analysis of workplace effectiveness has centred on communication and its influence on how people see their work and themselves in terms of dynamic and productive interaction.

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