Nuisance is a tort that responds to interferences with the use and enjoyment of land, or with rights shared by the community at large. It is a flexible cause of action, capable of addressing diverse harms such as smoke, noise, odours and obstruction of access to public places. Although often categorised under tort law, nuisance has long straddled the boundaries between private law, public law and regulatory regimes.

In modern legal systems, the boundaries of nuisance are increasingly shaped by legislation. These types of legislative regime may limit the scope of nuisance by authorising certain conduct, prescribing alternative remedies or displacing common law actions altogether. As a result, the availability and utility of nuisance claims often depend on navigating the complex interface between common law and statutory regulation.

This chapter primarily focuses on the tort of private nuisance, but it also provides a brief overview of the tort of public nuisance.

The three basic sources of demographic data are national censuses, registers, and sample surveys. National censuses and registers differ in that censuses are conducted on a periodic basis, such as every ten years (decennial) or five years (quinquennial), while registers are gathered continuously. Registration data of population events are compiled and published annually or monthly, even though they are gathered continuously as they occur. A census may be likened to taking a snapshot of a population at one point in time, say, once every ten years or so, and in this snapshot getting a picture of the size of the population, its characteristics, and its spatial distribution. Conversely, a register may be thought of as a video that continuously compiles major population events, such as births, deaths, marriages, divorces, and sometimes migrations. When a birth or a death occurs, it is registered with the government; the registrations thus occur continuously.

This chapter explores strategy as a key driver of organizational design, emphasizing that structure should align with strategic intent. It introduces four strategic archetypes: reactors (no clear strategy), defenders (efficiency-focused), prospectors (innovation-driven), and analyzers (balancing both). It also discusses digital business strategy, showing how AI and digitalization reshape decision-making, operations, and innovation. Sustainable strategy is introduced, integrating economic, environmental, and social goals (People, Planet, Profit) to enhance resilience and competitiveness. The chapter concludes with strategy misfits – misalignments between strategy and goals – and the need to adjust one or the other. It ends by addressing how the environment influences strategic choices.

The labor force refers to members of the population above a minimum age who are working or looking for work. An equivalent term is the economically active population. In most societies, there is a lower age limit for inclusion in the labor force. There is no upper boundary, for some people continue to work well beyond what might be considered the normal retirement age. This chapter discusses how the labor force is measured, how the labor force interacts with the basic demographic processes of fertility, mortality, and migration, and changes in the composition of the labor force, especially the dramatic increase over time in women workers. There are also important composition variables that are usually measured within the labor force, such as occupation, industry, and class of worker. The chapter also discusses how the size and composition of the labor force affect the economy, and finally, the future of work.

This chapter introduces the complex relationship between human societies and the environment, emphasising the role of structural inequalities in exacerbating environmental challenges. It begins by outlining the development of environmental sociology as a discipline, highlighting its focus on the interplay between ecological and societal systems. The chapter explores how environmental problems, such as climate change and pollution, disproportionately affect marginalised communities, particularly those in the Global South. It highlights the multifaceted nature of inequalities, including economic, gender and racial dimensions, and their impact on climate-based vulnerabilities and forced migration. The chapter also examines the role of economic growth in driving environmental degradation while acknowledging the potential for technological advancements to mitigate these effects. It aims to provide a solid understanding of the sociological perspectives on environmental communication. Additionally, it highlights the importance of interdisciplinary approaches in addressing environmental issues, advocating for collaboration between social scientists, policymakers and activists.

Today’s organizations face rapid change, digital disruption, and rising demands for sustainability and resilience. This fifth-edition text equips executives, students, and educators with a proven framework for designing effective organizations in complex environments. Built on decades of research, the multi-contingency model provides a step-by-step guide from diagnosis to design and implementation – now expanded to include knowledge interdependence, AI integration, sustainable development, and organizational resilience.

Rich with real-world cases from LEGO, Microsoft, Haier, and BlackBerry, the book blends theory with practice and offers clear visuals, intuitive two-by-two models, and tools to support hands-on learning and application. It helps readers understand who should do what, who should talk to whom, and – crucially – who should know what, in today’s increasingly dynamic settings. Whether used in executive education or as a core text in MBA and business school courses, this updated edition is a comprehensive, accessible, and globally trusted guide to modern organizational design.

A tort is a special kind of wrongdoing. ‘Tort’ is a legal term that describes a particular category of interpersonal wrongdoing dealt with by the civil justice system. The law of torts covers a wide range of different types of misconduct, including many torts with well-known names like ‘assault’, ‘battery’, ‘trespass to land’, ‘defamation’ and ‘negligence’. The task of defining the word ‘tort’ is notoriously difficult, given that more than 70 torts are known to the common law world, each with a different focus and a distinctive set of elements to protect different personal interests.

Curiously, there does not appear to be any shared identifying characteristic nor any unified set of interests that the law of torts seeks to protect to the exclusion of any other area of the law. The search for a clear definition is further complicated by the constant state of development of the law of torts. Some torts are outdated and no longer recognised in Australia, while others that have existed in other common law jurisdictions for many years have not yet been widely accepted here.

This chapter explores the constructed nature of environmental understanding through colonial, neocolonial, postcolonial and ecofeminist lenses. It begins by dissecting the binary opposition of nature versus civilisation as shaped by colonial narratives, revealing how this dichotomy justified the exploitation of Indigenous populations, women and natural resources. The analysis extends to neocolonial practices – such as land-grabbing and neoliberal economic expansion – and their environmental repercussions. Through literary and filmic examples like Robinson Crusoe and Cast Away, the chapter highlights how survival narratives reinforce human supremacy and commodify nature. It then critically examines the idealisation of Indigenous peoples as ‘noble savages’ and the romanticised notion of nature as a Garden of Eden. Moving towards constructive alternatives, it foregrounds postcolonial and ecofeminist approaches that challenge anthropocentrism, promote interconnectedness and embrace Indigenous cosmologies centred around earth goddesses like Pachamama and Papatūānuku. The chapter concludes with a case study on Brendon Grimshaw’s ecological restoration of Moyenne Island, advocating for grassroots conservation and ethical environmental care. Ultimately, the chapter urges readers to reassess dominant narratives and join collective efforts to protect and regenerate nature.

This chapter explores incentive systems as tools to align employee behavior with organizational goals. Incentives can be based on behavior or results, and targeted at individuals or groups, forming four types: personal pay, skill pay, bonus-based pay, and profit/gain-sharing. Each has strengths and risks, e.g., bonus pay may drive results but also short-termism. Misaligned incentives can lead to unintended behaviors. Digital tools such as AI and real-time monitoring enable more dynamic, granular incentive systems but raise ethical concerns around privacy and surveillance. Incentives also reflect power dynamics and can affect trust and fairness. In modern work settings – remote, hybrid, or gig-based – traditional incentive models face challenges in visibility and accountability. Sustainability-linked incentives are gaining traction, integrating environmental and social goals into reward systems. Successful incentive design balances financial and non-financial motivators, adapts to evolving work models, and supports long-term, ethical performance.

This final chapter looks broadly at the remaining years of the twenty-first century and the start of the twenty-second. Considered are the implications of a world population in 2100 that approaches or exceeds 10 billion. Some, if not all, of these musings may appear dismal to many. Most certainly the world facing monumental population and environmental challenges. Some of them are addressed in this chapter. There are also demographic implications for governance and civil society, national security, human rights, and international relations. The world is witnessing enormous advances in technology. Both population and noetic exponentialism are becoming even more problematic. The era of the Industrial Revolution is long over. The world is now experiencing the Information Revolution. Population size and change are in the middle of this incredible phenomenon.

Every one of us has been born and every one of us will die. Our final behavior on this earth is our death. The impact of mortality varies significantly according to social and demographic characteristics. People in higher social classes live longer; so do richer people and married people; also, females live longer than males. We discuss these issues later. After addressing issues of measurement, we consider mortality and longevity from an international point of view. Then we discuss the major causes of death in developed and developing countries. Another section is concerned with changes in mortality in the United States, followed by a discussion of a special kind of mortality, that which occurs in infancy. We also speculate about the future course of mortality and improvements in life expectancy.

Discussions of the family and sexual orientation, the topics of Chapters 8 and 9, would not be complete without a consideration and review of contraception and birth control. Most married and unmarried sexually active women and men in the United States and in the countries of the developed world endeavor to limit their family size and/or to control the timing and spacing of their births.

In this chapter, the element of breach is covered in four sections. Section 12.1 discusses the nature of breach as an element of the tort of negligence – what it is there for and what it covers. Section 12.2 discusses the standard of care – a question of law. Section 12.3 explains what courts take into account to assess the conduct of a defendant – a question of fact. Section 12.4 discusses the ways in which breach of duty can be proved.

Two sets of ‘Summary points’ summarise the matters that you should take into account when approaching a problem question. They appear at the end of the discussion of the nature and role of breach (section 12.1) and again at the end of the chapter.

Note that these ‘Summary points’ ask you to engage in an active reading exercise: your task is to link each of the summary points with a case in the section.