Increasing the effectiveness of remote and cross-cultural collaborations in organisations. Minerals, oil and gas exports dominate the Australian economy, and the effective organisation and management of collaborative work spanning remote, dispersed, environmentally fragile and culturally sensitive locations in this industry is a key challenge. Findings will provide insight into the systems, processes, and skills that are required to collaborate in these domains, improving international competiti ....Increasing the effectiveness of remote and cross-cultural collaborations in organisations. Minerals, oil and gas exports dominate the Australian economy, and the effective organisation and management of collaborative work spanning remote, dispersed, environmentally fragile and culturally sensitive locations in this industry is a key challenge. Findings will provide insight into the systems, processes, and skills that are required to collaborate in these domains, improving international competitiveness and global impact. Extensive efforts to interpret, synthesize and disseminate findings for scholars and non-scientists will also help inform educational agendas within industry and higher education to better prepare future collaborators.Read moreRead less
International Managers: How Do We Get Them? Explanations of Staffing Strategy for International Work Performed From Home or Abroad. Australian companies often need to expand globally to survive and prosper. Yet, they report a shortage of managers for international work. This project aims to explain how companies staff international work, conceived as a set of interrelated options in which the work may be performed abroad or domestically from Australia. International staffing has rarely been ....International Managers: How Do We Get Them? Explanations of Staffing Strategy for International Work Performed From Home or Abroad. Australian companies often need to expand globally to survive and prosper. Yet, they report a shortage of managers for international work. This project aims to explain how companies staff international work, conceived as a set of interrelated options in which the work may be performed abroad or domestically from Australia. International staffing has rarely been considered as a comprehensive set of alternatives. This project will explain staffing strategy from organisational and individual perspectives and factors, including why women are underrepresented. The results will help understand the staffing strategy, management development, retention, and equity practices needed to staff international work.Read moreRead less
Understanding reactions to diversity initiatives in organizations: An intergroup perspective. Current policy and legislation promote diversity in organizations,
however employees often react negatively to diversity initiatives
that assist specific groups (e.g., women). Explanations attributing
negativity to individual factors (e.g., self interest) or to broad
organizational culture are limited. Diversity initiatives highlight
differences between the beneficiary and non-beneficiary group(s) ....Understanding reactions to diversity initiatives in organizations: An intergroup perspective. Current policy and legislation promote diversity in organizations,
however employees often react negatively to diversity initiatives
that assist specific groups (e.g., women). Explanations attributing
negativity to individual factors (e.g., self interest) or to broad
organizational culture are limited. Diversity initiatives highlight
differences between the beneficiary and non-beneficiary group(s) and
a comprehensive model should incorporate an intergroup perspective.
It should also recognise the legitimising role of justice-based
concerns. In testing such a model, this project will contribute to
theories of intergroup relations and their interplay with social
policy, and to the development of strategies to manage workplace
diversity.
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The Role of Communication in Sino-Australian Business Negotiations: An Appraisal. Communication difficulties together with the lack of cultural understanding are a major barrier preventing many Australian businesses from succeeding in the Chinese market, a primary estination for Australian exports. Yet up til now, the study of Australian-Chinese cross-cultural communications has been largely unattended. This project addresses this need by integrating an emotions perspective on communication wi ....The Role of Communication in Sino-Australian Business Negotiations: An Appraisal. Communication difficulties together with the lack of cultural understanding are a major barrier preventing many Australian businesses from succeeding in the Chinese market, a primary estination for Australian exports. Yet up til now, the study of Australian-Chinese cross-cultural communications has been largely unattended. This project addresses this need by integrating an emotions perspective on communication with a well-established communication theory. Using a grounded theory approach, the proposed project will result in a model that will assist businesses to identify points where communications may falter and formulate strategies for dealing with such intricacies in the context of Sino-Australian business negotiations.Read moreRead less
Developing leadership for high stress workplaces: Improving well-being, engagement, productivity and staff retention. Workplaces today are increasingly complex. The ageing of the workforce, growing economic pressure and increasing employee mobility make the ability of organisations to attract, develop and retain talented staff critical issues for Australian industry. Staff stress costs the economy tens of billions of dollars a year. This project focuses on the measurement and development of lead ....Developing leadership for high stress workplaces: Improving well-being, engagement, productivity and staff retention. Workplaces today are increasingly complex. The ageing of the workforce, growing economic pressure and increasing employee mobility make the ability of organisations to attract, develop and retain talented staff critical issues for Australian industry. Staff stress costs the economy tens of billions of dollars a year. This project focuses on the measurement and development of leader's ability to take sophisticated perspectives on complex events, and in so doing open new possibilities for effective action. By developing models, tools and training methods to enhance this ability in managers, we aim to make an important contribution economic sustainability and employee well-being in Australia and internationally.Read moreRead less
Motivating Employee Proactivity by Redesigning the Work Context. Self-starting and innovative employees are increasingly important in today's decentralised organisations. The central question investigated in this project via a longitudinal research design is how organisations can facilitate this type of proactive behavior amongst employees. The project also investigates the nature of employee proactivity (e.g. how it differs from other behaviors), and its consequences for employee performance, i ....Motivating Employee Proactivity by Redesigning the Work Context. Self-starting and innovative employees are increasingly important in today's decentralised organisations. The central question investigated in this project via a longitudinal research design is how organisations can facilitate this type of proactive behavior amongst employees. The project also investigates the nature of employee proactivity (e.g. how it differs from other behaviors), and its consequences for employee performance, innovation, and mental health. The project is significant because it focuses on how to promote behaviors that have often been neglected in research.Read moreRead less
Newcomer socialisation: Examining the processes predicting changes in organisational identification over time. The project examines factors that maximise the retention of new employees and optimise their well-being. It seeks to understand factors in the organisational socialisation process that lead to an increase in organisational identification and an optimal utilisation of employees' skills and capacities. The project contributes to efforts designed to promote and maintain good health and str ....Newcomer socialisation: Examining the processes predicting changes in organisational identification over time. The project examines factors that maximise the retention of new employees and optimise their well-being. It seeks to understand factors in the organisational socialisation process that lead to an increase in organisational identification and an optimal utilisation of employees' skills and capacities. The project contributes to efforts designed to promote and maintain good health and strenghten Australia's social and economic fabric. Read moreRead less
The contribution of project leader behaviours to processes and outcomes in large scale projects. In Australia and worldwide, large-scale projects often fail to meet quality, time or budget goals resulting in outcome dissatisfaction, and large time and cost project overruns. This project focuses on achieving better project processes and leadership practice, especially in large-scale, complicated projects, in order to improve project success (as viewed by multiple stakeholders) and the performance ....The contribution of project leader behaviours to processes and outcomes in large scale projects. In Australia and worldwide, large-scale projects often fail to meet quality, time or budget goals resulting in outcome dissatisfaction, and large time and cost project overruns. This project focuses on achieving better project processes and leadership practice, especially in large-scale, complicated projects, in order to improve project success (as viewed by multiple stakeholders) and the performance, health and wellbeing of staff. We focus on Australian defence acquisition projects in order to test our theoretical model. This project will provide a major contribution to Australian defence capability by identifying how project leaders can improve project operations and deliver successful innovative acquisition products on time and budget.Read moreRead less
Retirement transition: a longitudinal P-E fit approach within a 'life expectancy' time framework. Retirement is an important career milestone, heralding the onset of potentially significant changes in health, finance, and activity. Australia's largest birth cohort, the baby boomers, is ageing and beginning the transition into retirement and yet little is known about how the shifts in culture and attitude will affect their ability to adjust. This research will identify the dominant needs of this ....Retirement transition: a longitudinal P-E fit approach within a 'life expectancy' time framework. Retirement is an important career milestone, heralding the onset of potentially significant changes in health, finance, and activity. Australia's largest birth cohort, the baby boomers, is ageing and beginning the transition into retirement and yet little is known about how the shifts in culture and attitude will affect their ability to adjust. This research will identify the dominant needs of this group, the resources required to fulfil them, and the factors associated with successful adjustment behaviours. Greater understanding on how self-rated longevity, health, finance and values interact to affect decision-making will have important implications for public policy and individual planning.Read moreRead less
Time discounting in late career financial and activity planning. A new career decision model of retirement activity and financial planning will be tested that combines hyperbolic delay discounting with exponential interest growth, while also examining the impact of risk framed in terms of changing goverment tax legislation and uncertain health. The role of expertise and simulated training in reducing time discounting will be examined, and results combined to form a late career web assistance pro ....Time discounting in late career financial and activity planning. A new career decision model of retirement activity and financial planning will be tested that combines hyperbolic delay discounting with exponential interest growth, while also examining the impact of risk framed in terms of changing goverment tax legislation and uncertain health. The role of expertise and simulated training in reducing time discounting will be examined, and results combined to form a late career web assistance program. Improving predictions of the decision to retire will benefit individuals, financial planners, investors and employing organisations.Read moreRead less