When and How Does High Pressure Supervision become Abusive? Employees in both public and private sector organisations are today being urged to do more with less. Consequently work team supervisors are under pressure to demand more effort from subordinates. But when does this cross the line to become abusive supervision? This project proposes to develop and test a framework intended to explain, from an employee's perspective, how supervisors can motivate their subordinates to perform and at the s ....When and How Does High Pressure Supervision become Abusive? Employees in both public and private sector organisations are today being urged to do more with less. Consequently work team supervisors are under pressure to demand more effort from subordinates. But when does this cross the line to become abusive supervision? This project proposes to develop and test a framework intended to explain, from an employee's perspective, how supervisors can motivate their subordinates to perform and at the same time avoid being seen as abusive. The project includes three studies whose results aim to have both theoretical and practical implications, and in particular to help supervisors to understand their subordinates' behaviours, leading to improved employee wellbeing and organisational productivity.Read moreRead less
Serving the greater good: using 'Servant Leadership' to build ethical and engaging work practices. The project will result in the first organisational application in Australia of a leadership development program based on scientific foundations of the 'Servant Leadership' framework. The outcomes will benefit organisations of all types in developing the leadership capabilities required to create ethical, positive, and sustainable work environments.
Development of psychological capital in emergency service organisations. The project addresses the research priorities ‘Promoting good health and well being for all Australians’ and Safeguarding Australia. The project will identify ways in which the performance and wellbeing of volunteer and paid members of emergency service organisations can be enhanced, potentially diminishing the likelihood of depression, aggression, and other detrimental effects. The findings will also contribute to the qual ....Development of psychological capital in emergency service organisations. The project addresses the research priorities ‘Promoting good health and well being for all Australians’ and Safeguarding Australia. The project will identify ways in which the performance and wellbeing of volunteer and paid members of emergency service organisations can be enhanced, potentially diminishing the likelihood of depression, aggression, and other detrimental effects. The findings will also contribute to the quality of training provided to leaders in emergency services. Theoretically, the project will advance understanding of the mechanisms that underpin the psychological capital construct, placing Australian researchers at the forefront of this important emerging field of inquiry.Read moreRead less
Optimising the occupational wellbeing of Australian healthcare workers . This project aims to address the wellbeing of Australian healthcare workers by focusing on the relationship between a manager’s leadership style and the utilisation of wellbeing practices. This project expects to generate new knowledge by moving beyond individual factors and work design to explore more deep rooted and systemic causes, located upstream of the work group. Expected outcomes of this project will be to develop ....Optimising the occupational wellbeing of Australian healthcare workers . This project aims to address the wellbeing of Australian healthcare workers by focusing on the relationship between a manager’s leadership style and the utilisation of wellbeing practices. This project expects to generate new knowledge by moving beyond individual factors and work design to explore more deep rooted and systemic causes, located upstream of the work group. Expected outcomes of this project will be to develop preventative strategies to improve healthcare employees’ wellbeing, and the associated costs of mental health claims and lost productivity.Read moreRead less
Through the eyes of the Chinese: Attitudes to and opinions of Australia and their influence on Sino-Australian business exchange. The outcomes of this research will have significant policy implications for the Australian government and business sectors in terms of improving intercultural understanding, facilitating bilateral trade, unlocking the potential of the Chinese market, as well as increasing economic efficiency. The capacity of Australian businesses to engage with China will be substanti ....Through the eyes of the Chinese: Attitudes to and opinions of Australia and their influence on Sino-Australian business exchange. The outcomes of this research will have significant policy implications for the Australian government and business sectors in terms of improving intercultural understanding, facilitating bilateral trade, unlocking the potential of the Chinese market, as well as increasing economic efficiency. The capacity of Australian businesses to engage with China will be substantially improved by enhancing our knowledge base about the individual, social, and national factors that facilitate and inhibit engagement in Sino-Australian business relations and exchange. Findings from this reserch will also inform the international development in education and training, tourism and technology in Australia.Read moreRead less
Economic short-termism among Australian firms: A longitudinal investigation of managers' temporal perspectives and their relation to firm strategy and performance. The Business Council of Australia (2004) indicated its concern about the effects of short termism on Australia's future economic prosperity. We assess whether the attention managers give to the present and future when describing firms' strategies in annual reports has changed during 1992-2006. One of the key effects of short-termism ....Economic short-termism among Australian firms: A longitudinal investigation of managers' temporal perspectives and their relation to firm strategy and performance. The Business Council of Australia (2004) indicated its concern about the effects of short termism on Australia's future economic prosperity. We assess whether the attention managers give to the present and future when describing firms' strategies in annual reports has changed during 1992-2006. One of the key effects of short-termism is to reduce firms' focus on innovation. The project offers a direct, unobtrusive indicator of the time frame firms use to shape their strategies. Such evidence helps policy makers decide whether policy action is required; investors determine the seriousness of the problem in different business sectors, and creates a strong foundation for pursuing further research into the possible causes.Read moreRead less
Emotional reactions to job insecurity, emotional intelligence, and their effects on employee behaviour. Insecurity at work is a major experience for many Australian workers and research reveals that perceptions of job insecurity are increasing. A new model of employees? emotional and behavioural reactions to perceptions of job insecurity has been developed that focuses on the emotional aspects of job insecurity and describes how employees cope with job insecurity. This project develops an origin ....Emotional reactions to job insecurity, emotional intelligence, and their effects on employee behaviour. Insecurity at work is a major experience for many Australian workers and research reveals that perceptions of job insecurity are increasing. A new model of employees? emotional and behavioural reactions to perceptions of job insecurity has been developed that focuses on the emotional aspects of job insecurity and describes how employees cope with job insecurity. This project develops an original program of research to empirically explore the impact of emotional reactions to job insecurity and extend the model to look at the effect on individual and team decision-making with the aim of improving businesses response to this increasingly common phenomenon.Read moreRead less
Organizational Innovation Adoption: The Effect of External, Technology Diffusion Agencies. Organizational innovation is imperative in maintaining international competitiveness, but less than one quarter of Australian manufacturing companies adopt innovations. While previous studies have identified a large number of organisational factors affecting adoption decisions, little research has examined the effect of external, technology diffusion agencies. Our proposed research uses advanced statistica ....Organizational Innovation Adoption: The Effect of External, Technology Diffusion Agencies. Organizational innovation is imperative in maintaining international competitiveness, but less than one quarter of Australian manufacturing companies adopt innovations. While previous studies have identified a large number of organisational factors affecting adoption decisions, little research has examined the effect of external, technology diffusion agencies. Our proposed research uses advanced statistical modelling and qualitative methods to study the interaction between organisational factors and external agencies in the adoption process. Our aim is to understand how external agencies and policy information is used in the adoption process in order to identify good practices for these agencies.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
The antecedents and outcomes of affective and cognitive readiness for organisational change. This project aims to understand employees' readiness for organisational change. It identifies positive beliefs and positive emotional experiences as key aspects of readiness for change. The project focuses on individuals' personality, workplace characteristics, and characteristics of organisational change events as influencing readiness for change.