Responding to the rural skills crisis: Modelling volunteer motivations and incentives to attract retired/semi-retired professionals to volunteer in rural areas. This project contributes directly to Promoting and Maintaining Good Health: Ageing well, ageing productively by placing a high value on the skills of older Australians and encouraging them to remain productive into retirement by sharing these skills. This project will also strengthen the social and economic fabric of rural communities by ....Responding to the rural skills crisis: Modelling volunteer motivations and incentives to attract retired/semi-retired professionals to volunteer in rural areas. This project contributes directly to Promoting and Maintaining Good Health: Ageing well, ageing productively by placing a high value on the skills of older Australians and encouraging them to remain productive into retirement by sharing these skills. This project will also strengthen the social and economic fabric of rural communities by addressing the identified national priority area of skills shortages in rural areas by providing rural councils with a means to access skilled professionals to assist them in enhancing their economic and social sustainability. Further, use of sound, well-tested psychological theories of individual decision making will enhance the validity and applicability of the model.Read moreRead less
Enhancing moral care and quality of life in people with dementia. This research explores largely unknown quality of life experiences of persons living with dementia in residential aged care, and therefore factors that may promote well being, longevity, meaning, family and social coherence. The research will result in new knowledge for a model of care that is truly person-centred and will inform health, ageing and education policy, as well as an enlarged and clearer role function for caregivers. ....Enhancing moral care and quality of life in people with dementia. This research explores largely unknown quality of life experiences of persons living with dementia in residential aged care, and therefore factors that may promote well being, longevity, meaning, family and social coherence. The research will result in new knowledge for a model of care that is truly person-centred and will inform health, ageing and education policy, as well as an enlarged and clearer role function for caregivers. The solution focused model of dementia care is likely to also have positive effects on staff satisfaction and result in improved recruitment and retention. Read moreRead less
Gender and Employment Equity: Strategies for Advancement in Australian Universities. Gender inequity in pay and employment remain a feature of Australian society and can impair labour productivity. Lower female labour force participation rates continue to be a major issue, resulting in less than optimum use of women's skills. This project undertakes detailed analysis of these issues in Australian Universities, the major training site for the national skilled workforce. It will develop practical ....Gender and Employment Equity: Strategies for Advancement in Australian Universities. Gender inequity in pay and employment remain a feature of Australian society and can impair labour productivity. Lower female labour force participation rates continue to be a major issue, resulting in less than optimum use of women's skills. This project undertakes detailed analysis of these issues in Australian Universities, the major training site for the national skilled workforce. It will develop practical strategies to promote gender equity in universities. As women's participation is a major driver of labour force growth, this research will provide vital information for many industries.Read moreRead less
An Empirically Derived Experimentally Validated Framework for Interactions in Information Environments. This project will investigate and design ways of interacting with the information infrastructure that maintain natural social interactions, take advantage of physical space and utilise our extensive human abilities to recognise and manipulate physical objects.
Expected outcomes include:
? a theoretical framework that describes the range of possible interactions that mediate information b ....An Empirically Derived Experimentally Validated Framework for Interactions in Information Environments. This project will investigate and design ways of interacting with the information infrastructure that maintain natural social interactions, take advantage of physical space and utilise our extensive human abilities to recognise and manipulate physical objects.
Expected outcomes include:
? a theoretical framework that describes the range of possible interactions that mediate information between the physical and virtual worlds.
? a prototype instrumented information environment that demonstrates and validates naturalistic information transactions identified in the framework.
This research is highly innovative in its field. It will use an iterative cycle of video observation, interaction analysis, user-centred device design, deployment and evaluation.
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Examining the work-family interface: The impact of a worksite parenting intervention on family and occupational outcomes and objective performance measures. This study will contribute to strengthening the evidence-base for work-family balance policies and practices. There have been few controlled studies examining the effects of workplace interventions targeting working parents. The study will increase our knowledge of the relationship between work-family conflict and occupational functioning. I ....Examining the work-family interface: The impact of a worksite parenting intervention on family and occupational outcomes and objective performance measures. This study will contribute to strengthening the evidence-base for work-family balance policies and practices. There have been few controlled studies examining the effects of workplace interventions targeting working parents. The study will increase our knowledge of the relationship between work-family conflict and occupational functioning. It will enable conclusions to be drawn about the efficacy of a specific strategy to enhance working parents ability to manage their respective work and family roles in a cost effective manner. Such evidence will usefully inform both the scientific literature on the effects of work-family balance issues and policy development in the area.Read moreRead less
Designing family-friendly work environments: An evaluation of a worksite parenting intervention for working women with young children. This project will investigate the influence of family factors on organisational well-being, and evaluate the implementation of an intervention which aims to decrease family risk factors and enhance family protective factors, to benefit the work domain. It is expected that family factors will predict work outcomes and that the intervention will significantly impro ....Designing family-friendly work environments: An evaluation of a worksite parenting intervention for working women with young children. This project will investigate the influence of family factors on organisational well-being, and evaluate the implementation of an intervention which aims to decrease family risk factors and enhance family protective factors, to benefit the work domain. It is expected that family factors will predict work outcomes and that the intervention will significantly improve family and work functioning, compared to a control group. Due to the increasing prevalence of working mothers in the workforce, this research will provide important information to organisations for the purpose of policy development in the area of balancing work and family demands.
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Investigating the Impact of Work Design on Productive Wellbeing in Mercy Health: The Modernising Third Sector. Around the world the Third Sector (TS) of the economy is coming under pressure to modernise their management. The typical approaches to modern management being imposed overseas may not be appropriate for TS organisations and therefore they need to be critically examined, especially for their impact on employees. In Australia the TS is a large (approx. $15billion), yet low-profile set of ....Investigating the Impact of Work Design on Productive Wellbeing in Mercy Health: The Modernising Third Sector. Around the world the Third Sector (TS) of the economy is coming under pressure to modernise their management. The typical approaches to modern management being imposed overseas may not be appropriate for TS organisations and therefore they need to be critically examined, especially for their impact on employees. In Australia the TS is a large (approx. $15billion), yet low-profile set of organisations, of which the health industry is central. This project will investigate the issues that make workplaces in a TS health organisation a healthier and more productive place to work. The results could directly help improve workplaces covering more than 150,000 employees.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
Enhancing volunteer capacity to maximise the volunteer resources for contextually diverse community organisations. The study aims to maximise the volunteer resources available to community organisations through the development of a flexible organisational volunteer model that enhances each volunteer's capacity, particularly at key points of their engagement.Individual volunteer capacities will be analysed using a multidimensional measure validated with different volunteer samples across diverse ....Enhancing volunteer capacity to maximise the volunteer resources for contextually diverse community organisations. The study aims to maximise the volunteer resources available to community organisations through the development of a flexible organisational volunteer model that enhances each volunteer's capacity, particularly at key points of their engagement.Individual volunteer capacities will be analysed using a multidimensional measure validated with different volunteer samples across diverse organisations and social contexts. The model will help community organisations determine the self-efficacy of volunteers; enhance individual and collective volunteer capacity;identify new volunteer pathways responsive to the lifestyles and social and economic circumstances of volunteers;and create a more capable and responsive pool of volunteers.Read moreRead less
The production of pay (in)equity for women: a study of emerging occupations. The aims of this project are to extend understanding of current impediments to pay equity for women, and to elaborate the ways in which pay inequality is re-created in new contexts. The focus is on emerging occupations likely to provide increasing employment opportunities in the near future. This is highly significant research at a time of structural change and when new procedures for addressing pay equity are being dev ....The production of pay (in)equity for women: a study of emerging occupations. The aims of this project are to extend understanding of current impediments to pay equity for women, and to elaborate the ways in which pay inequality is re-created in new contexts. The focus is on emerging occupations likely to provide increasing employment opportunities in the near future. This is highly significant research at a time of structural change and when new procedures for addressing pay equity are being developed in several States following pay equity inquiries. Expected outcomes include enhanced comprehension of the reproduction of pay inequality and evidence to assist the advancement of pay equity through identified mechanisms and strategies.Read moreRead less