The Great Disruption of COVID-19: Re-imagining the work-family interface. This project aims to highlight new possibilities to re-imagine and reduce parents’ work-family conflicts. Covid-19 brought an unprecedented disruption to Australian parents' work-care routines, with different effects for women, and those working ‘at work’ versus at home. Using mixed-methods approaches and multiple Australian datasets collected pre- and post-pandemic, this unique project intends to identify families who are ....The Great Disruption of COVID-19: Re-imagining the work-family interface. This project aims to highlight new possibilities to re-imagine and reduce parents’ work-family conflicts. Covid-19 brought an unprecedented disruption to Australian parents' work-care routines, with different effects for women, and those working ‘at work’ versus at home. Using mixed-methods approaches and multiple Australian datasets collected pre- and post-pandemic, this unique project intends to identify families who are at risk of longer-term scarring to family wellbeing from work-care conflicts; and critical workplace supports which may prevent this. Together, this urgently-needed evidence contributes to family-friendly work for diverse parents, employers and policy, protecting social and economic participation for Australian parents.Read moreRead less
Migration, Mixed Marriage and Integration in Australia. This project aims to investigate the prevalence, experience and variations of ethnic and religious mixed marriage in Australia, which will guide policies that facilitate social integration and cohesion. The implications of a lack of integration have been demonstrated by recent events in Europe and US, which reflect strong anti-immigration tendencies. This project expects to generate new sociological knowledge of ethnic/religious mixed-marri ....Migration, Mixed Marriage and Integration in Australia. This project aims to investigate the prevalence, experience and variations of ethnic and religious mixed marriage in Australia, which will guide policies that facilitate social integration and cohesion. The implications of a lack of integration have been demonstrated by recent events in Europe and US, which reflect strong anti-immigration tendencies. This project expects to generate new sociological knowledge of ethnic/religious mixed-marriage, new understanding in social integration and enhanced research capacity in the area of migration and integration. This research should provide significant benefits, such as enhanced cultural understanding and appropriate policies that foster social integration of cultural groups.Read moreRead less
The meaning of home for children following parental separation. This project aims to identify the meaning of home for children in separated families by interviewing children and parents about children’s experiences of home and homemaking. Since most children now traverse two households, there needs to be an increasing emphasis in policy, law and professional practice on listening to children regarding their post-separation living arrangements. By describing and analysing home for children, the p ....The meaning of home for children following parental separation. This project aims to identify the meaning of home for children in separated families by interviewing children and parents about children’s experiences of home and homemaking. Since most children now traverse two households, there needs to be an increasing emphasis in policy, law and professional practice on listening to children regarding their post-separation living arrangements. By describing and analysing home for children, the project will provide a solid basis for shifting the prevailing focus on parents’ needs in application of the law toward more child-responsive parenting arrangements. This new knowledge will support parents and professionals to achieve child-responsive approaches to post-separation parenting arrangements, reducing potentially adverse impacts of parental separation on children, and benefitting children, families and the community.Read moreRead less
Ready to launch? young Australians’ work and family transitions. This project aims to establish reasons for young Australians delaying life-course milestones such as nest leaving and marriage. Are we seeing a shift of these milestones from “cornerstones” that lay the foundations for accomplishment to “capstones” that depend on economics accomplishments in areas such as employment? The project will investigate the timing of and conditions surrounding young Australians’ economic accomplishments an ....Ready to launch? young Australians’ work and family transitions. This project aims to establish reasons for young Australians delaying life-course milestones such as nest leaving and marriage. Are we seeing a shift of these milestones from “cornerstones” that lay the foundations for accomplishment to “capstones” that depend on economics accomplishments in areas such as employment? The project will investigate the timing of and conditions surrounding young Australians’ economic accomplishments and key household transitions. This will provide significant benefits such as identifying the economic, personal and family drivers of life-course transitions that are consequential for Australians' health, economic and social well-being, and use of public assistance programs.Read moreRead less
The Role of Employment Relations in the Competitive Strategies of Low Cost Airlines in Australia. Employment-relations issues are key determinants of an airline's performance. Air transport is important for Australia. Australia has experienced failing airlines (e.g. Ansett, Compass); its most successful airline, Qantas, charges high fares and one of its priorities is improving its employment relations. This project will investigate airlines' critical success factors with special attention to the ....The Role of Employment Relations in the Competitive Strategies of Low Cost Airlines in Australia. Employment-relations issues are key determinants of an airline's performance. Air transport is important for Australia. Australia has experienced failing airlines (e.g. Ansett, Compass); its most successful airline, Qantas, charges high fares and one of its priorities is improving its employment relations. This project will investigate airlines' critical success factors with special attention to the links between corporate strategies and employment relations. Besides investigating Qantas, it will link with MIT's Global Airline Industry Program to consider the transformation of Australia's aviation industry and, in particular, the innovations pioneered by low-cost airlines: JetStar and Virgin Blue.Read moreRead less
The Rise and Retention of the 'Authoritarian Taylorism' Perspective as Orthodoxy in the Employment Relations Field. In the late 1980s revisionist historians of the employment relationship began questioning the belief that Taylorism is an authoritarian, anti-union school of management. These scholars argued that the managers and theorists who predominated within the U.S. interwar Taylorist movement were unique in the management community in the extent to which they promoted industrial democracy, ....The Rise and Retention of the 'Authoritarian Taylorism' Perspective as Orthodoxy in the Employment Relations Field. In the late 1980s revisionist historians of the employment relationship began questioning the belief that Taylorism is an authoritarian, anti-union school of management. These scholars argued that the managers and theorists who predominated within the U.S. interwar Taylorist movement were unique in the management community in the extent to which they promoted industrial democracy, mutual gains, and gender equality. In the light of this knowledge, this project explores how it could be that the authoritarian Taylorist perspective became accepted by all schools within the employment relations field and what the notion of progressive Taylorism offers employment relations analysis and reform.Read moreRead less
Enterprise Labour Flexibility, Worker Security and Wellbeing: China and India Compared. Arguably China and India are currently the two nations most likely to reshape employment practices and the nature of work globally in the coming years. Sections of the Australian community who will benefit from the research include politicians, employees and employers as all three require a detailed knowledge of the labour policies and practices of these two major trading partners as they continue to confront ....Enterprise Labour Flexibility, Worker Security and Wellbeing: China and India Compared. Arguably China and India are currently the two nations most likely to reshape employment practices and the nature of work globally in the coming years. Sections of the Australian community who will benefit from the research include politicians, employees and employers as all three require a detailed knowledge of the labour policies and practices of these two major trading partners as they continue to confront the unending problem of labour market management and workplace reform. The research will also be of value to investors considering investing in either country and who need to make decisions regarding where to invest and how investments might be optimised. Read moreRead less
Business Social Protection Behaviour in China. Employer social protection behaviour is an under-researched field
because analysts are seldom able to attain adequate enterprise data.
Our industry partner will enable us to overcome the data problem by
providing relevant information on the revealed behaviour of 5000 firms
per year for three years. This project pioneers the utilisation of firm
specific data to analyse this issue using data from Shanghai. The
research will assist China to op ....Business Social Protection Behaviour in China. Employer social protection behaviour is an under-researched field
because analysts are seldom able to attain adequate enterprise data.
Our industry partner will enable us to overcome the data problem by
providing relevant information on the revealed behaviour of 5000 firms
per year for three years. This project pioneers the utilisation of firm
specific data to analyse this issue using data from Shanghai. The
research will assist China to operationalise its decision to model its
emergent social security system on the Australian security regime and
will assist Australia's financial community to capture the opportunities made available by this development.Read moreRead less
The 'long arm of the job': Improving parents' jobs and child development. This project aims to identify the priority job stressors that impact working families' wellbeing and child development, and to generate innovative job-based strategies to reduce work-family conflicts for working parents. Conflicts between work and family are common in Australia, reported by one in three parents. These affect productivity, family relationships and ultimately, child development. Evidence reveals that employe ....The 'long arm of the job': Improving parents' jobs and child development. This project aims to identify the priority job stressors that impact working families' wellbeing and child development, and to generate innovative job-based strategies to reduce work-family conflicts for working parents. Conflicts between work and family are common in Australia, reported by one in three parents. These affect productivity, family relationships and ultimately, child development. Evidence reveals that employers have struggled to implement family-friendly practices despite recent national policy initiatives. Using national cohort data and industry partnerships, this project investigates solutions to this urgent national dilemma to benefit those most affected by parents' job stressors – working parents and their children.
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Gendering Peace Mediation . This project aims to reconstruct international legal and political mediation frameworks to increase the chances of facilitating durable peace. Current peace mediation is ineffective as most peace agreements fail within 5-years. There is evidence that women's participation in conflict-resolution leads to better peace. This project will distil practical mechanisms and generalizable lessons from women’s successful community level mediation in a toolset that can inform an ....Gendering Peace Mediation . This project aims to reconstruct international legal and political mediation frameworks to increase the chances of facilitating durable peace. Current peace mediation is ineffective as most peace agreements fail within 5-years. There is evidence that women's participation in conflict-resolution leads to better peace. This project will distil practical mechanisms and generalizable lessons from women’s successful community level mediation in a toolset that can inform and transform high-level mediation processes. This project will generate an evidence base for rethinking peace mediation design and practice, traditionally characterised by male-dominated institutions and disciplines, to resolve conflict and benefit national and global security.Read moreRead less