Pay alignment: Fact or fallacy? The project will make an important contribution to our understanding of the impact of employee pay system configuration on firm performance and, in turn, on national productivity and Australia's social and economic fabric. The findings will enrich pay system theory and guide evidence-based improvement in firms' pay practices. It will help employers to identify the most contextually appropriate and effective ways to manage pay level, structure and plan choice and t ....Pay alignment: Fact or fallacy? The project will make an important contribution to our understanding of the impact of employee pay system configuration on firm performance and, in turn, on national productivity and Australia's social and economic fabric. The findings will enrich pay system theory and guide evidence-based improvement in firms' pay practices. It will help employers to identify the most contextually appropriate and effective ways to manage pay level, structure and plan choice and thus to design pay systems that employees in different workplace contexts perceive as fair and that enhance organisational performance and ability to attract, motivate and retain high calibre staff.Read moreRead less
Bullying in the workplace: A study of Australian Nurses. Improving the work life of nurses is an emerging issue in the international media, for the nursing profession and health managers. Bullying has been identified as a significant workplace issue for nurses and links to workplace retention inferred. This timely study, through a process of in-depth interview, expert consultation and national survey will differentiate the extent, nature and sequelae of bullying in the Australian nursing contex ....Bullying in the workplace: A study of Australian Nurses. Improving the work life of nurses is an emerging issue in the international media, for the nursing profession and health managers. Bullying has been identified as a significant workplace issue for nurses and links to workplace retention inferred. This timely study, through a process of in-depth interview, expert consultation and national survey will differentiate the extent, nature and sequelae of bullying in the Australian nursing context. The results will provide a framework for policy makers and health professionals to explore proactive approaches to bullying and provide a validated tool that can be used to explore bullying in other workplace settings.Read moreRead less
An empirical analysis of structural cost management decision making. This study analyses the rationale adopted by firms in implementing cost management choices with significant social and economic consequences. Layoffs, across-the-board cost cuts and off-shoring are significant influences on workforce participation levels in the Australian economy. This study explores the factors associated with firms and managers that lead to systematic preferences for certain types of cost management respons ....An empirical analysis of structural cost management decision making. This study analyses the rationale adopted by firms in implementing cost management choices with significant social and economic consequences. Layoffs, across-the-board cost cuts and off-shoring are significant influences on workforce participation levels in the Australian economy. This study explores the factors associated with firms and managers that lead to systematic preferences for certain types of cost management responses. In analysing these decisions in a range of organizational settings, and seeking to establish best practice benchmarks in innovative cost management practice, this study directly supports the government's workforce participation agenda. Read moreRead less
Scenario driven management in a network environment. Scenario planning is the process of identifying plausible futures and their inherent risks. The organisation, the network within which it is embedded, and the environment in which the network operates, form a complex system of non-linear, dynamic, interrelationships. This project will develop a continuous process of scenario planning, capturing learning about the future as it emerges. The project fuses the use of agents for intelligent data co ....Scenario driven management in a network environment. Scenario planning is the process of identifying plausible futures and their inherent risks. The organisation, the network within which it is embedded, and the environment in which the network operates, form a complex system of non-linear, dynamic, interrelationships. This project will develop a continuous process of scenario planning, capturing learning about the future as it emerges. The project fuses the use of agents for intelligent data collection and negotiation with agent-based modelling to build powerful network-based scenario modelling systems for commercial applications. This outcome will place Australia on the frontier of smart information use.Read moreRead less
Visualising Value in Australian Organisations: Case Studies in Extended Performance Management, Measurement and Reporting. This research positions and develops Australia at the forefront of the knowledge economy. Participating organisations will realise insights into their invisible resources and improve their understanding of the performance, utilisation and productivity of their intangible resources. Corporate social responsibility and social and environmental management are recognized as cruc ....Visualising Value in Australian Organisations: Case Studies in Extended Performance Management, Measurement and Reporting. This research positions and develops Australia at the forefront of the knowledge economy. Participating organisations will realise insights into their invisible resources and improve their understanding of the performance, utilisation and productivity of their intangible resources. Corporate social responsibility and social and environmental management are recognized as crucial to the contemporary organisation and this research provides a means of managing, measuring and reporting these perspectives, enhancing Australia's reputation and long-term economic sustainability. Read moreRead less
Culture Change for a Sustainable Future: Strategy, Culture and Subculture in Queensland Health. The project investigates the strategic change processes of a State Health authority. The organisation has launched a series of change efforts in recent years, the most current being a major strategic initiative that is being implemented via a Balanced Scorecard methodology. The project examines longitudinally that change implementation process and its affects, particularly the impact on organisational ....Culture Change for a Sustainable Future: Strategy, Culture and Subculture in Queensland Health. The project investigates the strategic change processes of a State Health authority. The organisation has launched a series of change efforts in recent years, the most current being a major strategic initiative that is being implemented via a Balanced Scorecard methodology. The project examines longitudinally that change implementation process and its affects, particularly the impact on organisational culture. Theoretically, it explores the existence of organisational subcultures and how they function as a resource by organisational members to make differential interpretations of the change process. It focuses on subcultures formed around professional identifications and the extent to which they align with the change.Read moreRead less
Effectiveness of Leadership Development in Driving Organisational Change. Queensland Rail faces challenges in managing changes brought about by deregulation, pressures for better customer service, changing technologies, and decentralised systems of industrial relations and human resource (HR) management. According to organisational development notions, leadership training and improved management practices can help achieve such changes. However, which training and related HR approaches are most ....Effectiveness of Leadership Development in Driving Organisational Change. Queensland Rail faces challenges in managing changes brought about by deregulation, pressures for better customer service, changing technologies, and decentralised systems of industrial relations and human resource (HR) management. According to organisational development notions, leadership training and improved management practices can help achieve such changes. However, which training and related HR approaches are most effective and how effectiveness can be measured and benchmarked have not been fully explored. The study will evaluate links between leadership training and organisational-change goals in QR; develop key performance indicators for the change process and its outcomes; and undertake comparisons with another enterprise (Telstra).Read moreRead less
The role of organisational events and emotions in strategic decision-making. Australia's international competitiveness depends to a large extent on the effectiveness of its business organisations. This effectiveness depends, in turn, on the quality of top managers' decision-making. Thus, understanding the way that managers make decisions is of critical importance if we are to develop programs to improve the competitiveness of Australian business organisations. The Australian researchers involve ....The role of organisational events and emotions in strategic decision-making. Australia's international competitiveness depends to a large extent on the effectiveness of its business organisations. This effectiveness depends, in turn, on the quality of top managers' decision-making. Thus, understanding the way that managers make decisions is of critical importance if we are to develop programs to improve the competitiveness of Australian business organisations. The Australian researchers involved in this grant application have been at the forefront of the international movement to include the study of emotions in organisational research. In a series of four projects, they combine with a noted US scholar, who specialises in the study of organisational justice, to study the decision-making patterns of top managers.Read moreRead less
Production Challenges in the On-Line Learning Environment. The shift of responsibility from teacher-centred learning to learner-centred learning has raised important questions of access for diverse groups in Australia and overseas. The project seeks to investigate new delivery mechanisms that respond to worldwide trends in virtual communities and self-directed learning. This research will explore the relationship between content pedagogy, use of technology, and work-related issues and expectatio ....Production Challenges in the On-Line Learning Environment. The shift of responsibility from teacher-centred learning to learner-centred learning has raised important questions of access for diverse groups in Australia and overseas. The project seeks to investigate new delivery mechanisms that respond to worldwide trends in virtual communities and self-directed learning. This research will explore the relationship between content pedagogy, use of technology, and work-related issues and expectations. It will adopt a qualitative and quantitative research methodology in identifying opportunities, producing a learning prototype, testing and trialing that prototype and applying research outcomes in the context of emergent new educational models that draw upon convergent media.Read moreRead less
The New Discipline of Business Coaching? Business coaching combines business planning with facilitation techniques to assist clients in defining and achieving goals. Its recent emergence means its effects on managerial behaviour and organizational performance have not been rigorously researched. We will combine qualitative and quantitative approaches to investigate the craft of business coaching, to demonstrate what is important in business coaching; why it is important, and how it works. We wil ....The New Discipline of Business Coaching? Business coaching combines business planning with facilitation techniques to assist clients in defining and achieving goals. Its recent emergence means its effects on managerial behaviour and organizational performance have not been rigorously researched. We will combine qualitative and quantitative approaches to investigate the craft of business coaching, to demonstrate what is important in business coaching; why it is important, and how it works. We will construct a model for business coaching that systematises best practice in a governance framework of interaction norms, processes and outputs. The research will set standards for this important but institutionally unregulated field of practice.Read moreRead less