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
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
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
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
Working wounded or engaged? Australian work conditions and consequences through the lens of the Job Demands- Resources Model. Australian researchers will participate in high quality theory driven longitudinal research of crucial practical importance nationally and of theoretical importance internationally. Specifically the study will assist in understanding workplace health and productivity in terms of job conditions, demands and resources. It will underscore costly consequences of stressful j ....Working wounded or engaged? Australian work conditions and consequences through the lens of the Job Demands- Resources Model. Australian researchers will participate in high quality theory driven longitudinal research of crucial practical importance nationally and of theoretical importance internationally. Specifically the study will assist in understanding workplace health and productivity in terms of job conditions, demands and resources. It will underscore costly consequences of stressful jobs e.g. depression related workplace productivity loss in dollar terms. Australian governments, unions, and OHS organisations will have access to high quality evidence to: design and evaluate OHS interventions; inform prevention campaigns, policies and practice; benchmark progress at national levels; monitor changing trends; and develop national standards.Read moreRead less