Older workers & psychological contracts: A dynamic perspective. This project aims to track the trajectories of older workers’ psychological contracts that shape their give-and-take with the organisation. Little is understood about how these psychological contracts change as older workers continue to pursue work through their fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth decades of life. This project tracks older workers over intensive, repeated in-depth interviews and a large-scale longitudinal panel study. ....Older workers & psychological contracts: A dynamic perspective. This project aims to track the trajectories of older workers’ psychological contracts that shape their give-and-take with the organisation. Little is understood about how these psychological contracts change as older workers continue to pursue work through their fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth decades of life. This project tracks older workers over intensive, repeated in-depth interviews and a large-scale longitudinal panel study. The outcomes fill significant gaps in our understanding of older workers’ needs and orientation toward work, and identify the age-related changes and organisational practices that spur older workers to sustain a strong trajectory of productive participation in the workforce.Read moreRead less
Rudeness, social undermining and interpersonal mistreatment in the workplace. Workers who are mistreated by colleagues, be it thoughtless rudesness or more intentional undermining, are more likely than others to leave their job, suffer from poor emotional and physical health, and engage in increasingly aggressive retalitory actions. By providing greater understanding of the contributing factors and processes involved, this project will inform the development of interventions to reduce these coun ....Rudeness, social undermining and interpersonal mistreatment in the workplace. Workers who are mistreated by colleagues, be it thoughtless rudesness or more intentional undermining, are more likely than others to leave their job, suffer from poor emotional and physical health, and engage in increasingly aggressive retalitory actions. By providing greater understanding of the contributing factors and processes involved, this project will inform the development of interventions to reduce these counterproductive behaviours and their harmful effects. Providing a unique opportunity for widespread documentation of the incidence and nature of interpersonal mistreatment across Australia, New Zealand and Asia, the research will identify types of people or workplaces that are at high risk of being targeted.Read moreRead less
The two faces of leadership: Constructive and destructive leadership and their consequences for employees. This proposal is designed to strengthen Australia’s social and economic fabric by enhancing understanding of the impact of both constructive and destructive leadership on follower and organisational outcomes. This research enables us to identify ways in which organisations can reduce tangible (e.g., low production levels, reduced performance) and intangible losses (e.g., reduced psychologic ....The two faces of leadership: Constructive and destructive leadership and their consequences for employees. This proposal is designed to strengthen Australia’s social and economic fabric by enhancing understanding of the impact of both constructive and destructive leadership on follower and organisational outcomes. This research enables us to identify ways in which organisations can reduce tangible (e.g., low production levels, reduced performance) and intangible losses (e.g., reduced psychological health), which have wider societal implications. Our focus on developing a training program to build constructive leadership and minimise destructive leadership is a key strategy designed to promote a healthier and more productive work environment.Read moreRead less
The high cost of bad bosses: Reactions of employees, co-workers, and employees' partners to abusive supervision. Abusive supervision has serious consequences for individuals and organisations. It is detrimental to employee well-being, reduces productivity, and may even result in litigation. We examine the negative effects of abusive supervision not only on employees but also on those around them: their co-workers and families. Our proposed intervention is a major step towards empowering employee ....The high cost of bad bosses: Reactions of employees, co-workers, and employees' partners to abusive supervision. Abusive supervision has serious consequences for individuals and organisations. It is detrimental to employee well-being, reduces productivity, and may even result in litigation. We examine the negative effects of abusive supervision not only on employees but also on those around them: their co-workers and families. Our proposed intervention is a major step towards empowering employees to effectively manage the aftermath of supervisory mistreatment. The outcomes of this research will demonstrate the need for organisations and governmental agencies to invest more resources in the prevention of these harmful supervisory practices.Read moreRead less
Developing employee well-being and performance through transformational leadership. This proposal contributes to the ARC priority area of strengthening Australia's social and economic fabric. A key national benefit of this research is increasing understanding of how specific leadership behaviours improve employees' well-being and performance.This research also identifies which followers are most responsive to leadership and in what contexts these behaviours are most effective. This information i ....Developing employee well-being and performance through transformational leadership. This proposal contributes to the ARC priority area of strengthening Australia's social and economic fabric. A key national benefit of this research is increasing understanding of how specific leadership behaviours improve employees' well-being and performance.This research also identifies which followers are most responsive to leadership and in what contexts these behaviours are most effective. This information is critical as it enables development of selection and training packages specifically designed to provide leaders with the skills needed to build employee well-being and performance.Read moreRead less
Cue Acquisition as a Mediator of Cognitive Skills Development. As the Australian workforce ages and there is a consequent reduction in the availability of experienced practitioners, organisations are going to be faced with the dilemma of placing relatively inexperienced staff in positions that were once occupied by experts. The result is a potential increase in the risks to critical infrastructure, such as electricity transmission. In this project, we expect to develop a set of principles that c ....Cue Acquisition as a Mediator of Cognitive Skills Development. As the Australian workforce ages and there is a consequent reduction in the availability of experienced practitioners, organisations are going to be faced with the dilemma of placing relatively inexperienced staff in positions that were once occupied by experts. The result is a potential increase in the risks to critical infrastructure, such as electricity transmission. In this project, we expect to develop a set of principles that can ensure that scenario based training is targeted to those aspects of the situation that are most important in maintaining the integrity of the system. The outcome is not only a safer system, but one that provides a structured approach to the acquisition of skills amongst employees.Read moreRead less
A mental model of remaining lifetime: motivating late-career adjustment and productivity. Motivating late-career workers to maintain employability and peak performance while simultaneously planning their transition to retirement has growing significance in the face of global workforce aging. This longitudinal research seeks to explain late-career motivation using an innovative theoretical framework that captures individuals’ future selves and their subjective life expectancy within a personal me ....A mental model of remaining lifetime: motivating late-career adjustment and productivity. Motivating late-career workers to maintain employability and peak performance while simultaneously planning their transition to retirement has growing significance in the face of global workforce aging. This longitudinal research seeks to explain late-career motivation using an innovative theoretical framework that captures individuals’ future selves and their subjective life expectancy within a personal mental model of remaining lifetime. The projects main focus is on Australia’s burgeoning cohort of older workers, but the framework is also assessed for its generalisability to couples’ decision-making and to the unique late-career context of elite athletes. Outcomes will promote adjustment during the late-career and retirement transition periods. Read moreRead less
Enhancing employee safety in response to workplace violence. International and national trends indicate that workplace violence is a significant growing problem. Poorly managed, victims can suffer physical and psychological trauma, and employers risk increases in workers compensation claims, insurance premiums, employee turnover, sick leave and low morale. There is a dearth of research into the effectiveness of training employees to predict, control and defuse aggressive incidents, yet this is a ....Enhancing employee safety in response to workplace violence. International and national trends indicate that workplace violence is a significant growing problem. Poorly managed, victims can suffer physical and psychological trauma, and employers risk increases in workers compensation claims, insurance premiums, employee turnover, sick leave and low morale. There is a dearth of research into the effectiveness of training employees to predict, control and defuse aggressive incidents, yet this is a significant priority for many industries. This project will develop and evaluate a new best practice aggression minimisation training program with 200 mental health employees by an RCT assessing gains in safety, knowledge, skills and confidence in managing violence.Read moreRead less
Predicting misdiagnoses in the transition from competence to expertise. This project aims to test whether the utilisation of cues predicts vulnerability to misdiagnosis during skill acquisition. This project uses newly developed measures of cue utilisation, together with innovative, on-line scenarios and a longitudinal design, to measure different types of misdiagnosis amongst qualified radiologists, pathologists and pilots as they acquire expertise. With potential applications in medicine, avia ....Predicting misdiagnoses in the transition from competence to expertise. This project aims to test whether the utilisation of cues predicts vulnerability to misdiagnosis during skill acquisition. This project uses newly developed measures of cue utilisation, together with innovative, on-line scenarios and a longitudinal design, to measure different types of misdiagnosis amongst qualified radiologists, pathologists and pilots as they acquire expertise. With potential applications in medicine, aviation, energy, transportation, and defence, the expected outcomes will facilitate interventions such as targeted training and the provision of technical support, that will guide the diagnostic process and thereby reduce the impact of misdiagnoses on individuals and infrastructure.Read moreRead less
The Heart of Health Care: Advancing Emotional Well-being, Engagement and Performance in Hospitals. This research will improve our understanding of the drivers of effective health care delivery and will identify practical ways to improve the well-being, performance, retention and engagement of health care professionals and improve patient care, satisfaction and safety. In light of significant staffing shortages of health care professionals, the knowledge created will have substantial benefits in ....The Heart of Health Care: Advancing Emotional Well-being, Engagement and Performance in Hospitals. This research will improve our understanding of the drivers of effective health care delivery and will identify practical ways to improve the well-being, performance, retention and engagement of health care professionals and improve patient care, satisfaction and safety. In light of significant staffing shortages of health care professionals, the knowledge created will have substantial benefits in developing more effective models of quality care. In addition this research will enable health care professionals to build holistic, adaptable and multidisciplinary approaches to patient care in order to ensure a sustainable health care system for the future.Read moreRead less