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
How leaders integrate safety goals for employees to build adaptive safety capabilities in organisations. How can organisations maintain high levels of safety while adapting to constant technological, social, and economic change? This project will investigate how leaders align complex individual goals to develop adaptive safety capability: the capacity of organisations to successfully modify safety systems in the midst of change.
Integrity, Leadership and Behaviour in Organisations. Recent high profile corporate scandals such as those involving Enron and HIH have demonstrated how important it is for leaders and managers to demonstrate integrity in their actions. However, organisational researchers have struggled to reach agreement on the qualities of character and behaviour that define integrity. This work draws on work in the philosophical tradition to propose a new multidimensional conceptualisation of leader integri ....Integrity, Leadership and Behaviour in Organisations. Recent high profile corporate scandals such as those involving Enron and HIH have demonstrated how important it is for leaders and managers to demonstrate integrity in their actions. However, organisational researchers have struggled to reach agreement on the qualities of character and behaviour that define integrity. This work draws on work in the philosophical tradition to propose a new multidimensional conceptualisation of leader integrity and to develop a measurement instrument for its assessment. The influence of leader integrity on the behaviour of leaders and subordinates is explored, and a program aimed at enhancing integrity in organisational leadership developed and trialled.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
Goal orientations, self-regulation and performance: Implications for accelerating learning via goal-setting interventions. This project relates to the priority of strengthening Australia's social and economic fabric. The question of when and why various goals are adaptive versus maladaptive is of fundamental importance for understanding human behaviour. Society benefits from research into this question, because it provides a pathway for tapping into human potential. The results have implications ....Goal orientations, self-regulation and performance: Implications for accelerating learning via goal-setting interventions. This project relates to the priority of strengthening Australia's social and economic fabric. The question of when and why various goals are adaptive versus maladaptive is of fundamental importance for understanding human behaviour. Society benefits from research into this question, because it provides a pathway for tapping into human potential. The results have implications for the development of effective training programs and thus have the potential to influence personal growth and financial stability. The results will have wide application in a variety of industries. Examples include the development of interventions for more rapid training, and the development of performance-management plans for facilitating career advancement.Read moreRead less
How attention and memory for past events interact in determining performance in an air traffic control conflict detection task. This project addresses the priority of safeguarding Australian transportation systems because it concerns failures of attention or memory as sources of human error in aviation. Outcomes will inform the development of training exercises aimed at improving attention management skills critical to safe performance. The research will strengthen Australia's reputation for cut ....How attention and memory for past events interact in determining performance in an air traffic control conflict detection task. This project addresses the priority of safeguarding Australian transportation systems because it concerns failures of attention or memory as sources of human error in aviation. Outcomes will inform the development of training exercises aimed at improving attention management skills critical to safe performance. The research will strengthen Australia's reputation for cutting edge research that extends basic science to applied domains, as this project is one of few world-wide investigating attention and memory processes in multi-item display tasks. More broadly, the project will provide insight into why individuals can make errors when basing decisions on past experience. Read moreRead less
To use or not to use financial incentives for motivation and performance. For decades, compensation experts have advocated for the use of financial incentives to motivate work performance, yet organisations keep encountering performance issues caused by these incentives. Using agency, expectancy, and self-determination theory to inform a meta-analysis and a series of experiments, this research will help uncover the most important motivational mechanisms that explain how financial incentives infl ....To use or not to use financial incentives for motivation and performance. For decades, compensation experts have advocated for the use of financial incentives to motivate work performance, yet organisations keep encountering performance issues caused by these incentives. Using agency, expectancy, and self-determination theory to inform a meta-analysis and a series of experiments, this research will help uncover the most important motivational mechanisms that explain how financial incentives influence different types of performance. Given that compensation accounts for an important proportion of an organisation's operating expenses and that employee engagement is on the decline around the world, this research will provide a strong empirical basis to develop more effective compensation systems.Read moreRead less
Designing a Holistic Model of Advice to Improve Retirement Planning. We aim to improve retirement planning through the design and application of a new model integrating financial advice with career and health planning to optimise financial and psychological outcomes. We will test a multidisciplinary, holistic model of advice combining specialist knowledge in careers, health, and finances. Expected outcomes of the project include evaluating the use of a broader range of experts during retirement ....Designing a Holistic Model of Advice to Improve Retirement Planning. We aim to improve retirement planning through the design and application of a new model integrating financial advice with career and health planning to optimise financial and psychological outcomes. We will test a multidisciplinary, holistic model of advice combining specialist knowledge in careers, health, and finances. Expected outcomes of the project include evaluating the use of a broader range of experts during retirement planning and developing a model for the future training and development of financial advisers.By optimising the timing of workplace exit, we aim to decrease reliance on pensions and encourage earlier and on-going engagement in the retirement planning process. This will provide significant social and economic benefits.Read moreRead less
Optimising the balance between task automation and human manual control. This project aims to discover how best to design automation to maximise performance, while ensuring that operators maintain the task awareness required to manually control previously automated tasks. In environments such as defence and aviation, automating tasks can improve performance, but many accidents have occurred because human operators have not adequately regained manual control when automation has failed. This proje ....Optimising the balance between task automation and human manual control. This project aims to discover how best to design automation to maximise performance, while ensuring that operators maintain the task awareness required to manually control previously automated tasks. In environments such as defence and aviation, automating tasks can improve performance, but many accidents have occurred because human operators have not adequately regained manual control when automation has failed. This project proposes a series of studies using simulations of submarine track management and air traffic control in laboratory and field settings that draw upon psychology and human factors. The project is designed to provide the strategic research that is required to discover how best to adapt the automation currently used in industrial settings.Read moreRead less
Assessing the determinants and consequences of safety climate in the maritime industry. This project will examine the predictors and outcomes of safety climate in the Australian maritime industry. Findings from this project will be used to improve safety policies, regulations and practices that aim to minimise the number of accidents and incidents in Australian waters.