Leaders as motivators: A test of an integrated theory of leadership and motivation to predict employees' psychological health and productivity. The effectiveness of organisations depends upon the quality of its leaders. While research shows that certain leader behaviours can enhance psychological heath (increase job satisfaction, reduce stress) and productivity, it is not clear why this occurs. This proposal addresses this shortcoming by developing a model of leadership that places motivation ....Leaders as motivators: A test of an integrated theory of leadership and motivation to predict employees' psychological health and productivity. The effectiveness of organisations depends upon the quality of its leaders. While research shows that certain leader behaviours can enhance psychological heath (increase job satisfaction, reduce stress) and productivity, it is not clear why this occurs. This proposal addresses this shortcoming by developing a model of leadership that places motivation as a core process between the leader's behaviour and outcomes. The model is tested across new innovative research designs, including a study that tests an intervention to improve leadership effectiveness. The research will increase the understanding of workplace leadership and provide practical ways to improve employees' psychological health and productivity.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
Determinants of Researcher Productivity and Impact Over Career Lifespan. As Australia's population is ageing at one of the fastest rates among OECD countries, it is imperative to understand the relationship between age and worker productivity. This project will develop our understanding of how age relates to productivity not only in terms of quantity but also quality of innovations produced. It will also identify personal and contextual influences on productivity. This will help identify ways of ....Determinants of Researcher Productivity and Impact Over Career Lifespan. As Australia's population is ageing at one of the fastest rates among OECD countries, it is imperative to understand the relationship between age and worker productivity. This project will develop our understanding of how age relates to productivity not only in terms of quantity but also quality of innovations produced. It will also identify personal and contextual influences on productivity. This will help identify ways of supporting productivity and participation among older workers. Additionally, this project will provide a sophisticated framework for developing cultures and work environments that are supportive of innovation, by modelling the dynamic interplay between individuals and their environments across several years.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
Motivating work teams: An emergence-based process model . With work teams having to undertake more critical and complex tasks, this project aims to develop and evaluate a new process model of team motivation emergence through field studies using varied samples of workers, simulation studies, and computational modelling. The project expects to generate solutions to Australia's declining work engagement by answering calls for research on how to develop team motivation. Expected outcomes include n ....Motivating work teams: An emergence-based process model . With work teams having to undertake more critical and complex tasks, this project aims to develop and evaluate a new process model of team motivation emergence through field studies using varied samples of workers, simulation studies, and computational modelling. The project expects to generate solutions to Australia's declining work engagement by answering calls for research on how to develop team motivation. Expected outcomes include new knowledge of team motivation disseminated through scholarly and practitioner-oriented publications and presentations, as well as practical team assessment and training tools made available to organisations so they can improve team performance.
Read moreRead less
A general theory of multiple-goal pursuit. The aim of this project is to develop and test a formal theory that explains the mechanisms by which people make choices amongst competing goals in a dynamic and uncertain environment (‘multiple goal pursuit’). People have to manage competing goals in a wide range of settings (for example, work, education, sport), yet the mechanisms are poorly understood. The theory is expected to integrate formal theories of self-regulation with formal theories of deci ....A general theory of multiple-goal pursuit. The aim of this project is to develop and test a formal theory that explains the mechanisms by which people make choices amongst competing goals in a dynamic and uncertain environment (‘multiple goal pursuit’). People have to manage competing goals in a wide range of settings (for example, work, education, sport), yet the mechanisms are poorly understood. The theory is expected to integrate formal theories of self-regulation with formal theories of decision making, to provide a more general account of multiple goal pursuit. The project aims to test the predictions of the theory in a series of experiments in which people have to pursue two goals simultaneously. The experiments allow us to test competing views, and understand the mechanisms involved.Read moreRead less
The dynamics of goal-oriented leader behaviour in action teams. Organisations increasingly rely on action teams - those that form swiftly to tackle urgent, potentially dangerous incidents that unfold rapidly in uncertain environments. Effective leadership is critical for managing teams in such dynamic situations. However, little is understood about the dynamic behaviours required of action team leaders to effectively manage goal-directed action. The project will integrate self-regulation, team l ....The dynamics of goal-oriented leader behaviour in action teams. Organisations increasingly rely on action teams - those that form swiftly to tackle urgent, potentially dangerous incidents that unfold rapidly in uncertain environments. Effective leadership is critical for managing teams in such dynamic situations. However, little is understood about the dynamic behaviours required of action team leaders to effectively manage goal-directed action. The project will integrate self-regulation, team leadership and team theories to propose when team leaders should perform various behaviours and for how long, in order to develop the team states required for effectiveness. The project will then test the model with Incident Command and Surgical teams. Results aim to uncover prescriptive guidelines for the training and management of action team leaders.Read moreRead less
Self-Leadership towards Innovation & Well-Being. Innovation and well-being in the workplace are of paramount importance in maintaining Australia's social and economic environment. Self-leadership training provides employees with strategies to build confidence and resilience, identify opportunities in the environment, deriving greater meaning and enjoyment from work. Self-leadership training has already been shown to improve performance; this project extends self-leadership research by testing th ....Self-Leadership towards Innovation & Well-Being. Innovation and well-being in the workplace are of paramount importance in maintaining Australia's social and economic environment. Self-leadership training provides employees with strategies to build confidence and resilience, identify opportunities in the environment, deriving greater meaning and enjoyment from work. Self-leadership training has already been shown to improve performance; this project extends self-leadership research by testing the effects of self-leadership training on employee innovation and well-being. It also elucidates the psychological processes underlying improvements in innovation and well-being. The project addresses ARC Research Priorities 2 and 3 and contributes to Australia's social and economic advancement.Read moreRead less
Developing and testing dynamic models of goal striving in approach and avoidance contexts. This project will examine how people manage competing goals, such as productivity and safety, in a dynamic environment. The results will improve understanding of human motivation and have implications for practice in military, industrial and commercial settings.