Disability entrepreneurship in Australia. Disability entrepreneurship in Australia. This project aims to study disability entrepreneurs who run private enterprises in Australia, their experiences, the contributions they make and the barriers they face. Private and social entrepreneurship is an innovative response to the considerable economic and social exclusion people with disability face in Australia. People with disability have a relatively high rate of entrepreneurship but research on disabi ....Disability entrepreneurship in Australia. Disability entrepreneurship in Australia. This project aims to study disability entrepreneurs who run private enterprises in Australia, their experiences, the contributions they make and the barriers they face. Private and social entrepreneurship is an innovative response to the considerable economic and social exclusion people with disability face in Australia. People with disability have a relatively high rate of entrepreneurship but research on disability entrepreneurship in Australia is almost non-existent. The introduction of the NDIS will create new opportunities for disability entrepreneurship. This project is expected to develop new policy initiatives, including a pilot program for new disability entrepreneurs in Sydney.Read moreRead less
Place Management Programs as a Basis of Renewal for Regional Communities. Many regional communities are suffering from economic and social deprivation as well as population and infrastructure decline. Place management systems attempt to develop a management process to facilitate local communities to develop and implement their own renewal strategies. This project critically reviews place management strategies and compares and contrasts different place management approaches. The project selects o ....Place Management Programs as a Basis of Renewal for Regional Communities. Many regional communities are suffering from economic and social deprivation as well as population and infrastructure decline. Place management systems attempt to develop a management process to facilitate local communities to develop and implement their own renewal strategies. This project critically reviews place management strategies and compares and contrasts different place management approaches. The project selects one rural community case study to assess the capabilities and limitations of regional communities to develop and sustain a place management entrepreneurship program. The project will extend the understanding of place management systems as a means of addressing local community renewal and development.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
Ethics as Practice - A Study of Organisational Learning and Management Power in Australian Society. The research will ask how:
- Organizations learn their ethics in and through management practice?
- Learning relates to community expectations of organizations?
- Organizational ethical practices relate to the public image that organizations portray?
Using ethnographic methods we will research how concrete organizational practice is informed by ethics and foregrounded through organizational l ....Ethics as Practice - A Study of Organisational Learning and Management Power in Australian Society. The research will ask how:
- Organizations learn their ethics in and through management practice?
- Learning relates to community expectations of organizations?
- Organizational ethical practices relate to the public image that organizations portray?
Using ethnographic methods we will research how concrete organizational practice is informed by ethics and foregrounded through organizational learning. Managerial practice will be compared with broader concerns embedded in community expectations. Comparisons will be drawn between espoused portrayals of public images by organizations with the power practices that inform everyday managerial behaviour. We will produce a model for organizational learning and ethical management practice.
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Employee wellbeing and productivity: the role of territoriality, conflict and emotions. Australia is investing billions in redesigning modern office spaces, but the effect of office layout on employees is still not well understood. Using innovative real-time data collection techniques, an international team will study the effect of office layout and develop a training package to improve office-worker productivity and wellbeing.
Learning Mechanisms and the Development of Dynamic Capabilities within Firms. The project has the following national/community benefits: (1) a more comprehensive study of the specific and unique features of the structure and innovative process operating within a major Australian producer of commodities, (2) a greater understanding of how knowledge can be created and captured in the form of firm-level dynamic capabilities, contributing towards the creation of an effective knowledge and innovation ....Learning Mechanisms and the Development of Dynamic Capabilities within Firms. The project has the following national/community benefits: (1) a more comprehensive study of the specific and unique features of the structure and innovative process operating within a major Australian producer of commodities, (2) a greater understanding of how knowledge can be created and captured in the form of firm-level dynamic capabilities, contributing towards the creation of an effective knowledge and innovation economy, and (3) assisting regional communities by providing specific recommendations for generating learning mechanisms and more importantly, capturing value from learning in terms of process improvement and innovation.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
Development of psychological capital in emergency service organisations. The project addresses the research priorities ‘Promoting good health and well being for all Australians’ and Safeguarding Australia. The project will identify ways in which the performance and wellbeing of volunteer and paid members of emergency service organisations can be enhanced, potentially diminishing the likelihood of depression, aggression, and other detrimental effects. The findings will also contribute to the qual ....Development of psychological capital in emergency service organisations. The project addresses the research priorities ‘Promoting good health and well being for all Australians’ and Safeguarding Australia. The project will identify ways in which the performance and wellbeing of volunteer and paid members of emergency service organisations can be enhanced, potentially diminishing the likelihood of depression, aggression, and other detrimental effects. The findings will also contribute to the quality of training provided to leaders in emergency services. Theoretically, the project will advance understanding of the mechanisms that underpin the psychological capital construct, placing Australian researchers at the forefront of this important emerging field of inquiry.Read moreRead less
Patterns of change in organizational structures in hyper-competitive environments. Aim: Longitudinal study of organizational structures in a highly competitive industry, focusing on change from traditional to new organizational structures. Our conceptual framework of retention, coexistence, replacement and integration enables assessment of patterns of structural change over time and tests of resource based and institutional theories about why organizational structures change.
Significance: Ou ....Patterns of change in organizational structures in hyper-competitive environments. Aim: Longitudinal study of organizational structures in a highly competitive industry, focusing on change from traditional to new organizational structures. Our conceptual framework of retention, coexistence, replacement and integration enables assessment of patterns of structural change over time and tests of resource based and institutional theories about why organizational structures change.
Significance: Our conceptual framework is innovative and provides a template for assessing current arguments about structural change and performance.
Outcomes:
Theoretical: greater understanding of relevance of organizational change theories.
Practical: provision to managers of knowledge about new patterns of structuring organizations and which ones are associated with superior performance.
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Designing global organizations to create local competitive advantage: An evolutionary perspective of ING Direct. Little systematic research exists on how organizational design and global strategy interact to achieve success. Such research is necessary in light of recent poor track records of Australian companies expanding globally. The project will assist by analysing the design of a highly successful network-based global organisation, ING Direct, using an evolutionary perspective. It will cont ....Designing global organizations to create local competitive advantage: An evolutionary perspective of ING Direct. Little systematic research exists on how organizational design and global strategy interact to achieve success. Such research is necessary in light of recent poor track records of Australian companies expanding globally. The project will assist by analysing the design of a highly successful network-based global organisation, ING Direct, using an evolutionary perspective. It will contribute to debates within two literatures (i) new organisational forms and (ii) multinational literature on strategy/structure. Applying a novel conceptual framework using concepts of retention, adaptation, transference and integration it will examine changing organizational design practices in reaction to both local conditions and the global network.Read moreRead less