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.
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Wise proactivity: making the right things happen in the right way. Little is known about how organisations can motivate their staff to make things happen and at the same time prevent misguided and ineffective proactivity. This project focuses on the concept of wise proactivity. The aim is to develop managers who balance interests beyond their own to make the right things happen in the right way.
Designing Human Resource Practices that Promote the Retention of Volunteers. This project aims to examine the effects of human resources practices on the attraction and retention of high-quality volunteers. Volunteers provide essential health and educational services to the Australian population, which makes it important for non-profit organisations to develop effective human resource practices that attract and retain the best people. However, non-profit organisations often struggle to attract a ....Designing Human Resource Practices that Promote the Retention of Volunteers. This project aims to examine the effects of human resources practices on the attraction and retention of high-quality volunteers. Volunteers provide essential health and educational services to the Australian population, which makes it important for non-profit organisations to develop effective human resource practices that attract and retain the best people. However, non-profit organisations often struggle to attract and retain a sufficient number of volunteers. This project will examine the effects of three human resource practices on the thriving and organisational attachment of volunteers using theories of motivation and retention. This knowledge is intended to help governments and non-profit organisations improve on policies and procedures to manage Australia’s volunteer workforce sustainably.Read moreRead less
Work Design Matters: The Dynamic Interplay of Work, Person and Context. Work design is critical for social and economic outcomes, as exemplified by the International Labour Office's 'Decent Work agenda'. This project first proposes new, long-term dynamic processes by which personality and demographics, and their interactions, shape or constrain individuals' opportunities for high quality work. Second, it considers how family, education, and workplace factors mitigate the pathways between these i ....Work Design Matters: The Dynamic Interplay of Work, Person and Context. Work design is critical for social and economic outcomes, as exemplified by the International Labour Office's 'Decent Work agenda'. This project first proposes new, long-term dynamic processes by which personality and demographics, and their interactions, shape or constrain individuals' opportunities for high quality work. Second, it considers how family, education, and workplace factors mitigate the pathways between these individual variables and work design. Finally, taking account of contemporary challenges in today's organisations, it examines how work design affects the person, including their health, performance, behaviour, and cognition. The project aims to address these questions using a unique longitudinal cohort study, the Raine Study.Read moreRead less
Extending the theory and measurement of personal values and testing relations of values to attitudes and behaviour. Personal values indicate what is important to us, guide our behaviour and reflect real differences between cultures, social classes, occupations, and religions. This project seeks to refine the theory and measurement of personal values across cultures to better understand the motivations that lie behind attitudes and behaviours.
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.
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
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.