International Managers: How Do We Get Them? Explanations of Staffing Strategy for International Work Performed From Home or Abroad. Australian companies often need to expand globally to survive and prosper. Yet, they report a shortage of managers for international work. This project aims to explain how companies staff international work, conceived as a set of interrelated options in which the work may be performed abroad or domestically from Australia. International staffing has rarely been ....International Managers: How Do We Get Them? Explanations of Staffing Strategy for International Work Performed From Home or Abroad. Australian companies often need to expand globally to survive and prosper. Yet, they report a shortage of managers for international work. This project aims to explain how companies staff international work, conceived as a set of interrelated options in which the work may be performed abroad or domestically from Australia. International staffing has rarely been considered as a comprehensive set of alternatives. This project will explain staffing strategy from organisational and individual perspectives and factors, including why women are underrepresented. The results will help understand the staffing strategy, management development, retention, and equity practices needed to staff international work.Read moreRead less
Understanding reactions to diversity initiatives in organizations: An intergroup perspective. Current policy and legislation promote diversity in organizations,
however employees often react negatively to diversity initiatives
that assist specific groups (e.g., women). Explanations attributing
negativity to individual factors (e.g., self interest) or to broad
organizational culture are limited. Diversity initiatives highlight
differences between the beneficiary and non-beneficiary group(s) ....Understanding reactions to diversity initiatives in organizations: An intergroup perspective. Current policy and legislation promote diversity in organizations,
however employees often react negatively to diversity initiatives
that assist specific groups (e.g., women). Explanations attributing
negativity to individual factors (e.g., self interest) or to broad
organizational culture are limited. Diversity initiatives highlight
differences between the beneficiary and non-beneficiary group(s) and
a comprehensive model should incorporate an intergroup perspective.
It should also recognise the legitimising role of justice-based
concerns. In testing such a model, this project will contribute to
theories of intergroup relations and their interplay with social
policy, and to the development of strategies to manage workplace
diversity.
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Motivating Employee Proactivity by Redesigning the Work Context. Self-starting and innovative employees are increasingly important in today's decentralised organisations. The central question investigated in this project via a longitudinal research design is how organisations can facilitate this type of proactive behavior amongst employees. The project also investigates the nature of employee proactivity (e.g. how it differs from other behaviors), and its consequences for employee performance, i ....Motivating Employee Proactivity by Redesigning the Work Context. Self-starting and innovative employees are increasingly important in today's decentralised organisations. The central question investigated in this project via a longitudinal research design is how organisations can facilitate this type of proactive behavior amongst employees. The project also investigates the nature of employee proactivity (e.g. how it differs from other behaviors), and its consequences for employee performance, innovation, and mental health. The project is significant because it focuses on how to promote behaviors that have often been neglected in research.Read moreRead less
Retirement transition: a longitudinal P-E fit approach within a 'life expectancy' time framework. Retirement is an important career milestone, heralding the onset of potentially significant changes in health, finance, and activity. Australia's largest birth cohort, the baby boomers, is ageing and beginning the transition into retirement and yet little is known about how the shifts in culture and attitude will affect their ability to adjust. This research will identify the dominant needs of this ....Retirement transition: a longitudinal P-E fit approach within a 'life expectancy' time framework. Retirement is an important career milestone, heralding the onset of potentially significant changes in health, finance, and activity. Australia's largest birth cohort, the baby boomers, is ageing and beginning the transition into retirement and yet little is known about how the shifts in culture and attitude will affect their ability to adjust. This research will identify the dominant needs of this group, the resources required to fulfil them, and the factors associated with successful adjustment behaviours. Greater understanding on how self-rated longevity, health, finance and values interact to affect decision-making will have important implications for public policy and individual planning.Read moreRead less
Unconscious processing: To what extent, how flexible and how smart? We are unaware of the sophisticated pattern analyses conducted by our perceptual systems that enable us to operate in a complex environment. Less clear is whether unconsciously presented information itself can influence our behaviour or indeed whether unconscious cognition occurs. The proposed studies provide the foundation and structure for a pioneering examination of the extent, flexibility and computational power of unconscio ....Unconscious processing: To what extent, how flexible and how smart? We are unaware of the sophisticated pattern analyses conducted by our perceptual systems that enable us to operate in a complex environment. Less clear is whether unconsciously presented information itself can influence our behaviour or indeed whether unconscious cognition occurs. The proposed studies provide the foundation and structure for a pioneering examination of the extent, flexibility and computational power of unconscious processing at the level of neural response and behaviour. The impact and benefits of the project will be in its contribution to theory with outcomes revealing the boundary conditions governing unconscious cognition and providing a first benchmark for how such conditions might vary across the lifespan.Read moreRead less
Time discounting in late career financial and activity planning. A new career decision model of retirement activity and financial planning will be tested that combines hyperbolic delay discounting with exponential interest growth, while also examining the impact of risk framed in terms of changing goverment tax legislation and uncertain health. The role of expertise and simulated training in reducing time discounting will be examined, and results combined to form a late career web assistance pro ....Time discounting in late career financial and activity planning. A new career decision model of retirement activity and financial planning will be tested that combines hyperbolic delay discounting with exponential interest growth, while also examining the impact of risk framed in terms of changing goverment tax legislation and uncertain health. The role of expertise and simulated training in reducing time discounting will be examined, and results combined to form a late career web assistance program. Improving predictions of the decision to retire will benefit individuals, financial planners, investors and employing organisations.Read moreRead less
Brain mechanisms for coordinating with others through sound. Distinguishing between sounds produced by self and others is critical for interpersonal coordination and communication through speech and music. This project employs a novel dual-brain electrophysiological technique with tagged audio signals to elucidate how the human brain achieves this distinction, and when and why it cannot. Expected outcomes include new knowledge on the neurophysiological mechanisms that support self-other processi ....Brain mechanisms for coordinating with others through sound. Distinguishing between sounds produced by self and others is critical for interpersonal coordination and communication through speech and music. This project employs a novel dual-brain electrophysiological technique with tagged audio signals to elucidate how the human brain achieves this distinction, and when and why it cannot. Expected outcomes include new knowledge on the neurophysiological mechanisms that support self-other processing, and the acoustic conditions and behavioural strategies that facilitate their operation. These outcomes should ultimately have applied benefits for improving interpersonal coordination and social interaction, especially in digital environments and clinical populations with atypical self-other processing.Read moreRead less
Models of Knowledge Restructuring. In a world of rapid change, people must frequently adapt cognitive skills to new technologies. This often requires restructuring of knowledge, from simple initial strategies to increasingly complex ways of mastering the task. This is not always easy and people sometimes resist knowledge restructuring. We present a network model of knowledge restructuring that combines attentional processes with error-driven learning. The model accounts for several existing resu ....Models of Knowledge Restructuring. In a world of rapid change, people must frequently adapt cognitive skills to new technologies. This often requires restructuring of knowledge, from simple initial strategies to increasingly complex ways of mastering the task. This is not always easy and people sometimes resist knowledge restructuring. We present a network model of knowledge restructuring that combines attentional processes with error-driven learning. The model accounts for several existing results and makes predictions that guide the proposed research. Three factors will be examined empirically: (1) the role of directing attention to alternative strategies; (2) the imperfection of existing knowledge; and (3) the complexity of alternative strategies.Read moreRead less
Cortical topology underlying the representation and analysis of visual scenes. When we look around us we seem to perceive our visual surroundings fully, accurately and instantaneously. Despite this strong impression, recent research has revealed that none of this is true. Using virtual environments, brain imaging and neural network simulations, this project aims to discover more about what we do see, which part of our brain stores what we see, and how this storage takes place. The work has the p ....Cortical topology underlying the representation and analysis of visual scenes. When we look around us we seem to perceive our visual surroundings fully, accurately and instantaneously. Despite this strong impression, recent research has revealed that none of this is true. Using virtual environments, brain imaging and neural network simulations, this project aims to discover more about what we do see, which part of our brain stores what we see, and how this storage takes place. The work has the potential to influence the design of danger signs, teleoperated and virtual displays and autonomous machines. It should also help motivate new treatments and rehabilitation regimes for stroke victims.Read moreRead less
Advancing the science of willpower: investigating the mechanisms and processes of self-control. Willpower or 'good' self control is important for success in our academic, occupational, and social lives. This project will use cutting-edge scientific methods to investigate how glucose, the primary fuel for body function, promotes 'good' self-control and stimulates regions in the brain important for self-control.