Examinations of the relationship between accreditation and clinical and organisational performance. Accreditation of organisations is now commonplace. It involves assessing organisations against pre-defined standards. This is a highly significant issue because of the millions of dollars of investment in accreditation. We do not know if we achieve value for money or whether positive change is associated with accreditation. Few studies have examined this in detail. We aim to do so in this stud ....Examinations of the relationship between accreditation and clinical and organisational performance. Accreditation of organisations is now commonplace. It involves assessing organisations against pre-defined standards. This is a highly significant issue because of the millions of dollars of investment in accreditation. We do not know if we achieve value for money or whether positive change is associated with accreditation. Few studies have examined this in detail. We aim to do so in this study. We will examine organisational and individual performance associated with accreditation status in order to illuminate the process and uncover any associations between accreditation and organisational culture, consumer participation and clinical (individual) performance indicators.
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Celebrate. Remember. Fight Back. Episodic Volunteering for Non-Profits. This project seeks to improve the policy and practice of volunteer involvement in the non-profit sector. Non-profit organisations rely on volunteers, and their capacity to deliver vital community services is threatened by the decrease in long-term, continuous volunteering and increase in episodic (short-term, flexible) volunteering. The interdisciplinary project aims to use mixed methods (qualitative interviews and quantitat ....Celebrate. Remember. Fight Back. Episodic Volunteering for Non-Profits. This project seeks to improve the policy and practice of volunteer involvement in the non-profit sector. Non-profit organisations rely on volunteers, and their capacity to deliver vital community services is threatened by the decrease in long-term, continuous volunteering and increase in episodic (short-term, flexible) volunteering. The interdisciplinary project aims to use mixed methods (qualitative interviews and quantitative surveys) and multiple perspectives (volunteers and staff who manage them) to develop an episodic volunteering definition; to explore the economic and social impact of episodic volunteering, and to develop a theoretical model of volunteer retention. The findings are intended to provide an evidence base and recommendations for non-profit sector policy and practice.Read moreRead less
The Changing Roles and Responsibilities of Company Boards and Directors. This research project will examine the changing roles and responsibilities of company boards and directors, in the wake of CLERP 9, the new ASX corporate governance principles, and other recent best-practice guidelines in Australia. These guidelines themselves stemmed from widespread government, investor and public concerns regarding standards of accountability, disclosure and performance. There will be three levels of anal ....The Changing Roles and Responsibilities of Company Boards and Directors. This research project will examine the changing roles and responsibilities of company boards and directors, in the wake of CLERP 9, the new ASX corporate governance principles, and other recent best-practice guidelines in Australia. These guidelines themselves stemmed from widespread government, investor and public concerns regarding standards of accountability, disclosure and performance. There will be three levels of analysis firstly changes in values and beliefs among company boards and directors regarding corporate governance; secondly changes in structures and procedures; and finally changes in practices and behaviour. This will enable comparison with the adoption of corporate governance reforms internationally.Read moreRead less
Managing the risks of cross-sector R&D collaboration. One of the most interesting and dynamic forms of cross-sector R&D collaboration in Australia occurs through the Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) Program. This study investigates how collaboration and 'risk' is managed among CRCs and their partners. It is pioneering research bringing two aspects of cross-sector collaboration into a single, longitudinal study. The study will produce new knowledge concerning: management processes in cross-secto ....Managing the risks of cross-sector R&D collaboration. One of the most interesting and dynamic forms of cross-sector R&D collaboration in Australia occurs through the Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) Program. This study investigates how collaboration and 'risk' is managed among CRCs and their partners. It is pioneering research bringing two aspects of cross-sector collaboration into a single, longitudinal study. The study will produce new knowledge concerning: management processes in cross-sector R&D, organisational change and the impact of sustained collaboration on partners, and the role of public policy on collaborative R&D in Australia.Read moreRead less
Sustainable organisational change: Australian business responses to climate change. Australian businesses are expected to play a leading role in the fight against global warming. This project will generate new insights into how, though organisational change initiatives, Australian corporations are responding to the issue of climate change, as well as the sustainability of these initiatives.
The social network antecedents and performance outcomes of service innovation. Service innovation is vital for organisations in creating and sustaining customer value in a knowledge-based economy. To enhance our understanding of service innovation, this project examines the role of social network factors and the conditions by which service innovation contributes to firm performance.
Innovation in Australian mid-market firms: The critical role of leader cognition. The innovation literature has focused on innovation in large corporations and small entrepreneurial firms, ignoring medium-sized firms. With a rare opportunity to work with a partner organisation on a range of mid-market firms, the project aims to focus on the unique theoretical aspects of innovation in medium-sized firms. The project’s investigation addresses critical gaps in the innovation strategy literature and ....Innovation in Australian mid-market firms: The critical role of leader cognition. The innovation literature has focused on innovation in large corporations and small entrepreneurial firms, ignoring medium-sized firms. With a rare opportunity to work with a partner organisation on a range of mid-market firms, the project aims to focus on the unique theoretical aspects of innovation in medium-sized firms. The project’s investigation addresses critical gaps in the innovation strategy literature and contributes to a nascent literature on the microfoundations of organisational outcomes. Specifically, the project focuses on how leader cognitions drive the intensity and type of innovation and influence the performance consequences of innovation. The project also aims to provide practical prescriptions to medium-sized firms in Australia.Read moreRead less
Scenario driven management in a network environment. Scenario planning is the process of identifying plausible futures and their inherent risks. The organisation, the network within which it is embedded, and the environment in which the network operates, form a complex system of non-linear, dynamic, interrelationships. This project will develop a continuous process of scenario planning, capturing learning about the future as it emerges. The project fuses the use of agents for intelligent data co ....Scenario driven management in a network environment. Scenario planning is the process of identifying plausible futures and their inherent risks. The organisation, the network within which it is embedded, and the environment in which the network operates, form a complex system of non-linear, dynamic, interrelationships. This project will develop a continuous process of scenario planning, capturing learning about the future as it emerges. The project fuses the use of agents for intelligent data collection and negotiation with agent-based modelling to build powerful network-based scenario modelling systems for commercial applications. This outcome will place Australia on the frontier of smart information use.Read moreRead less
Outsourcing - Leveraging productivity improvements and better performance from new approaches. Through exploring customer expectations, reasons for outsourcing, and the results obtained, this research will discover those success factors that contribute to positive outsourcing outcomes for key stakeholders, such as the labour force, the outsourcing company and the customer. It will develop models to leverage current performance and use the resulting knowledge to improve Australia's performance in ....Outsourcing - Leveraging productivity improvements and better performance from new approaches. Through exploring customer expectations, reasons for outsourcing, and the results obtained, this research will discover those success factors that contribute to positive outsourcing outcomes for key stakeholders, such as the labour force, the outsourcing company and the customer. It will develop models to leverage current performance and use the resulting knowledge to improve Australia's performance in outsourcing sectors such as Business Processes and IT. The project will lead to a robust, long-term relationship between industry and academia to produce industry relevant, theoretically sound research.Read moreRead less
Visual optimisation of patient flow in Hospital Emergency Departments. Recent policy announcements by the State and Federal Governments have centred on the need to explore the use of process management principles, normally applied to manufacturing industry, to health services management. This multidisciplinary project addresses one of the most pressing needs in health services - provision of methods to reduce patient queues and waiting times in emergency departments through interactive computing ....Visual optimisation of patient flow in Hospital Emergency Departments. Recent policy announcements by the State and Federal Governments have centred on the need to explore the use of process management principles, normally applied to manufacturing industry, to health services management. This multidisciplinary project addresses one of the most pressing needs in health services - provision of methods to reduce patient queues and waiting times in emergency departments through interactive computing simulation to visualise and plan work process improvements. This smart use of information will benefit hospital managers, patients and their carers, is transferable to other health contexts, and by optimising resource usage has the potential to help build Australian (health) business.Read moreRead less