Griffith University

2012

WOW Seminars and Guests

WOW’s semester one seminar program kicked off with two international guests. Associate Professor Kim Young of Pusan National University, Korea (pictured right) discussed the status of the non-regular labour market and worker management through the HR practices of large supermarket companies from a gender perspective during her 20 February seminar. Professor Mick Marchington from Manchester Business School delivered his talk a month later addressing how employee involvement and participation can change at organisational level during turbulent times.

WOW also welcomed the year’s first interstate guest: Associate Professor Giles Hirst from Monash University (pictured left) delivered a seminar on the environment, methods and mediums that influence creativity in teams in the workplace.

WOW ECRs, Drs Sally Russell, Herman Tse and Samanthi Gunawardana lead discussions on the 28 February at WOW’s ‘2012 HDR Welcome’ on the journey of getting through a PhD. The first of two annual workshops focusing on issues of gender in the workplace was held the following week, including presentations from WOW members Dr Kaye Broadbent and Dr Maree Boyle, HDR student Ms Kim Ball, and colleagues from UQ, the University of Southern Queensland and the University of Kent (attendees and presenters pictured below).

Presenters and guests at WOW's workshop on gender issues in the workplace; 6 March 2012, Nathan campus

The State of the Unions

On 7 February, WOW and the Queensland Council of Unions (QCU) hosted a lunchtime forum discussing contemporary research relevant to the audience of union officials and activists. Many of the day’s speakers were in Queensland to attend the Association of Industrial Relations Academics of Australia and New Zealand Conference (AIRAANZ) on the Gold Coast. The forum was sponsored and chaired by WOW member, Professor David Peetz.   

AIRAANZ Conference 2012  

The AIRAANZ Conference was held from 8–10 February and organised by researchers from WOW/ERHR (Janis Bailey, Kaye Broadbent and David Peetz) in conjunction with QUT and Southern Cross University. A large cohort of WOW affiliated Higher Degree Researchers (HDR) attended this year’s event including PhD candidate, Ms Ashlea Kellner who shared research findings that seeks to answer the question, who is responsible for the provision of fair employment conditions for the employees of franchised stores?  

Also flying the WOW/ERHR flag was Ms Susan Ressia, appointed for a twelve month term as the Association’s Postgraduate Representative. Sue’s role seeks to identity, develop and deliver, as a result of engagement with new and existing postgraduate members, a range of developmental events and networking opportunities that compliment the support an HDR receives from their enrolling institution and the annual AIRAANZ Conference program. A well-attended postgraduate breakfast, including a presentation from WOW’s Dr Samanthi Gunawardana, and a roundtable discussion focusing on theories that inspired researchers in the industrial relations field, were new and successful additions under Sue’s guidance to this year’s program.

AIRAANZ postgraduate members may get in touch with the Postgraduate Representative through Linkedin or the Facebook page: ‘AIRAANZ Postgrad Space’.  

WOW members (Bob Russell, Keith Townsend, Kate Shacklock, Maree Boyle, Georgina Murray and Adrian Wilkinson) were also involved in a ‘Meet the Editor’ session.

Method(ology) in the Madness  

WOW Early Career Researchers, Dr Sally Russell (pictured right) and Dr Herman Tse continued to share insights regarding their research methodology decision-making processes on the 20 March, as part of a day hosted by the Griffith Social and Behavioural Research CollegeGriffith Social and Behavioural Research College profiling a range of different research methodologies. Dr Maree Boyle also contributed with a presentation on contemporary qualitative methods. Dr Russell’s talk focussed on experimental research, particularly addressing the causal effect of emotion on behaviour. Resources from the event can be found at the WOW Resources webpage.

Publishing Success  

Associate Professor Bradley Bowden’s paper “Distant mirrors: railroad development and management in Australia from 1860 to 1914” has been judged one of the best accepted for presentation at the 2012 Academy of Management Meeting in Boston. The paper will be published in the Meeting’s Best Paper Proceedings.  

Professor Glenda Strachan’s 2011 article “Affirmative action or managing diversity: what is the future of equal opportunity policy in organisations?” was the third most highly downloaded article for the year from Gender in Management: An International Journal.

Professor Adrian Wilkinson’s paper published in the journal of Work, Employment and Society has been nominated for the 2011 SAGE Prize for Innovation and/or Excellence. Winners will be announced at the British Sociological Association’s annual Conference in April 2012.

2011

ANZAM Early Career Research Award

WOW’s Dr Herman Tse is the recipient of the 2011 Australian and New Zealand Academy of Management Early Career Researcher Award. The award seeks to foster and recognise the research and scholarly achievements of emerging researchers who are at an early stage in their academic career. A cash prize of $2000 was presented to Herman at the Academy’s December Conference.

Academician of the Academy of Social Sciences (UK)

The distinguished award of Academician has been conferred on Professor Adrian Wilkinson, the Director of WOW, by the Academy of Social Sciences (UK). He was nominated by his peers for his contribution to the Social Sciences. Adrian has been invited to the Academy’s Annual President’s lunch in London to be welcomed formally into the Academy. The Academy's mission is to promote social sciences in the United Kingdom for the public benefit. The Academy describes its Academicians as “distinguished scholars and practitioners from academia and the public and private sectors”.

Winner of the PVC (Business) Research Excellence Awards

Professor Michael Powell, Pro Vice Chancellor (Business), was delighted to announce that Dr Herman Tse, (WOW Member and Dept of Employment Relations and Human Resources) was the winner of the inaugural PVC (Business) Research Excellence Awards in the Early Career Researcher category. This award
reflects Herman's "sustained excellent research performance". 

Labour History Prize

Associate Professor Bradley Bowden has been awarded the Labour History Prize for 2011 by the Australian Society for the Study of Labour History (ASSLH) and Unions NSW. The Prize is awarded biennially for the best article appearing in the journal “Labour History” in the preceding two years. Two outstanding articles were awarded the prize jointly, sharing the award with Sue Taffe. Bradley’s paper was published in Labour History, no.97, November 2009, titled, 'Harmony between the Employer and Employed': Employer Support for Union Formation in Brisbane, 1857-90'.   

Best paper nomination at the Academy of Management

Associate Professor Bradley Bowden's paper, entitled “The History of the Pan-Pacific Coal Trade, 1962-2010”, has been selected as the 2011 Carolyn Dexter Award nominee by the Management History Division of the Academy of Management, recognising it as the best paper submitted to the Division with an international theme. As the Management History's nominee, Associate Professor Bowden's paper is a finalist for the Carolyn Dexter Award, which is granted to the best paper at the Academy's Annual Meeting.

Vice Chancellor's Research Excellence Award for Early Career Researchers

Dr Keith Townsend, a Research Fellow with WOW, was awarded the Griffith University Vice Chancellor's Research Excellence Award for Early Career Researchers at a function on the 12th of May. Keith's research addresses the gap between human resource policies and workplace practices.  It is important work that has wide application.  In addition, he has conducted research into high performing teams in health organisations.  He has a number of quality publications and has been a CI on two ARC grants, one Discovery and one Linkage in the past four years.

Internationalization and HRM in Indian Multinational Corporations

A new executive report has been released titled "Internationalization & HRM strategies in Multinational Corporations from Emerging Economies – Case Study of Indian Multinationals" by Associate Professor Mohan Thite and Professor Adrian Wilkinson (WOW, Griffith University) and Pawan Budhwar (Aston Business School, UK). The report explores HR practices in multinational corporations from emerging economies. This project, funded by the Society for Human Resource Management (USA), developed a framework of global HR strategies and practices in Indian multinational corporations in different industries by interviewing managers in headquarters as well as their subsidiaries in both developed and developing markets. It provides managerial insights and guidance into the motives, strategic opportunities and constraints in cross national trans of HR policies and practices in a multi–polar world.
The executive report can be downloaded from: projects/hrm-strategies-and-practices-across-subsidiaries-in-multinational-corporations-from-emerging-economies

Creating Indigenous Employment That Lasts

Indigenous Australians suffer a huge disparity in employment. Indigenous participation rates are low and unemployment rates are high and efforts to end this employment disparity have yielded disappointing results over periods of successive governments. Concern over these endemic outcomes prompted GenerationOne to host an Ideas Forum dedicated to understanding the causes of poor Indigenous employment outcomes, and seeking to find ways of creating sustainable Indigenous employment. A/Prof Michael Barry was asked to write a report that developed ideas that emerged from the 2010 Forum. The report from this research, titled “Creating Indigenous Employment That Lasts”, can be downloaded here: “Creating Indigenous Employment That Lasts” (1.5Mb).

Managing diversity in the workplace

The increasing diversity of the workforce with women and men, young people and older employees and workers born overseas means that companies need to manage this diversity and harness the capacity of the diverse workforce, a new book co-written by WOW researcher Prof Glenda Strachan suggests. The book, "Managing Diversity in Australia: Theory and Practice" by Glenda Strachan (Griffith University), Erica French (QUT) and John Burgess (U of Newcastle), says workforces will continue to become more diverse over the next decade.

"Diversity refers to the differences among workers such as age, gender, ethnicity, sexuality, health and physical ability, so managing diversity refers to the procedures and policies organisations have in place to recognise and manage the diversity of their workforce," Professor Strachan said.  "Managing diversity programs are already popping up in many large private and public sector organisations in Australia and managers are beginning to reap the benefits."

Director joins Cambridge as an academic fellow

Prof Adrian Wilkinson has been appointed as an academic fellow in The Centre for International Human Resource Management at the University of Cambridge. The Centre is part of the Judge Business School at the University of Cambridge. Academic fellows are recognised as leaders in their field around the world and will contribute to the academic breadth of the School.
"It's a great honour to be associated with the Centre and Cambridge. This will improve our international ties and allow us to work more closely together." Professor Wilkinson said.

Student paper at the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Conference

Doctoral Candidate Susan Ressia attended the 4th Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Conference held in Auckland in February 2011. The conference was attended by 80 delegates from around the globe, with eight paper streams including: Management, Leadership and Diversity; Gender Equality in University Employment, and Views from the Edge: Advancing Diversity, Equality and Inclusion.
Susan presented her paper titled ‘Searching for Work in Australia: The Intersection of Gender and Race’. She discussed the application of Intersectionality Theory to bring out issues of disadvantage faced by skilled migrant women when searching for work in Australia. The findings show that the combination of gender, race and family can result in migrant women finding employment in semi-skilled occupations at the expense of their professional careers.
This research forms part of Susan’s larger Doctoral project research examining the job search experiences of non-English speaking background (NESB) skilled migrants in Australia. The next EDI conference will be held in Toulouse, France in 2012.