When research goes awry: getting back on the horse

Two academics walked into a pub…

One beer coaster-transcribed book proposal and a pre-existing publisher’s meeting later comes 33 tales of trial and tribulation from researchers across Australia, New Zealand, the UK, Republic of Ireland, USA, Malaysia and Europe, in this collection from editors, Associate Professor Keith Townsend (WOW) and Professor Mark Saunders (University of Birmingham).

How to Keep your Research Project on Track: Insights from When Things go Wrong is not, however, just a compilation of complaints.... READ MORE >>>

WOW is hiring!

We're looking for a Research Fellow to joins us here at the Centre for Work, Organisation and Wellbeing  to pursue a program of independent research in one of our seven areas of expertise that will lead to publications and grant applications. 

The Fellow will also support the broader aims of the Centre by assisting the Director with initiatives to improve industry engagement and research funding, including supporting the development of grant proposals from concept to submission.

This is a fixed term (18 months), part time (80%) position based at Nathan campus. For the right candidate alternate part time arrangements will be considered.

Applications are due by the 18 May, 2018. For further details, or to apply, visit Griffith University's Jobs portal.

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Burning Questions

A new initiative of the Centre for Work, Organisation and Wellbeing, our Burning Questions video series seeks to answer just that: the persistently lingering questions from Australia's business community about their workforce, organisation, and the wellbeing of all of involved.

The first two videos look at the outsourcing of talent (with Associate Professor Mohan Thite) and why employers should care about wellbeing (with Dr Amanda Biggs)...check them out!

 

Member activities

WOW...what have you been up to?

The Centre had strong representation at February's Association of Industrial Relations Academics of Australia and New Zealand at the University of Adelaide; they included:

• Keith Townsend - AIRRANZ Presidential address.
• Glenda Strachan - Chair, 'Gender policy' and 'Gender and occupations' streams.
• David Peetz - 'Gender in the long-term future of work and inequality' (with Georgina Murray) and 'The new corporate model and the problem of labour standards'.
• Tiet Hanh Dao-Tran (pictured right), Keith Townsend, Adrian Wilkinson and Rebecca Loudoun - 'Organisational factors influencing post-traumatic stress disorder among paramedics' and 'The roles of human resource management systems in post-traumatic stress disorders and intentions to quit among paramedics'.
• Ashlea Kellner, Keith Townsend, Adrian Wilkinson and Rebecca Loudoun - 'A framework for human resource management in reliability-seeking organisations'.

Professor David Peetz (pictured right) also delivered the keynote address at the 4^th anniversary TJ Ryan Foundation public address on 16 February on the 'Future of Work' at Gardens Point, Brisbane.

The International Consortium for Occupational Resilience (ICOR) will host its first forum on Building Occupational Resilience on the 19 June, 2018 in Brisbane. Including WOW's Professor Paula Brough, the day will feature a range of wellbeing researchers on topics such as shiftwork, advancing mental health at work, and building resilience.  This event is co-hosted with Central Queensland University. Registration is free! Download a copy of the CQU, WOW ICOR Forum Schedule (PDF 99kb).

Awarded Australian Research Council Discovery funding in 2018 for their project 'Juggling priorities: how do tertiary students balance work and study', project lead and WOW member, Professor Peter Creed and his team are now seeking Expressions of Interest from potential PhD candidates to undertake a specific, targeted program of study under their co-supervision.

The candidate should have an Honours I degree in psychology, allied health, or a related discipline, and will meet Griffith University PhD entry requirements. Guided by Peter and his team, the candidate will gain research expertise in longitudinal research design and analysis by contributing to the project which itself will apply boundary management theory to examine how students cope with the competing demands of work and study while at university. EoIs are due by 13 July, 2018. Enquiries can be directed to Professor Creed (pictured, above right): p.creed@griffith.edu.au.

Member movements

Say HELLO! to our newest academic member, Associate Professor Liz Jones (pictured left). Liz holds research interests in organisational change and development and health organisation communication, particularly in neonatal nurseries. She is registered with the Australia Board of Psychology and is an assessor with the Australian Psychology Accreditation Council. Liz is also Director of Griffith's Work and Organisational Resilience Clinic (WORC).

We also welcome the renewal of Adjunct Professors' Yvonne Due Billing (University of Copenhagen), Jason Shaw (The Hong Kong Polytechnic University) and Geoffrey Wood's (Essex Business School) appointments for further three year terms.

Members' select publications

• Brough, P. and Westman, M. 2018, 'Crossover, culture and dual-earner couples', in K. Shockley, W. Shen, and R. Johnson (Eds) Handbook of global work and family, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, England.
• Burgess, M., Keech, J., Brough, P. (pictured right) and Hawkes, A. 2018. "Who wants to be a teacher?" Supporting the transition, wellbeing, and retention of new teachers, School of Applied Psychology, Griffith University, February.
• Hegney, D., Craigiea, M., Slatyera, S., Heritage, B., Harvey, C., Rees, C. and Brough, P. 2018, 'Mindful Self-Care and Resiliency (MSCR): Protocol for the development and evaluation of a brief mindfulness pilot intervention to promote occupational resilience', BMJ Open, accepted March 2018.
• Morrow, R. and Brough, P. 2017, '“It’s off to work we go!” Occupational stress and person-environment fit in professional mining personnel',  International Journal of Occupational Safety and Ergonomics, doi: 10.1080/10803548.2017.1396028.
• Pedersen, J.S. and Wilkinson, A. 2018, 'The digital society and provision of welfare services', International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, vol. 38, no. 3/4, pp. 194-209.
• Peetz, D.2018, 'Are collective identity and action being squashed by individualism', in S. Werth and C. Brownlow (Eds) Work and identity: Palgrave explorations in workplace stigma, Palgrave Macmillan, Cham, pp. 147-169.
• Thurston, E. and Glendon, A. I. 2018, 'Association of risk exposure, organizational identification, and empowerment, with safety participation, intention to quit, and absenteeism', Safety Science, vol. 105, pp. 212–221, doi: 10.1016/j.ssci.2018.02.012. 
• Werth, S., Peetz, D. and Broadbent, K. 2018, 'Issues of power and disclosure for women with chronic illnesses in their places of work', in S. Werth and C. Brownlow (Eds) Work and identity: Palgrave explorations in workplace stigma, Palgrave Macmillan, Cham, pp. 171-186.
• Wilkinson, A. 2018, 'Implementing sustainable HRM: The new challenge of corporate sustainability', in D.W. Renwick (Ed.) Contemporary developments in green human resource management research, Routledge, London, pp. 135-155.
• Wilkinson, A. and Barry, M. (pictured, bottom right), Gomez, R. and Kaufman, B. 2018, 'Taking the pulse at work: An employment relations scorecard for Australia', Journal of Industrial Relations, doi: 10.1177/002218561774890.
• Wilkinson, A., Gollan, P.J., Kalfa, S. and Xu, Y. 2018, 'Voices unheard: employee voice in the new century', The International Journal of Human Resource Management, doi: 10.1080/09585192.2018.1427347.

HDR members activities

WOW Higher Degree Research member, Vishal Rana (pictured left; with HULT Prize CEO Ahmad Ashkah, far left) recently represented Griffith University at the Hult Prize Social Impact Competition in San Francisco in his capacity as Campus Director.

The Hult Prize competition is the world's largest student competition, where students pitch their social enterprise business idea to compete for 1 million dollars (US) seed funding. Himself a participant in 2017, Vishal accompanied four Griffith undergraduate students to the Regional Finals in London this year where they addressed the theme of using energy to positively impact the lives of 10 million people by 2025.

The Griffith cohort pitched an idea around creating bio-gas through industrial waste through a pilot project proposed in Zimbabwe and have as a result, been invited to apply for the wild card round where 10 teams will be selected to attend an accelerator program at a London castle and have a chance to pitch their idea for the top prize at the United Nations Headquarters in August, 2018. Good luck team Griffith! 

(This story was authored by Vishal Rana, with edits by the Centre for Work, Organisation and Wellbeing)

HDR member movements

The Centre welcomes its newest Higher Degree Research Student member, William Gunawan (pictured right), whose PhD research is looking at developing and applying a scale for young adults about their perceptions of future employability. His thesis supervisors are WOW members, Professor Peter Creed and Associate Professor Ian Glendon.

Seminars Series

The first few months of our Seminar Series is always a busy time! Consequently, we have hosted a range of international and interstate guests, and local researchers, since February as a part of the program; they include:

• Professor Tony Dundon, Manchester Business School, UK - 'The challenges for fair voice' and 'Higher Degree Researcher roundtable: What do external PhD examiners look for?', 5 February.
• Professor Jimmy Donaghey, Warwick Business School, UK - 'Managerial silencing of employee voice', 6 March.
• Professor Yvonne due Billing (pictured right, at lectern) - Workshop in Equity, Diversity and Gender in Employment (wEDGE) keynote presentation: 'Gendered inclusion, stereotyped expectations and leadership roles', 8 March.
• Professor David E. Guest, King's College London, and Department of ERHR and WOW, Griffith University - 'The new career: myth or reality?', 13 March.
• Dr Eva Selenko, Loughborough University, 'The PhD journey: a maze, a mystery or a marvel', 19 April; and 'The meaning of atypical work on identity, wellbeing and behaviour: introduction to a research program', 23 April.
• Dr Helen Delaney, Auckland University, 'From participation to collaboration? Challenges to sustaining institutional change in enterprise level management and employment relations', 1 May.
• Professor Bradley Bowden, WOW and Department of Employment Relations and Human Resources, Griffith University, 'Understanding and countering postmodernism in business studies', 8 May.
• Drs Gillian Cavanagh, Labtrobe University, and Amie Shaw, Department of Employment Relations and Human Resources, Griffith University, 'Workers with intellectual disability and developing career-related outcomes', 15 May.