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GIG seminars

GIG seminars are both a friendly place for postgraduate students to explore ideas as they develop their research or prepare for presentations, and an opportunity for the GIG community to share information about the range of research we undertake. The schedule includes presentations by both new and established scholars. Expressions of interest are always welcome from students or staff who would like to present a seminar. Please contact the convenor Howard Harris.
 

2008


Virtues for sustainable management

David Dawson, University of Gloucestershire, UK
Presented by the Group for Research in Integrity and Governance and the Ethics Centre of SA, 5 June, City West Campus

What does it mean for management to be sustainable? What are the dispositions of character, practices or virtues that are important for those who seek to practice it? David Dawson has been looking at the role of virtues in management and at sustainability. This presentation considered how the development of management virtues can enhance sustainable management. David Dawson teaches in the Business School at the University of Gloucestershire at Cheltenham. His main research interest is in business ethics and he has served as UK chair of the European Business Ethics Network. In particular, he is investigating how virtues can help organisations become both more ethical and better at creating wealth. This project includes thinking about the implications theory has for practice, the development of tools for intervention (through learning and activism) and actual interventions in organisations. David is at present head of the Human Resource Management department in the Gloucester Business School.
 

2005

17 November: Paul Richards, 'Work–life initiatives as part of a total reward strategy'

3 November: Chris Obi, 'Cultural and managerial factors in the implementation of advanced manufacturing technology in Nigeria'. Chris studied users of advanced manufacturing technology in Nigeria and NZ as the basis for his PhD.

20 October: Prof Roger Harris, 'Research at Centre for Research into Education, Equity and Work'

6 October: Lindsay Ryan, 'Research in universities about universities'

22 September: Dr Gido Mapunda, 'OECD and capacity building in developing nations: the role of education and research in personal and social transformation. An argument for a grounded theory approach?'

8 September: Md Majharul Talukder, 'Adoption of innovation by individuals within organisations'. Majharul has recently commenced his PhD on a President’s scholarship, coming to UniSA after teaching at Mid-Western State University in Texas. He has publications in information technology and virtual organisations.

11 August: Kym Fraser, 'Teamwork in cellular manufacturing'. How do concepts of teamwork interact with mathematical models of cell design?

11 August: 'Triple-crossed'. Howard Harris and Vandra Harris spoke of the joys and difficulties of working across disciplines, across universities and across generations. The presentation discussed how father and daughter collaborated to prepare a paper for the Business Performance and Corporate Social Responsibility conference in London in June.

30 June: Chris Martin, 'Implementing a new management system in a dispersed organisation'. Chris’s PhD research focuses on the implementation of Total Quality Management (ISO9000) in the grain bulk-handling company Ausbulk (formerly SACBH).
 

2004

12 March: seminar on 'Industrial and corporate manslaughter'. It featured papers from Prof James Gobert (University of Essex) on the politics of corporate crime, Professor Harry Glasbeek (York University, Canada) on the Canadian experience, Prof Richard Johnstone (ANU) on developments in OH&S prosecutions and the sanctions debate, along with a variety of other papers including contributions from Dr Fiona Haines (Melbourne University) and Jonathan Clough (Monash University). Afterwards, participants walked to Parliament House where Nick Xenophon MLC informally outlined his Bill on the subject, followed by discussion over drinks and nibbles.

Prof Gobert also gave a seminar at UniSA on 17 March on 'Corporate crime and corporate governance'.

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2003

22 October: the TBL Network presented a seminar by Ms Jodi Smith, PhD candidate, 'Improving the adoption rate of sustainability by business personnel: what governments can do'. Jodi explained her PhD research, which explored why the majority of business personnel have been slow to incorporate sustainability principles into their practices. She explained many factors that are leading to the slow adoption rate and why the many environment protection mechanisms that governments use have had minimal impact on the behaviour of business personnel. She showed the need to alter the system surrounding business personnel to make it as easy as possible for them to take action. Jodi believes that before business personnel will take action they need to believe that sustainability is important, worthwhile and achievable. Jodi showed how all the different environment protection mechanisms can be used to enhance these three aspects, increasing the likelihood that business personnel will develop a positive attitude and change their behaviour. Jodi explained critical education approaches that focus on working with business personnel to identify and remove their constraints to change, build their capacity to take action and coach business personnel with their efforts.

Jodi submitted her PhD with the Centre for Ecological Economics and Water Policy Research at the University of New England in NSW. Her study focused on improving the effectiveness of government sustainability education programs for business personnel. She has managed sustainability education programs with councils in SA and NSW. She has also been an EHO, Team Leader Environment, Strategic Planner and Corporate Development Officer in local government, a strategic change consultant with PricewaterhouseCoopers, and a leadership development consultant with Emerging Leaders Pty Ltd in the private sector.

28 August: Prof Gerry Griffin, 'Trade unions, the Australian Labor Party and the trade-labour rights debate'. Prof Griffin examined the Australian trade union movement's campaign to convince the Australian Labor Party to support the inclusion of core labour standards in international trade agreements. Despite historical affiliations, the Australian union movement has been unsuccessful in its attempts to influence the ALP. Prof Griffin discussed the need for Australian unions to reassess their strategies by drawing lessons from the US experience, including the possibility of a changed relationship with the ALP.

Prof Gerry Griffin is Pro-Vice Chancellor of the Division of Business and Enterprise at the University of South Australia. His major areas of research are industrial relations at the workplace level, enterprise bargaining, the structure and membership of trade unions, and international aspects of unionism.
 

2002

7 November: Assoc Prof Mike Metcalfe, School of Commerce, 'Foxes vs hedgehogs: multiple perspectives vs one-ism'.

10 October: Shirley Wheeler, 'ACS code of ethics for computer professionals: ethical categories and information systems stakeholder categories'

26 September: Evdokia Kalaitzidis, PhD candidate, School of International Business, 'The nurse's code of ethics'

5 September: A/Prof. Chris Provis, 'Organisational politics, personal relationships and dirty hands'

22 August: Dr Sue Stack, 'Absenteeism and human resource issues in aged care'

8 August: Dr Michael Carney, from the John Molson School of Business, Concordia University, 'The co-evolution of institutional environments and organisational strategies: the rise of family business groups in the ASEAN region'. Published in Organization Studies, 23(1), 2002, pp 1–29.

25 July: Dr David Cray, Professor of International Business and Organisational Behaviour in the Sprott School of Business at Carleton University 'Introducing modern organisational structure into SMEs'

6 June: Dr Barbara Anderson, 'Coping strategies in the "performance" of emotional labour' and John Hatzinikolakis, 'Emotional labour in an Australian hospitality setting: an exploratory case study'

16 May: Luke Faulkner, 'Flexibility and productivity in the component products manufacturing sector of the Australian automotive industry: the Accord – help or hindrance?'

2 May: Dr Howard Harris, 'Examples of collaboration in technology diffusion'

18 April: Saadia Carapiet, 'The application of modern management practices to SMEs'

4 April: Dr James Juniper, 'A Keynesian critique of recent applications of risk-sensitive control theory in macroeconomics'

21 March: Rick Castle, 'Inquisitiveness as a factor in leadership, especially in manufacturing enterprises'

7 March: Chris Martin, 'An examination of technology diffusion within small and medium enterprises in Australia'

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2001

22 November: Dennis Harrison, 'Changing perceptions: Australia and Japan 1960–1970 and the influence of Japanese motor vehicles'

8 November: Agneta Sundstrom, University of Gavle, Sweden, 'The interface and interaction between big and small companies'

25 October: Dr Zeljka Sporer, 'Management performance in manufacturing business'

11 October: Prof Chris Leggett, 'Industrial relations in Singapore: from industrial regulation to manpower planning'

13 September: Megan Heitmann, PhD candidate, Work and Stress Research Group, 'Trust amongst employees of the SA Department of Correctional Services'

30 August: Dennis List, 'Multiple pasts, multiple presents, multiple futures: a new approach to scenario analysis'

16 August: Gerry Treuren and Manjit Monga, 'Management of special event volunteers'

2 August: John Hatzinikolakis, 'Emotional labour in the hospitality industry'

12 July: Alistair Nolan (Smartlink Fellow, Project Manager for the OECD Forum on Entrepreneurship and the OECD's Local Economic and Employment Development Programme), 'Enterprise clusters and business networks'. Hosted by the National Institute for Manufacturing Management in conjunction with GREWC.

21 June: Gao Jing, Honours student, 'Managers and e-commerce in manufacturing'

24 May: Roger Monk, 'Perceptions of productivity in open-plan offices: a preliminary exploration of data gained in recent research'

10 May: Deb Mason, 'Psychological safety and team learning behaviour'

26 April: Howard Harris, 'Why courage is dangerous'

12 April: Dr. Umit Bititci, Director of Centre for Strategic Manufacturing and a Reader at the University of Strathclyde: a joint GREWC- SMARTLINK seminar

29 March: Gayathri (Gee) Wijesinghe, 'Cross-cultural dimensions of emotional labour'

15 March: Danielle Cvijetic, 'The training plateau: effects of bureaucracy on youth traineeships in the South Australian public sector'

1 March: Evdokia Kalaitzidis, 'Nurses and virtue'

15 February: Gayathri (Gee) Wijesinghe and Jenny Davies, 'Time for intercultural communication training in the tourism and hospitality industry' and Barbara Anderson, Shirley Chappel and Chris Provis, 'Emotional labour in the tourism industry'
 

2000

7 December: Rick Castle, 'Development of leadership in a manufacturing environment'

9 November: Shirley Wheeler, 'Towards a global ethics for international business'

26 October: Gordon Stewart, Central Queensland University, 'The relevance and appropriateness of the concept of "the transformation of industrial relations" to the study of employment relations within the meat processing industry in Queensland'

12 October: Dennis Harrison, 'Japanese motor vehicles in Australia: a case study of the progress and process of globalisation'

14 September: Sue Stack, 'Ethics, health and aged care' and 'The new public management'

17 August: Anne Hawke, 'Productive workplaces'

22 June: Chris Provis, 'Ethics and emotional labour'

8 June: Sue Stack, 'Flexible work and employment arrangements in three Adelaide health and caring organisations, with implications for "the New Public Management"'

25 May: Malcolm Keyte, 'Due process and power in organisations'

11 May: David Lane, 'Tourism planning and development in the Asia-Pacific region: looking through and beyond the haze of definitions'

27 April: James Juniper, 'Networking in knowledge-based industry'

13 April: David Baker, 'Downsizing process'

30 March: Howard Harris, 'Spirituality and courage'

16 March: Gerry Treuren, 'A theory of the evolution of systems of employment regulation'

17 February: Nick Oliver, Judge Institute, Cambridge, 'High-performance automobile manufacturing'. A joint seminar with Smartlink.

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1999

9 December: Anne Hawke, 'Globalisation and labour market change'

25 November: Dick Blandy, 'Enterprise return on a training investment in the Australian context'

28 October: Alison Browne, 'The effectiveness of the claims management process in the workers' compensation system in South Australia'

14 October: Sue Stack and Chris Provis, 'Some tensions in employment arrangements for caring labour'

16 September: Anne Hawke, a response to Malcolm Keyte

2 September: Howard Harris and Chris Provis, 'Teams, trust and norms: the importance of trust in the development of effective teams' and Malcolm Keyte, 'Some thoughts on rational choice models of human decision making'

5 August: David Lane, 'Some exploratory thinking in tourism research' and Gerry Treuren, 'A tentative regulationist explanation of the emergence of collective employment regulation in two Australian colonies in the late nineteenth century'

22 July: Anne Hawke and Gerry Treuren, 'Analysis of observable change in human resource management practices in Australia: a panel study' and Chris Leggett, 'Employment relations in East Asia in the last decade of the 20th century'

8 July: Adam Thompson, 'Some thoughts about the implications for organisations of the three books Leadership and the new science by Margaret Wheatley, The law of love by Michael Detmold and Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance by Robert Pirsig

10 June: Chris Provis, 'Emotional labour' and Malcolm Keyte, 'Due process in organisations'

13 May: Rowena Holloway, 'The use of grounded theory in management research' and Anne Hawke, 'Performance indicators in enterprise bargaining'

29 April: David Baker, 'Conflict in downsizing organisations'

18 April: Barbara Anderson, 'Managing expatriates' and Sue Stack, 'Flexible work arrangements in health care organisations'

1 April: Linley Hartmann, 'Getting to data collection: some current experiences' and Chris Provis, 'Is the idea of culture a useful analytical tool?'

18 March: Visiting Professor George Hagglund, 'Analysis of reinstatement rates in unfair dismissal arbitrations' and Frances Meredith, 'The conciliation process in SA workers' compensation matters'
 

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