Research

The School of Management has a very active research program with over 30 research students enrolled in PhD’s. Many staff have received major national and other research grants and most are active in publishing in leading journals and presenting papers at national and international conferences. The School offers generous support to research students.

Two research centres are housed in the School; SMERC (Small and Medium Enterprise Research Centre) and the China-Australia Centre Business Research Centre (CABRC).

  

Projects

Identifying Successful Knowledge Management Strategies in an Organisational Climate of Uncertainty and Change: A Higher Education Institution Perspective.

Researcher: Denise Gengatharen
Value: $19,500. Edith Cowan University. Early Career Researcher Grant Scheme, 2008

The ‘conventional wisdom’ is that organisational culture and climate influence knowledge management (KM) outcomes and choices at individual, group and organisational levels. Australian universities have recently been operating in climates of uncertainty and change characterised by competition, less loyalty, distrust and job insecurity, which research shows, work against KM. This climate is expected to prevail for a while.
This project investigates KM in an Australian university to determine if there are successful initiatives in such climates and the reasons for their success. Findings can contribute to better planning and outcomes of KM strategies in universities and corporations facing similar climates.

Enhancing Nonverbal Communication Skills.
The most important thing in communication is hearing what isn’t said.  Peter F. Drucker

Researcher: Judy Denham
Value: $6,750  Teaching and Learning Grant for 2009

ECU Career Development courses have earned a reputation for quality in its counselling, career counselling and career coaching skill development facilitation.  This reputation can be further advanced by the development of quality audiovisual nonverbal communication teaching and learning materials as nonverbal communication makes up a substantial component of interpersonal communication (Hargie, O. & Dickson, D, 2004).  Career practitioners need to be able to immediately identify subtle and obvious client nonverbal behaviour and detect consistencies and inconsistencies between client verbal and nonverbal messages in order to respond appropriately to the client.  This project will produce an educational nonverbal communication DVD and supporting materials.  Career development students will directly benefit from the resources and teaching and learning process created as part of this project. 

Quality of ECU Career Development Graduates – Employer Perspective

Researcher: Judy Denham
Value: $5,197 Special Learning and Teaching Grant for 2009

Stakeholder meetings have been held with local students, graduates and industry representatives to seek course feedback.  However, there have been no surveys conducted to gain empirical data from the diverse range of employers about their perception of ECU Career Development graduates.  With relation to employer and work context diversity approximately half of the ECU Career Development students do not reside in Western Australia, but in other States of Australia, or overseas.  Approximately one third of students and graduates work in educational settings (schools, Technical and Further Education Colleges and Universities); one third in community employment support settings; and one third work in corporate settings. 

Dignity and respect at work: An exploration of work behaviours in a professional environment

Value: $12,249 + $7000 Joint research with the Law Society of W.A. 2009 Edith Cowan University, Faculty of Business & Law Strategic Research Funding with contribution from the Law Society of W.A.
Researcher: Omari, Maryam

Organisations today function in complex and dynamic environments which exert continual pressure to change and compete. Employees are often seen as a key to success in this world, as flexible and adaptable resources.  The quality of their work life therefore takes on an important role in ensuring they reach their full potential.  Bullying is a newly recognised (though long extant) workplace safety issue, involving a wide variety of negative behaviours. Workplace bullying can have adverse effects for individuals, including both the perpetrator and the victim, as well as their families, the organisation, and ultimately the wider society.

This study explores the nature, antecedents and consequences of bullying in a professional environment.

Using social software for computer-supported collaboration: Preliminary tests of the notion of Space-Flow to improve design, process and performance outcomes

Value: $15,292 Faculty of Business and Law – Strategic Research Grant, October 2009
Researchers: Dr Paul Jackson and Dr Stuart Garner

The proposed research is a “proof of concept” experiment designed to be preliminary to a field test in a large international organization. This research is potentially of significance in several areas and contributions can be expected to: knowledge management, design of enterprise social software, end-user design. It consists of two studies:

• The first study tests the immediate impact of introduction to the “Spaces and Flows” approach on the ability of individuals to conceptualise a virtual work space for collaborative work.
• The second study asks students after completing a series of tasks which require wiki use over 12 weeks, to indicate (if any) the role the notion of spaces and flows played in design of their wikis and in the learning experience.

Building Research Capacity – National Mentoring Scheme

Value: $250k – Mentoring $33k National Centre for Vocation and Education Research
Researchers: Llandis Barratt-Pugh – Mentor Director, Roger Harris – UniSA – VET Higher Degree Director and Berwyn Clayton – VU – Community of Practice workshop Director

National Centre for Vocation and Education Research are currently funding a three-year national program (2008-2011) to build researcher capacity in the VET sector.  I am directing the mentoring scheme that is piloting the mentoring of new researchers in VET nationwide and evaluating the project. The primary objective of the programme is to build the research skills of practitioners by supporting their progress as they produce and present VET research studies, so they may present their findings at national VET research forums. The study involves developing mentoring relations with more than 30 new researchers and tracking and developing their capability through action learning projects that focus on issues in their own organisation.