Melissa A. Parris

Friendships under strain : the work-personal life integration of middle managers

Middle managers in todays organisations have reported experiencing longer working hours and intensified work regimes. These increased pressures, in turn, have led to growing difficulty in addressing the integration of their work and personal lives. In an exploratory study of the daily workplace experiences of Australian middle managers and the impacts on their personal lives, one of the key themes to emerge was respondents’ concerns about the negative effects on their friendships. This paper discusses middle managers’ recognition of the value of friendships for their wellbeing, and the resultant anger and sadness reported at the strain on these relationships due to competing time demands. The significant role that friendships play in alleviating some of the stresses of work demands, while concurrently being impeded by these same demands, is an important issue for organisations to consider. These findings indicate the need for middle managers to truly have an ability to engage in activities – and friendships – which will aid them in their working lives. The study also indicates a need for further investigation into the development and maintenance of friendships for both middle managers and other groups of employees.

Working in Teams: The Influence of Rhetoric—From Sensemaking to Sadness

At a time when teams are increasingly and routinely being used in Public Administration (PA) organizations, the prevailing wisdom about teams continues to confirm that teams axiomatically bring increases and improvements in effectiveness, productivity and communication. There has been relatively little critical address of whether these benefits actually accrue, nor what the experience of team members actually is. The PA literature, in particular, remains silent on this important issue. This paper shares findings from an exploratory phenomenological study. Members of teams in organizations were interviewed and asked about their experiences of working in teams. In contrast to the current wisdom, not only did team members not report the anticipated improvements and benefits, their stories tended to highlight the negative influence that the rhetoric surrounding teams might have on individuals. This paper shares the responses of team members to that rhetoric, revealing themes of “Teams, Rhetoric and Sensemaking,” a challenge to the notion of “Teams as One Big Happy Family?” while identifying “Teams as Crucibles of Resignation and Sadness.” These findings indicate the continuing need for further research into understanding the experience of individuals within various team and organizational structures, especially as they operate in PA organizations.

The impact of bullying on health care administration staff: Reduced commitment beyond the influences of negative affectivity

Background: Investigations of workplace bullying in health care settings have tended to focus on nurses or other clinical staff. However, the organizational and power structures enabling bullying in health care are present for all employees, including administrative staff. Purposes: The purpose of this study was to specifically focus on health care administration staff and examine the prevalence and consequences of workplace bullying in this occupational group. Methodology/Approach: A cross-sectional study was conducted based on questionnaire data from health care administration staff who work across facilities within a medium to large health care organization in Australia. The questionnaire included measures of bullying, negative affectivity (NA), job satisfaction, organizational commitment, well-being, and psychological distress. The three hypotheses of the study were that (a) workplace bullying will be linked to negative employee outcomes, (b) individual differences on demographic factors will have an impact on these outcomes, and (c) individual differences in NA will be a significant covariate in the analyses. The hypotheses were tested using t tests and analyses of covariances. Findings: A total of 150 health care administration staff completed the questionnaire (76% response rate). Significant main effects were found for workplace bullying, with lower organizational commitment and well-being with the effect on commitment remaining over and above NA. Main effects were found for age on job satisfaction and for employment type on psychological distress. A significant interaction between bullying and employment type for psychological distress was also observed. Negative affectivity was a significant covariate for all analyses of covariance. Practice Implications: The applications of these results include the need to consider the occupations receiving attention in health care to include administration employees, that bullying is present across health care occupations, and that some employees, particularly part-time staff, may need to be managed slightly differently to the full-time workforce.

Write it or click on it? Paper vs. online questionnaires for organisational research

In the last few decades, researchers have made the shift from using traditional paper-based survey questionnaires to develop online surveys to be more contemporary and digitally inclusive. The historical use of paper-based questionnaires has produced a large body of literature on both the advantages and disadvantages, which are reviewed in this paper alongside those of online survey questionnaires. We posit that the traditional methods of increasing survey response rates in paper format should not be blindly ignored in the quest to utilise online methodology. Rather, our view is that researchers could exploit the true benefits of online technologies and increase response rate by thoughtfully combining traditional and new methods. We recommend that further discussion and research are required in order to identify the benefits and weaknesses of using electronic methods of data collection. This will ensure that potential short-term cost savings are not outweighed by either financial or participation costs as part of online survey questionnaire design.

Challenges of inter-generational succession in the Chinese Australian family business

Chinese immigrants have long been a feature of Australias population mix and play a critical role in the countrys economic activities, with particular contribution by Chinese family-owned businesses. Although these family-owned businesses can generate and significantly improve the financial wealth which stems from the familys original fortune, most Chinese family businesses are relatively short-lived, rarely extending beyond one generation. The high mortality rate in family businesses points primarily to the challenges of management succession. There is recognition that inter-generational succession is essential for both the profitability of Chinese family businesses and the welfare of the family as a whole. However, the intentions of inter-generational pursuit of continuity can be subject to the different goals and interests of key participants, as well as the surrounding context in which the business develops. This paper presents issues pertaining to the inter-generational diversity that might challenge the business continuity of Chinese family businesses, through the identification of how individuals perceive, relate to and initiate the succession process.

The succession decision in Chinese–Australian family businesses : an exploratory study

Abstract This article explores the factors used to make succession choices as ethnic Chinese family business founders integrate into their host country, Australia. An empirical study of six Chinese–Australian family businesses was used to analyse what factors influence the succession decision-making process. Results show three broad factors influenced the founders’ decisions, including the aspirations and visions of the business founders, cultural and individual values shaped in the integration process, and the options that are available for succession. Findings challenge the anticipated option of intergenerational succession, with its emphasis on family-oriented collectivistic values as expectations. It provides future support for considering how the cultural value orientation (collectivistic, individualistic, or transitional) has impacted on the founder’s succession choices. Further research is required to understand how the flexible, changing, situational founder’s succession intentions are manifested among family businesses in cultural transition.

The muse with a wandering eye: the influence of public value on coproduction in museums

ABSTRACT Across management, marketing, public administration and museology literature, coproduction has been presented as an innovative approach to service improvement. This case study of the Australian museum sector contributes to the instrumentalisation debate, by revealing the potential inhibitors to such improvements when coproduction distracts rather than enhances the work of cultural institutions. While public value requires the strategic cultural manager to negotiate between ‘upstream audiences’ (government and funding bodies) and ‘downstream audiences’ (users and the body politic), these two groups appear to exert different levels of influence. This research suggests that upstream audiences currently absorb the attention of museums. As a result, the manner in which museums coproduce, and the motivations for this work, appear to be geared towards advocating the public value of museums to government and funding bodies. This case study suggests that museums sacrifice the service innovations and exhibition enhancements offered by coproduction (intrinsic outcomes) to pursue government funding and support (instrumental outcomes).

Encouraging writing on the white walls: co-production in museums and the influence of professional bodies

Museums, along with other public sector organisations, have been urged to co-produce. Co-production may offer increased resourcing and greater effectiveness, and enhances public value through stronger relationships between government and citizens. However, co-production, particularly that which involves collaboration with communities, is largely resisted by public sector organisations such as museums. This research examines the extent to which museums co-produce and the role played by professional bodies in driving or inhibiting co-production. It finds that the study of co-production in museums reveals the influence of ‘institutional inertia’ and the limits to which professional bodies are able to ‘diffuse’ co-production and change established professional practice.

“I’m Not Sure if That Was a Cultural Thing”: Stories from NESB Skilled Migrant Women in Australia

The Australian skilled migration scheme has been designed to attract migrants who will contribute to Australia’s economic growth (ABS, 2009b, DIAC 2012). While skilled migrants provide a substantia...