Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-8bljj Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-20T07:02:47.537Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

What do business school academics want? Reflections from the national survey on workplace climate and well-being: Australia and New Zealand

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 February 2018

Tse Leng Tham  and
Peter Holland
Tse Leng Tham*
Affiliation:
Department of Management, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
Peter Holland
Affiliation:
Department of Management, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
*
Corresponding author: tham.tse.leng@monash.edu.au
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This research discusses the findings from a study undertaken for an exploration of the critical issues around the working conditions, workplace climate, and well-being of business school (predominantly management) academics in Australia and New Zealand. With an ageing workforce, and almost half of the Australian and New Zealand workforce intending to retire, move overseas, or leave the sector within this decade, amidst rising demand in the tertiary education sector, the effective retention of this key skilled workforce is pertinent. With data from a survey conducted in 2017 involving 451 business school academics in Australia and New Zealand, this research note highlights several key issues around the areas of workplace climate and well-being which importantly, are within the control of management. Specifically, these salient workforce issues include work intensification, burnout, and poor work–life balance.

Keywords

Australiawork-related attitudes/behavioursNew Zealandwell-being and psychosocial risk factors
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Management & Organization , Volume 24 , Issue 4 , July 2018 , pp. 492 - 499
Copyright
© Cambridge University Press and Australian and New Zealand Academy of Management 2018 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Arnold, T., Flaherty, K., Voss, K., & Mowen, J. (2009). Role stressors and retail performance: The role of perceived competitive climate. Journal of Retailing, 85(2), 194–206.Google Scholar
Australian Government Department of Education and Training (2016). Selected higher education statistics–2016 staff data (data set). Retrieved August 12, 2017, from https://www.education.gov.au/staff-data Google Scholar
Bentley, T., McLeod, L., & Teo, S. (2014). The state of the tertiary education sector in New Zealand -2013: Final report of findings from the survey of work and wellbeing in the tertiary education sector. Auckland, New Zealand: New Zealand Work Research Institute.Google Scholar
Bexley, E., Arkoudis, S., & James, R. (2013). The motivations, values and future plans of Australian academics. Higher Education, 65, 385–400.Google Scholar
Bexley, E., James, R., & Arkoudis, S. (2011). The Australian academic profession in transition. Melbourne, Australia: Centre for the Study of Higher Education.Google Scholar
Bolden, R., Gosling, A., O’Brien, K., Peters, M., Ryan, M., & Haslan, A. (2012). Academic leadership: Changing conceptions, identities, and experiences in UK higher education. London: Leadership Foundation of Higher Education.Google Scholar
Boxall, P., & Purcell, J. (2016). Strategy and human resource management (4th ed.). Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Brown, S., Cron, W., & Slocum, J. (1998). Effects of trait competitiveness and perceived intraorganizational competition on salesperson goal setting and performance. Journal of Marketing, 62, 88–98.Google Scholar
Cannizzo, F., & Osbaldiston, N. (2016). Academic work/life balance: A brief quantitative analysis of the Australian experience. Journal of Sociology, 52(4), 890–906.Google Scholar
Currie, J., & Eveline, J. (2011). E-technology and work/life balance for academics with young children. Journal of Sociology, 52(4), 890–906.Google Scholar
Deem, R., Hillyard, S., & Reed, M. (2008). Knowledge, higher education, and the new managerialism: The changing management of UK universities. London, UK: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Frost, P.J., & Taylor, M.S. (1996). Rhythms of academic life: Personal accounts of careers in academia. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Holland, P., Allen, B., & Cooper, B. (2013). Reducing burnout in Australian nurses: The role of employee direct voice and managerial responsiveness. International Journal of Human Resource Management, 24(16), 3146–3162.Google Scholar
Kinman, G., & Jones, F. (2008). A life beyond work? Job demands, work-life balance, and wellbeing in UK academics. Journal of Human Behavior in the Social Environment, 17(1–2), 41–60.Google Scholar
National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU). (2015, July). State of the Uni survey: Workloads (Report No. 2). Retrieved December 10, 2017, from www.nteu.org.au/library/view/id/6308 Google Scholar
Pyman, A., Holland, P., Teicher, J., & Cooper, B. (2010). Industrial relations climate, employee voice and managerial attitudes to unions. An Australian study. British Journal of Industrial Relations, 48(2), 460–480.Google Scholar
Teichler, U. (2015). Higher education and the world of work: The perennial controversial debate. In J. C. Shin, G. A. Postiglione, & F. Huang Eds, Mass higher education development in East Asia (pp. 269–288). Cham, Switzerland: Springer International Publishing.Google Scholar
Winter, R. P. (2017). Managing academics: A question of perspective. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing.Google Scholar