- Kew, Victoria, Australia
Isabel Metz
University of Melbourne, Melbourne Business School, Faculty Member
W ith the increasing globalisation of knowledge and management education, it is important that we build on our scanty understanding of trends and levels of geographic diversification in editorial board membership of management journals. 0... more
W ith the increasing globalisation of knowledge and management education, it is important that we build on our scanty understanding of trends and levels of geographic diversification in editorial board membership of management journals. 0 Our study examines geographic diversity in editorial boards in Management over a 20-year period. i t uses secondary data from 57 journals covering approximately 16,000 editorial board members. 0 W e found that the geographic diversity of editorial boards ( e Bs) has increased in the last 20 years, but it is still low for most management journals. Further, two factors partly predict the geographic diversity of e Bs of management journals: the editor's country of residence and the field of research. 0 continued active management by editors, professional associations and individual academics alike is necessary to ensure that our editorial boards properly reflect the diverse management community.
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This chapter assesses the adoption and implementation of multiculturalism across Australia, Canada, the UK, the US and South Africa (the “Anglo bloc”), all of which receive a large number of immigrants. Australia and Canada espouse an... more
This chapter assesses the adoption and implementation of multiculturalism across Australia, Canada, the UK, the US and South Africa (the “Anglo bloc”), all of which receive a large number of immigrants. Australia and Canada espouse an official multiculturalism policy, and encourage their citizens and immigrants to adopt each other’s culture. The US does not have an official multiculturalism policy and follows an assimilation approach (“melting pot”) to immigration acculturation, but implements affirmative action to support racial minorities in education and employment. The UK and South Africa also do not have an official multiculturalism policy. They fall somewhere between Australia/Canada and the US on the immigrant acculturation continuum. The UK is heavily influenced by EU directives, and has strong anti-discrimination laws to compensate for a lack of multiculturalism policy. South Africa is a special case, where blacks are indigenous rather than immigrants. It has strong affirmative action policies, but they do not apply to those who attain citizenship after 1984. The emphasis is on the economic empowerment of previously disadvantaged groups. The chapter also updates the 2010 Multiculturalism Policy Index (MPI) with data from South Africa.
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PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to propose a shift in emphasis from gender differences to gender similarities in the explanations of the findings of future gender in management research. The results from a study in a major Australian... more
PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to propose a shift in emphasis from gender differences to gender similarities in the explanations of the findings of future gender in management research. The results from a study in a major Australian bank help build the case. Such a focus on gender similarities (FGS) hopefully will bring about positive organizational change that might stimulate an increase in women's representation in senior management in the future.Design/methodology/approachTo make a case for the proposed FGS approach the paper uses results from a survey of 178 senior managers and interviews with 14 executives in one Australian bank. The paper draws on the masculine culture and organizational silence literatures to explain how women and men in senior management can have similar work experiences and hold similar views of their organizations.FindingsThe paper finds that male and female respondents held similarly unfavorable views of the organization's culture, but men fe...
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PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to propose a shift in emphasis from gender differences to gender similarities in the explanations of the findings of future gender in management research. The results from a study in a major Australian... more
PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to propose a shift in emphasis from gender differences to gender similarities in the explanations of the findings of future gender in management research. The results from a study in a major Australian bank help build the case. Such a focus on gender similarities (FGS) hopefully will bring about positive organizational change that might stimulate an increase in women's representation in senior management in the future.Design/methodology/approachTo make a case for the proposed FGS approach the paper uses results from a survey of 178 senior managers and interviews with 14 executives in one Australian bank. The paper draws on the masculine culture and organizational silence literatures to explain how women and men in senior management can have similar work experiences and hold similar views of their organizations.FindingsThe paper finds that male and female respondents held similarly unfavorable views of the organization's culture, but men fe...
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PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to propose a shift in emphasis from gender differences to gender similarities in the explanations of the findings of future gender in management research. The results from a study in a major Australian... more
PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to propose a shift in emphasis from gender differences to gender similarities in the explanations of the findings of future gender in management research. The results from a study in a major Australian bank help build the case. Such a focus on gender similarities (FGS) hopefully will bring about positive organizational change that might stimulate an increase in women's representation in senior management in the future.Design/methodology/approachTo make a case for the proposed FGS approach the paper uses results from a survey of 178 senior managers and interviews with 14 executives in one Australian bank. The paper draws on the masculine culture and organizational silence literatures to explain how women and men in senior management can have similar work experiences and hold similar views of their organizations.FindingsThe paper finds that male and female respondents held similarly unfavorable views of the organization's culture, but men fe...
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Purpose Managers develop psychological contracts (PCs) with staff as part of their people management responsibilities. A second-stage mediated moderation model explains how a manager’s personality influences the content and fulfillment of... more
Purpose Managers develop psychological contracts (PCs) with staff as part of their people management responsibilities. A second-stage mediated moderation model explains how a manager’s personality influences the content and fulfillment of PCs in different organizational contexts. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach Survey data from 749 managers at Australian organizations were collected and regression analyses were used to test the hypotheses. The Edwards and Lambert (2007) approach was used to analyze conditional indirect effects. Findings Managers high on agreeableness, conscientiousness and extraversion are more likely to establish relational PCs with their staff than managers low on these personality traits. The effects of agreeableness and conscientiousness on the fulfillment of the PC occur through the “relational PC” variable. Once a relational PC is established, a manager’s ability to fulfill the PC is constrained by the extent to which police...
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Empirical findings on the link between gender diversity and performance have been inconsistent. This paper presents three competing predictions of the organizational gender diversity–performance relationship: a positive linear prediction... more
Empirical findings on the link between gender diversity and performance have been inconsistent. This paper presents three competing predictions of the organizational gender diversity–performance relationship: a positive linear prediction derived from the resource-based view of the firm, a negative linear prediction derived from self-categorization and social identity theories, and an inverted U-shaped curvilinear prediction derived from the integration of the resource-based view of the firm with self-categorization and social identity theories. This paper also proposes a moderating effect of industry type (services vs. manufacturing) on the gender diversity–performance relationship. The predictions were tested in publicly listed Australian organizations using archival quantitative data with a longitudinal research design. The results show partial support for the positive linear and inverted U-shaped curvilinear predictions as well as for the proposed moderating effect of industry type. The curvilinear relationship indicates that different proportions of organizational gender diversity have different effects on organizational performance, which may be attributed to different dynamics as suggested by the resource-based view and self-categorization and social identity theories. The results help reconcile the inconsistent findings of past research that focused on the linear gender diversity–performance relationship. The findings also show that industry context can strengthen or weaken the effects of organizational gender diversity on performance.
Research Interests: Business, Marketing, Psychology, Social Identity, Human Resource Management, and 9 moreLongitudinal Research, Human Resource Management in the middle east, Social identity theory, Business and Management, Resource Based View, Organizational Performance, Service industry, Manufacturing Industry, and LINEAR PREDICTIVE CODING
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Demography theory suggests that high gender diversity leads to high turnover. As turnover is costly for organizations, we examined whether HR policies and practices influence the expected gender diversity-turnover relationship. Survey... more
Demography theory suggests that high gender diversity leads to high turnover. As turnover is costly for organizations, we examined whether HR policies and practices influence the expected gender diversity-turnover relationship. Survey data were collected from 198 HR decision makers at publicly listed organizations. We found that HR policies and practices that are supportive of diversity moderate the gender diversity-turnover relationship, such that high gender diversity leads to low turnover in organizations with many diversity supportive policies and practices. Results suggest that organizations can avoid the negative consequences of high gender diversity by implementing diversity supportive HR polices and practices.
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The employee–organisation relationship is dynamic and arguably affected by contextual factors, such as a change in the economic environment. This study uses data collected from managers in Australia before and after the beginning of the... more
The employee–organisation relationship is dynamic and arguably affected by contextual factors, such as a change in the economic environment. This study uses data collected from managers in Australia before and after the beginning of the global financial crisis (GFC) to examine the changes in psychological contract (PC) terms from the manager's perspective. In particular, as industries can be affected differently
Research Interests: Business, Marketing, Industrial and Organizational Psychology, Psychological Contract, Human Resource Management, and 8 moreHuman Resource Management in the middle east, Global Financial Crisis, Gender Discrimination, Business and Management, Economic Crisis, Gender inequality, Gender Difference, and Data Collection
The aim of this study is to explain women’s under-representation in leadership positions in Australian schools. To achieve this aim, the study used secondary data from the Australian Education Union (AEU). A random sub-sample of 340... more
The aim of this study is to explain women’s under-representation in leadership positions in Australian schools. To achieve this aim, the study used secondary data from the Australian Education Union (AEU). A random sub-sample of 340 (31.2%) men and 751 (68.8%) women, which reflects the gender distribution in the population of school teachers, was examined. Cross-tabulations, chi-square tests, and hierarchical regression analyses revealed that women’s under-representation in leadership positions can be explained by gender differences in ambition, having a working partner, teaching experience, moving schools, and years of leave. In particular, sex moderates the positive relationship between moving schools and job level. Recommendations are offered to improve the number of women in school leadership positions.
Since the events of September 11, 2001, there has been a shift in the attitudes towards immigration and multiculturalism. In Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel has declared that "multiculturalism... has utterly failed." Likewise,... more
Since the events of September 11, 2001, there has been a shift in the attitudes towards immigration and multiculturalism. In Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel has declared that "multiculturalism... has utterly failed." Likewise, the U.K. is moving towards "post-multiculturalism" as a way forward to foster social cohesion and promote assimilation and a common identity. The premise behind the post-multiculturalism/anti-immigration movement is that multiculturalism is not working, and new public policies and programs are needed to move beyond multiculturalism. This symposium will provide a forum for academic discourse on whether multiculturalism has failed to work, how multiculturalism can contribute to organizations, societies, and nations, and what can be done to foster greater tolerance and inclusion. A roundtable will be used to involve the audience as participants, and to generate active discussions. The objective of the symposium is to: (1) exchange knowledge, ideas, and experiences about multicultural...
HR practices are intended to influence employee and organizational performance, including the level of employee quits. We examine the role of workplace climate as a boundary condition on the HR pra...
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Abstract Despite the prevalence and value of self-managed teams, questions remain about the factors that influence how team members perform in contexts where there is no formal leader to give advice and provide support. Drawing on social... more
Abstract Despite the prevalence and value of self-managed teams, questions remain about the factors that influence how team members perform in contexts where there is no formal leader to give advice and provide support. Drawing on social network, diversity and personality theories, this study enhances our understanding of the role of individual and group factors in shaping individuals' performance in these teams. Based on three time-lagged data collections, including two surveys from 70 self-managed project teams, we found that conscientious team members perform better because they have more instrumental network ties (i.e., they provide task advice). We also found that having more expressive ties (i.e., being liked) compensates when a team member is not able to give advice, most likely because s/he provides more socio-emotional support to team members. Finally, expressive ties are more important in gender homogenous teams, possibly because socio-emotional support has greater value when from similar team mates.
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Women continue to assert that discrimination impedes their advancement in organisations. Based on a recent survey of 1043 employees in one large multinational, we demonstrate that such allegations of gender discrimination against women... more
Women continue to assert that discrimination impedes their advancement in organisations. Based on a recent survey of 1043 employees in one large multinational, we demonstrate that such allegations of gender discrimination against women are likely to be accurate rather than fallacious or exaggerated. We offer four suggestions for organisations to reduce the occurrence of discrimination in the workplace
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... In contrast, Ali et al. (in press) found support for the gender diversity-performance relationship with a five ... This understanding is especially important in today's environment, when managers must cope with a weak economy and... more
... In contrast, Ali et al. (in press) found support for the gender diversity-performance relationship with a five ... This understanding is especially important in today's environment, when managers must cope with a weak economy and talent shortage (Somaya & Williamson, 2008). ...
Page 1. Workforce gender diversity: Is it a source of competitive advantage? Muhammad Ali University of Melbourne, Australia Dr Isabel Metz ... diversity on performance. For example, Cox and Blake (1991) argued that diversity can be a... more
Page 1. Workforce gender diversity: Is it a source of competitive advantage? Muhammad Ali University of Melbourne, Australia Dr Isabel Metz ... diversity on performance. For example, Cox and Blake (1991) argued that diversity can be a source of competitive advantage. ...
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ABSTRACT The transition from 'personnel' to 'human resource management' took place in Australia in the latter part of the twentieth century. The change in nomenclature reflects a change in the nature of the... more
ABSTRACT The transition from 'personnel' to 'human resource management' took place in Australia in the latter part of the twentieth century. The change in nomenclature reflects a change in the nature of the work: from an employee-centred role to a management-centred role. In this paper we examine the relationship between these two roles, with a particular emphasis on their compatibility. Using interview data we find that HR managers devote considerable time to employee-centred activities. HR managers philosophically reconcile these activities with their responsibilities as a strategic partner by identifying the benefits of their employee-centred efforts for management. HR managers do, however, experience some operational challenges when they attempt to be a strategic partner and simultaneously promote employee well-being.. We thank the HR managers who participated in our research interviews for their time and insights.
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ABSTRACT Demography theory suggests that high gender diversity leads to high turnover. As turnover is costly, we tested the following: a main effect prediction derived from demography theory, and a moderating effect prediction derived... more
ABSTRACT Demography theory suggests that high gender diversity leads to high turnover. As turnover is costly, we tested the following: a main effect prediction derived from demography theory, and a moderating effect prediction derived from the relational framework. Data on 198 publicly listed organizations were collected through a human resources decision maker survey and archival databases. The results indicate that higher gender diversity leads to lower turnover in organizations with many gender-focused policies and practices. Findings suggest that organizations can lower their turnover rates by increasing their gender diversity and by implementing gender-focused policies and practices.
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There is now an international agenda to increase women’s representation at the top of organizations. This agenda is driven in part by a business case arguing that gender diversity brings value, particularly economic value, to... more
There is now an international agenda to increase women’s representation at the top of organizations. This agenda is driven in part by a business case arguing that gender diversity brings value, particularly economic value, to organizations. In this article, we review the empirical evidence linking women’s representation in senior leadership roles to countable, verifiable organizational outcomes (e.g., organizational financial performance, practices, and demographics). We consider women’s impact when they are CEOs, directors on corporate boards, members of the top management team, and managers. We conclude that women at the top have an impact on organizational outcomes, but this impact is more visible on organizational practices and organizational demography than on financial performance. We recommend that researchers studying the gender-performance link at the organizational level make their theoretical perspectives explicit, distinguish among mediating mechanisms, be selective in t...