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This exploratory case study investigated the factors impacting employee morale and burnout risk among allied health professionals operating within a large Australian public hospital. The study aimed to understand what factors may positively influence group morale and reduce burnout risk.

Qualitative data was collected using semi-structured interviews and focus groups with 30 Allied Health Managers. A manual thematic analysis and confirmatory content analysis (viz., Leximancer) identified several prominent themes impacting morale and potential burnout risk.

Key factors impacting allied health morale and contributing to burnout risk were captured in three main themes. The first included processes and relationships between people that were contributing to the culture negatively. The second identified the general lack of management training and limited capability of supervisors and leaders in human resource skills. The third theme identified change, high workloads and ineffective systems that were not supporting managers to be effective in their roles. This was also considered to be stifling internal innovation.

This case study took a top-down approach which may have provided a biased viewpoint from the managers perspective, rather than the perspective of all levels. The findings are within one context, hence there is a potential lack of generalisability. A final limitation is that this project collected and interpreted data through processes of social interaction and relied on the individual perception, skill and knowledge of the researchers, which may cause some uncertainty in the findings.

These findings support prioritising the evidence-based development of leadership and management competencies that have a focus on human resource management in hospitals. The study findings support the adoption of the theoretical framework of a systems approach to leadership that encourages the concept of being a learning organisation that creates pod-synergy within teams to enhance healthy personal, organisational and clinical outcomes. Adopting an empathetic leadership style that seeks to understand and support staff could improve staff morale within public health organisations and prevent burnout risk. Training managers with the skills and abilities to support autonomy amongst employees will support employee motivation and satisfaction in the workplace.

The findings were discussed using a socio technical system thinking perspective. This involves understanding the people (both leaders and front-line workers) and the systems and how they interact to support positive workplace morale.

Limited research has empirically explored from a socio-technical systems perspective how the systems and structures in healthcare organisations support allied health managers and employees in their role. Furthermore, the results provide new insights that encourage a more empathetic systems approach to leadership, one that supports social relationships and encourages pod-synergy amongst employees. Together these findings delivered strategies that can buffer against low morale and burnout risk among allied health care workers. This is an area that arguably has not yet been adequately addressed in allied health.

This paper aims to examine the critical question of how to increase productivity without also increasing the burnout risk. A systems thinking framework was applied to explore individual perceptions of team dynamics and how they relate to morale, work–life balance (WLB) and hours worked.

Using an online survey, data from 1,222 Australian workers were analysed using hierarchical multiple regression and principal components analysis (PCA).

Self-reported productivity was found to be predicted by engagement whereas burnout and morale had minimal impact. Burnout risk was not related to hours worked but was reduced when WLB, quality work and trust is higher. Co-worker effort impacted morale and a factor labelled as team “sense of accomplishment” (SoA) was identified.

The results of this research have limited generalisability to wider populations due to sampling methods, being conducted in the Australian context and respondents coming from a diverse range of occupations. The sample being skewed towards younger age groups and the acknowledged use of single-item measures may also restrict drawing broader conclusions from the results.

A socio-technical systems thinking model to diagnose the link between workplace burnout and productivity is applied. The approach involved understanding the importance of trust and how the connection between people and systems can influence morale.

Empowerment is recognised as being a key to achieving organisational agility. Typically associated with a particular leadership style, implications of empowerment for management have remained vague in the literature. Thus, this study aims at unpacking the facets and mechanisms of empowerment in the context of organisational units (OUs).

First, the authors review the extant literature and discuss the crucial concepts in the context empowerment. Then, the authors analyse qualitative data from interviews conducted in four research and development (R&D) departments in the industrial manufacturing industry.

This study finds that the empowerment of business entities is crucial when operating in turbulent conditions. However, empowerment must be accompanied by a clear focus when aiming at higher agile performance. Moreover, different autonomy types and their interplay with critical factors of middle management empowerment could be identified. The research results also reveal important details about the effects of autonomy on motivation and performance and the role of OUs' dependencies.

The model proposed in this paper can help senior and middle managers better manage the empowerment of OUs required to enhance middle management agility and, in turn, increase overall organisational adaptability.

Beyond regarding empowerment as a leadership style, this paper takes a middle management perspective and unfolds the facets of empowerment in the context of OUs. Adding to the theory of self-organisation, a model is proposed to capture the key factors to determine and manage the autonomy of OUs. These insights are essential to managing autonomy successfully at the middle management level.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the dimensions of boredom-coping in the workplace and develop a linear equation capable of predicting a single individual's boredom-coping capacity.

The research employs a mixed-methods approach and triangulates the identification of themes through, consultation with five industry experts, 23 individual interviews and 169 survey respondents.

A linear composite that explains 41.4 percent of the variance in boredom-coping (r=0.66, p<0.001) was developed. The model was derived from four constructs identified from primary qualitative data. These were, personality traits (i.e. conscientiousness, openness, work ethic, and extraversion), attitude to challenge, trainable abilities (i.e. practical intelligence, foresight ability, and situational awareness), and group potency.

These findings provide research implications for the study of boredom-coping at work. Common-method artifacts are a potential limitation of the conclusions drawn. However, the mixed-methods approach, independent samples at each stage, and multiple data collection sites and times, supports the integrity of the findings discussed.

The practical implications of this research includes providing strategies for human resource decisions associated with recruitment, selection, and front-line training interventions. The model indicates training may be targeted at different areas of the equation with markedly different impact and return depending on the timed nature of interventions.

The findings support the development of approaches that may help to create a more engaged, productive, and well-adjusted workforce. The translation of the findings to the “bottom-line” is also significant.

OUR readers begin this month a year which we hope has many library possibilities. The growing recognition of libraries and of the calling of the librarian gives one reason to believe that progress will continue, gradually it is true, but surely, towards a fairer and more generous library policy than has been possible in the past. Vestiges of worn ideas Still remain, as when we hear that a library has mutilated its newspapers deliberately in the belief that this would in some way suppress the betting habit. There are libraries, too, in some towns, even in some universities—incredible as that may seem to those who do not know them—where librarianship is so bad that its natural recognition is pity or contempt. And it is curiously the nature of things that people who know bad libraries accept them as bad and do not attempt righteous criticism. But such ideas and such libraries grow fewer every year. We begin 1930 with new and high hopes.

The purpose of this paper is to address the research gap on Lebanese women managers and to demonstrate how gender, work, and family factors influence the career advancement of women managers.

The research is qualitative in nature. A total of 32 in‐depth face‐to face interviews were conducted with 32 women managers.

Interview data reveal that Lebanese women managers do not perceive gender‐centered factors as obstacles to career advancement. The women in the study used different terms to describe the impact of gender, work, and family factors on their career progression to those found in existing literature. Their responsibilities towards their families were not perceived as barriers hindering their career progress. In addition, their personality traits, aspirations for management, levels of educational attainment and work experience, and family‐related factors were also not perceived as inhibiting their careers.

The paper provides new practical insights into the relationships and the interconnections between Arab society, women, and their managerial careers. A strong theme is the significant role of Wasta, the reliance and dependence on social connections versus personal education and achievements to achieve career progress, in enhancing career progression and how gender is less of a criterion in the presence of Wasta.

This paper contributes to the limited knowledge about women and management in Lebanon, as well as the Middle Eastern region in general.

Interpersonal and informal ties and networks, known as wasta in the Arab Middle East region, remain a major force in Middle Eastern societies, determining most economic, social and political outcomes. Yet the literature on informal ties and networks is largely characterized by a lack of contributions from the Arab world, despite the adverse effect that lack of understanding of the wasta phenomenon is having on the effectiveness of expatriate managers and subsequently on business performance. This chapter therefore aims to shed light on the meaning, characteristics, structure, and role of wasta in establishing and maintaining successful business relationships. It ends with recommendations for foreign investors and international managers who wish to establish and maintain successful business relationships in the Middle East on how to capitalize on interpersonal networks within this process.

Frequently used in fostering the career progression of individuals this paper aims to explore the concept of wasta and its significance in the career advancement of individuals in the Middle Eastern region. The paper also seeks to compare wasta with networking and mentoring.

The argument is based on relevant literature, the authors' own knowledge through conducting research in the Arab world, informal interviews and survey data conducted across the Middle Eastern Region.

The research clearly shows that on balance wasta remains traditional in its influence in the career advancement of individuals and business life and social life and is unlikely to diminish in the near future, despite the perception that it is an unfair practice. Wasta also displays similarities and differences with networking and mentoring.

Fundamental knowledge on wasta is limited precluding reliable conclusions on how wasta compares with networking and mentoring. Further research needs to be conducted with a larger sample, across a range of industries.

The paper suggests the need for human resource departments of Middle Eastern organizations to create conditions that encourage managers to develop social relationships given the lack of interactive support mechanisms.

Given the token status of systematic management studies in the Arab world, this research is important as it extends knowledge in wasta practices in the region, and also in comparing wasta with networking and mentoring. Overall, the paper argues that wasta is a lucrative area for future research.

The key characteristics that eventually came to be considered to be Australian ‘heavy metal’ emerged between 1965 and 1973. These include distortion, power, intensity, extremity, loudness and aggression. This exploration of the origins of heavy metal in Australia focusses on the key acts which provided its domestic musical foundations, and investigates how the music was informed by its early, alcohol-fuelled early audiences, sites of performance, media and record shops. Melbourne-based rock guitar hero Lobby Loyde’s classical music influence and technological innovations were important catalysts in the ‘heaviness’ that would typify Australian proto-metal in the 1960s. By the early 1970s, loud and heavy rock was firmly established as a driving force of the emerging pub rock scene. Extreme volume heavy rock was taken to the masses was Billy Thorpe & The Aztecs in the early 1970s whose triumphant headline performance at the 1972 Sunbury Pop Festival then established them as the most popular band in the nation. These underpinnings were consolidated by three bands: Sydney’s primal heavy prog-rockers Buffalo (Australia’s counterpart to Britain’s Black Sabbath), Loyde’s defiant Coloured Balls and the highly influential AC/DC, who successfully crystallised heavy Australian rock in a global context. This chapter explores how the archaeological foundations for Australian metal are the product of domestic conditions and sensibilities enmeshed in overlapping global trends. In doing so, it also considers how Australian metal is entrenched in localised musical contexts which are subject to the circulation of international flows of music and ideas.

Interest in generational research has garnered a lot of attention, as the workplace is seeing multiple generations (i.e., the Silent Generation, Baby Boomers, Gen Xers, and Millennials) working side-by-side for the first time. However, it is unclear how multiple generations of workers interact with each other and affect the workplace. Although there is extant literature on generational differences, some scholars have argued that the effect sizes are small and the differences are not meaningful. The focal aim of this chapter is to present the current state of literature on generational research. We present the relevant conceptualizations and theoretical frameworks that establish generational research. We then review evidence from existing research studies to establish the areas of differences that may exist among the different generations. In our review, we identify the issues arising from generational differences that are relevant to human resource management (HRM) practices, including new workforce entrants, aging workers, the changing nature of work and organizations, and leadership development. We conclude with several directions for future research on modernizing workplace policies and practices, ensuring sustainability in current employment models, facilitating future empirical research, and integrating the effects of globalization in generational research.