Gayle Avery

Phone (direct): +61 2 9850 9930
Phone (switch): +61 2 9850 7800
Fax: +61 2 9850 9019
E-mail: Gayle.Avery@mgsm.edu.au.

Professor Gayle Avery
BA (Honours)(Sydney), MTCP (Sydney), PhD (Monash)

Introduction

Leadership has been described as the ‘most studied and least understood topic in the social sciences’, and I think that pretty well describes the field that I have chosen to work in. My mission is to develop evidence-based frameworks to aid managers and other practitioners in taking their organisations forward and making them sustainable, as well as, to provide a context for research. Much of what I profess challenges business-as-usual and standard thinking, but the research evidence is increasingly mounting in favour of non-traditional approaches to leadership. Major organisations have engaged me to discuss these frameworks and findings with their senior executives, including AMP Capital Investors, ANZ National Bank of NZ, ASIC, Deutsche Bank, McDonald’s, Munich Reinsurance Australia, Pfizer, ProVision, Rail Access Corporation, Shanghai hospital pharmacists, Siemens, NSW TAFE, Westpac, and Woolworths. In addition to my work in Australia, I teach at leading business schools in Asia and Europe. For me, teaching and research go hand-in-hand.

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Introduction

Leadership has been described as the ‘most studied and least understood topic in the social sciences’, and I think that pretty well describes the field that I have chosen to work in. My mission is to develop evidence-based frameworks to aid managers and other practitioners in taking their organisations forward and making them sustainable, as well as, to provide a context for research. Much of what I profess challenges business-as-usual and standard thinking, but the research evidence is increasingly mounting in favour of non-traditional approaches to leadership. Major organisations have engaged me to discuss these frameworks and findings with their senior executives, including AMP Capital Investors, ANZ National Bank of NZ, ASIC, Deutsche Bank, McDonald’s, Munich Reinsurance Australia, Pfizer, ProVision, Rail Access Corporation, Shanghai hospital pharmacists, Siemens, NSW TAFE, Westpac, and Woolworths. In addition to my work in Australia, I teach at leading business schools in Asia and Europe. For me, teaching and research go hand-in-hand.

Focus

My research interest is in leadership, but I take a very broad perspective to this complex topic. For me, leadership can only be understood by separating out the elements of this fuzzy concept by levels and paradigms of leadership. Early on, I started by exploring leadership and organisational behaviour in virtual organisations. The focus was very much at the micro level. For example, I looked at how situational leadership is actually used by Australian managers and how information technology changed people’s interactions and behaviours at the level of the family or work group. As I started to approach issues at the broader organisational level of leadership, I realised that we needed a language around leadership because this concept is so ill defined. Imagine if there were 360 definitions of gravity!

Accordingly, I was able to identify four leadership paradigms that managers and students could relate to: classical, transactional, visionary, and organic or dispersed leadership. The paradigms not only enable students and researchers to examine leadership within organisations in a systematic way, they are useful for making sense of many of the leadership theories found in the literature. It became apparent that certain theories applied to particular paradigms and levels of leadership, and not to others. At last some light in this poorly understood field!

At the macro level of leadership, organisations need to address the question of “what are we here for?” Business-as-usual would say “to create short-term value for shareholders”, but an alternative answer that some successful companies are likely to give is: “to provide value for a range of stakeholders including the environment, society and future generations”. This started me researching into Sustainable Leadership, resulting in a model containing 23 practices that research and practice tend to associate with well performing and sustainable enterprises. This is not a one-size-fits-all approach because how these practices are implemented can take many different forms. Observations from about 46 enterprises around the world show that leaders can practise the opposite to business-as-usual and be very successful – and more likely to be sustainable, we predict. Naturally, research into complex issues requires team work and that is at the core of our Sustainable Leadership research.

Clearly, leadership is a practising art that should be evidence based. Therefore, running management development programs is also close to my heart, giving practising managers access to these new tools and ways of understanding leadership. In addition to working with executives, I have taught MBA subjects such as Leadership & Motivation and the European Study Tour: Sustainable Leadership. The European Study Tour focused on sustainable leadership in cutting-edge international enterprises. This subject was designed to enable students to broaden their perspective on different leadership methods by engaging with senior executives of ‘sustainable’ enterprises in Austria, France, Germany and Switzerland.

Research History

Driven by curiosity and the strong wish to gain worldwide work experience, I gave up my long-held intention to study law and started to focus on experimental psychology at the University of Sydney. This was a decision that I have never regretted because it provided me with a tool kit, from which I have benefited throughout my entire career.

After finishing a Master of Town and Country Planning at University of Sydney and a Doctor of Philosophy at Monash University, I went on to gain practical experience. I took the research tool kit that I had developed during my academic years and left for the real world.

First stop was at J. Walter Thompson, where I spent one year as a Creative Research Executive for this global advertising agency. There, I had the chance to learn about qualitative research methods such as depth interviews and focus groups, which in those early days were not accepted by mainstream academic researchers. But I learned the value of these qualitative techniques, and took inspiration from this invaluable experience.

After leaving J. Walter Thompson, I worked as a Scientific Research Officer at the NSW Traffic Accident Research Unit. There my research tools were applied to a range of applied problems including how to adapt the traffic system to human users, particularly children. A major project drew on my advertising agency experience as we sought ways of motivating different groups of drivers to avoid driving after drinking. This resulted in the acclaimed ‘slob’ communications campaign, which research suggests did have a moderating effect on the behaviour of some Australian drivers.

Then a year as a social scientist at the NSW Department for Environment and Planning followed. Again my research tools were called upon, this time to investigate the effects of urban planning decisions on human behaviour and well being.

The six-year journey then returned back to academia in 1976, when I joined the University of Technology, Sydney as a Senior Lecturer. Applying my theoretical background and practical experience, I taught undergraduate units in Administrative Psychology, Qualitative Research Methods, Experimental Design & Analysis and Environmental Psychology, and was heavily engaged in managing the department. Many UTS students questioned why they had to use foreign textbooks rather than Australian books. This inspired Psychology at Work: Fundamentals and Applications in 1984, a textbook based on psychology designed for business students that I wrote with Dr. Ellen Baker. This book in several editions was in print for 25 years.

Again I left academe for a while, this time to gather international experience. I worked for three years as Communication Manager for H. Bergsteiner & Associates, including one year in New York and two years in Munich.

Academe beckoned again in 1989. This time I set up and managed a range of international programs as Director of International Management at the Deutsche Private Finanzakademie (German Finance Academy) in Munich. A most exciting project was when I landed the exclusive partnership for Germany with the Centre for Creative Leadership (North Carolina), adapted and translated CCL´s leadership development programs for German conditions, and trained the trainers. Furthermore, I had the chance to cooperate with two American universities in awarding MBAs and build up the first AACSB approved MBA program in Germany. I also worked as a Visiting Lecturer for the University of Maryland in 1989, when the second edition of Psychology at Work was written.

When the Berlin Wall fell, an opportunity appeared to help the two German countries integrate. One project involved retraining Eastern-German teachers of Russian to become teachers of English – the demand for learning Russian had fallen dramatically after the Russians withdrew from Eastern Germany. The undeveloped eastern German infrastructure, working conditions and language barriers made this challenge almost impossible, and certainly called for lateral thinking. We did succeed despite obstacles like not having working telephones or a banking system to pay trainers dispersed around the states. However, these challenging experiences in Germany laid the foundation for my subsequent career as an educational entrepreneur.

In 1996, I came back to Australia where I worked for the executive education arm of Macquarie Graduate School for Management. At that time, I conducted projects in Australia and Germany, as a freelancer designing a comprehensive set of modular Leadership Development Programs for MGSM and conducting international research on best practice for the Department of Industry, Science & Tourism in Canberra.

At MGSM as a professor since 1997, my main focus is on Sustainable Leadership and Management Development. Apart from that I worked as Director of Strategic Alliances, Discipline Convenor and Convenor Global Leadership Programs. I pioneered the study tours in 1999, and I became Director of International Study Tours for MGSM, a position held until the end of 2009. I founded and became Director of the Institute for Sustainable Leadership in 2007 and I now head the Sustainable Leadership research cluster at MGSM..

Contribution to Academic Knowledge

My research contributes to Sustainable Leadership and Management Development in organizations, with a focus on leadership in cutting-edge international enterprises. My work aims to challenge much of what we take for granted about leadership in the world today and attempts to offer a different if not flawless path. It aims to provide researchers and practitioners with frameworks to guide their activities.

Relevance

My works helps managers make sense of a complex and confusing concept like leadership, and provides them with a framework, a tool kit and a conceptual understanding that will help in practice.

Plans

My current plans are to develop the research work of the Sustainable Leadership cluster. Together with Grant Jones we have launched the Journal of Global Responsibility to provide a platform for researchers to publish their work as they seek more responsible and sustainable leadership.

Timeline & C.V.

Recent Publications

2010

Books

Avery, G.C. & Bergsteiner, H. (2010), "Honeybees & Locusts: The Business Case for Sustainable Leadership", Sydney: Allen & Unwin (Forthcoming)

Journal Articles

Bersteiner, H., Avery, G.C. & Neumann, R. (2010), "Kolb's Experiential Learning Model: Critique from a modeling perspective", Studies in continuing Education 32(1), (Forthcoming).

2009

Books

Avery, G.C. (2009), “Understanding Leadership: Paradigms and Cases (In Polish: Przywództwo w Organizacji)”, ISBN: 978-83-208-1779-9.

Journal Articles

Kantabutra, S. & Avery, G.C. (2009). “Developing vision statements that work”, Journal of Business Strategy, forthcoming.

Wong, L. and Avery, G.C. 2009. “Transforming organisations towards sustainable practices”, International Journal of the Interdisciplinary Social Sciences, 4(1), 397-408.

Bergsteiner, H. & Avery, G.C. (2009), “Jarvis’ Existential Learning Model: Making it work”, Journal of College Teaching & Learning, January, 6(1), 51-59.

Kantabutra, S. & Avery, G.C. (2009), “Shared vision in customer and staff satisfaction: Relationships and their consequences”, J. Applied Business Research, 25(4), forthcoming in July.

Conference Papers

Butt, L., More,E. & Avery, G.C. (2009), “Managing for the future in higher education: Sustainability, leadership and change management”, British Academy of Management Conference Proceedings - The End of the Pier? Competing Perspectives on the Challenges facing Business and Management". Published by British Academy of Management, London, UK (no editors listed). ISBN: 0-9549608-5-8

Butt, L., More, E. & Avery, G.C. (2009), "Alliances for the future: How higher education is failing sustainability", 2009 Annual Conference of the Asia Pacific Academy of Business in Society, Brisbane, November 2009.

Butt, L., More, E. & Avery, G.C. (2009), "Sustainability education and professional development programs for managers in Australian universities", Proceedings 23rd ANZAM Conference, Melbourne, 1-4 December, (no editors listed), ISBN: 1-86308-157-7.

2008

Books

Avery, G.C. 2008. Leadership for Sustainable Futures: Achieving Success in a Competitive World. [The Rhineland Model--How to Build Harmonious Long-lasting Enterprises]. Peking University Press. Chinese edition. April. ISBN: 9787301135631.

Journal Articles

Bergsteiner, H. & Avery, G.C. 2008. A generic multiple constituency matrix: Accountability in private prisons. Journal of Public Administration Research & Theory, doi: 10.1093/jopart/mun011. Journal impact factor: 1.655.

Bergsteiner, H. & Avery, G.C. 2008. Theoretical explanation for success of deep-level-learning study tours. College Teaching Methods & Styles Journal, 4(1), 29-37.

Jing, F.F. & Avery, G.C. 2008. Missing links in understanding the relationship between leadership and organizational performance. International Business & Economics Research Journal, 7(5), 67-78.

Jing, F.F. & Avery, G.C. 2008. Where have the mediating variables in leadership-performance research gone? Journal of Business & Economics Research, 6(10), 73-84.

Morgan, T. & Avery, G.C. 2008. Corporate social responsibility practices in Australia: Preliminary findings from the consumer goods sector. Journal of Diversity Management, 3(2), 9-17.

Shuttleworth, C.D., Aynsley, A.M.R. and Avery, G.C. 2008. The role of reflection in leading ‘sustainable organizations’: A preliminary study. International Journal of Interdisciplinary Social Sciences, 3(7), 187-194.

Wong, L. and Avery, G.C. 2008. Creating sustainability in organisations: Beyond being green. International Journal of Interdisciplinary Social Sciences, 3(2), 69-76.

Book Chapters

Avery, G.C. 2008. Die menschliche Komponente der Corporate Governance in Australien. [The human dimension of corporate governance in Australia]. In Rolf Wunderer (Ed.) Corporate Governance – zur personalen und sozialen Dimension. Wolthers Kluwer Deutschland, Cologne. ISBN 978-3-472-07138-9. pp. 103-106.

Baker, E., Avery, G.C. & Crawford, J. 2008. Home-based telecommuting: Technology’s role. In M. Khosrow-Pour (Ed.), Innovative Technologies for Information Resources Management (Advanced Titles in Information Resources Management, Vol. 7). ISBN: 978-1-59904-570-2. Hershey, PA: Idea Group Inc.

Conference Papers

Bergsteiner, H. & Avery, G.C. 2008. Existential learning: Clarifying Jarvis’ learning paths. 2008 College Teaching & Learning Conference, Rothenburg, Germany, June 18-20. #RTH08-26. (Best paper award in its category)

Kantabutra, S. & Avery, G.C. 2008. Sustainable enterprise? A Thai healthcare service provider. European Applied Business Research Conference, RTH08-200, June, Rothenburg, Germany.

Jing, F.F. & Avery, G.C. 2008. Leadership paradigms and organisational performance: A literature review. European Applied Business Research Conference, RTH08-159, June, Rothenburg, Germany. (Best paper award in its category)

Jing, F.F. & Avery, G.C. 2008. Reintroducing mediating variables to leadership-performance research. European Applied Business Research Conference, SLZ08-172, Salzburg, Austria, June. (Best paper award in its category)

2007

Journal Articles

Baker, E., Avery, G.C. & Crawford, J. 2007. Satisfaction and perceived productivity when professionals work from home. Research and Practice in Human Resource Management, 15(1). URL: http://rphrm.curtin.edu.au/2007/issue1/index.html.

Bergsteiner, H. & Avery, G.C. 2007. Adapting accountability responses to leadership context. International Journal of Interdisciplinary Social Sciences, 2(2), 411-420.

Kantabutra, S. & Avery, G.C. 2007. A quest for effective vision: Evidence from Australia. International Business & Economics Research Journal, 6(10), 1-12.

Kantabutra, S. & Avery, G.C. 2007. Vision effects in customer and staff satisfaction: An empirical investigation. Leadership & Organizational Development, 28(3), 209–229.

Conference Papers

Endrissat, N., Müller, W.R. & Avery, G.C. 2007. Leadership according to professionals: An exploratory study among chief physicians in Switzerland. Australian New Zealand Academy of Management, Sydney, December, Paper #189.

Bergsteiner, H. & Avery, G.C. 2007. Success of deep-level learning study tours: Theoretical explanation and validation. College Teaching & Learning (TLC) Conference, #136, June, Ljubljana Slovenia. (Best paper award in its category).

Bergsteiner, H. & Avery, G.C. 2007. Adapting accountability responses to leadership context. 2^nd International Conference of the Interdisciplinary Social Sciences, July 10-13, #ID 7553, Granada, Spain.

Morgan, T. & Avery, G.C. 2007. Corporate social responsibility practices in the Australian consumer goods industry: Preliminary findings. European Applied Business Research Conference, # 167, June, Venice.

View all Publications

Projects & Partnerships

Swiss:

Professor Werner Müller, University of Basel – collaboration on global leadership research on the leadership landscapes in different countries including Australia.

Professor Ralf Wetzel and Dr Nada Endrissat – University of Applied Sciences, Berne. Projects on sustainable leadership.

Australian:

Dr Ellen Baker, UTS – many projects on the effects of new technologies on human behaviour. Forthcoming, research into organic leadership.

Thailand:

Ass. Professor Sooksan Kantabutra, Mahidol University – Sustainable leadership and the role of vision in leadership.

Doctoral Students

Principal Supervisor for:

Mahajan PADMANTATHAN
Tanyu ZHANG

Associate Supervisor for:

Lorne BUTT
Vivian SUN

Completed Doctoral Students:

Feng (Fenwick) JING
Wendy MONTAGUE

Courses

Leadership and Motivation

This unit explores the practices and philosophies of leadership and motivation, encouraging students to challenge conventional approaches. It evaluates theoretical and empirical contributions to these important areas of management and encourages students to develop a style of learning through which their own leadership and motivational practices can grow. It aims to develop an appreciation of the role and value of leadership in organizations both domestically and abroad.

1980 - 1981	State Pollution Control Commission for research project: "Blasting noise level and annoyance" with Barry Murray. $3,000.
1980 - 1981	NSW Institute of Technology for research project: "Psycho-social aspects of minor urban drainage works" with Dr. G.G. O'Loughlin, School of Civil Engineering, UTS.
1978	State Pollution Control Commission for research project: "Comparison of stated noise annoyance with spontaneous noise complaints".

1979 - 1980	Assessment of Tonal Noise Project Committee. Interdepartmental State Government committee overseeing perceptual study of tonal noise annoyance. Established by the NSW State Pollution Control Commission.
1974 - 1976	Committee Designing a New Maximum Security Prison for NSW State Government interdepartmental committee coordinated by NSW Department of Corrective Services.
1974 - 1975	Ministerial task force to revise the NSW planning system and legislation.

Timeline & C.V.

Recent Publications

All Publications

Early Publications

Major research reports

Major Team-based Research Projects

Radio Broadcasts

Projects & Partnerships

Doctoral Students

Courses

Miscellaneous